Reviews - Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

1.75k reviews for:

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

There a goodreads review from an evolutionary biologist that summarizes this much better than I can https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5987122269
and other good one here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5977169776

the first couple chapters were excellent! and then it feel off rapidly. there is sooo much speculation and the author is not shy about her opinions… i just wish she wouldn’t pretend they were facts. If you cut out all the fluff, this book could have been a GREAT article.

instead, it hooks you with an intriguing, intellectually honest, and evidence based start. But then, it self sabotages into bogus speculative opinion piece. to make matters worse, it’s absolutely careless with making sweeping claims on sensitive, highly debated topics.

I kept reading because i was chasing the high from the start. if you’re thinking of not finishing this one, follow that instinct! lol

mairereads's review against another edition

4.0

funny informative medium-paced

Really enjoyed this informative book that focuses on evolutionary science and especially how women drove many of the biological changes in our species. I was initially surprised by all the personal anecdotes/humor, but once I was used to that approach, quite enjoyed it!

justjacq's review against another edition

3.75

informative reflective medium-paced

Hmm, I've got mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, its moments of humor and candid personal opinion made this feel approachable and relatable - which can be hard to find in a book related to science. But on the other hand, this dipped a lot into speculation, some imagination, and some opinion - which gets tricky to digest when you thought you were dealing with scientific facts. I think it can still be an enlightening and thought-provoking read (or at least it was for me) if you adjust your mindset accordingly. I did find myself googling to check what was fact and what was speculation, so that did get annoying at times. I do think the first half was better than the second half - the last chapter on love almost lost me completely. The first chapters and introductory info was really interesting and I kept talking to everyone I know about how crazy it is that women are basically nowhere to be found in the world of medical research and testing, and I think that chapter served as a call to make those areas more inclusive. Almost everything she mentioned regarding rape, sexism, and evolution made me take pause, though, and none of it ended up sitting well with me. I do understand that the record of human evolution has gaps, and I think Bohannon's style is to hypothesize and present potential "gap-fillers" as narrative, and to create a story to connect the dots, but that does have its limitations and in some cases I found it distracting and off-putting. I did like some of the more overlooked topics, like lactation and menopause as evolutionary drivers. All in all, the book is interesting and ambitious, I learned a lot, but I encourage readers to recognize that the line is blurred between well-supported science and speculation.