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147 reviews for:
Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
Sharon Moalem
3.98 AVERAGE
147 reviews for:
Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
Sharon Moalem
3.98 AVERAGE
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
At first I didn't like it, because it tries REALLY hard to be jokey and faux-freakonomics. But it eventually succeeds an evolutionary Freakonomics. And it explains why Asian people turn red when drinking. :)
I borrowed this book from someone in my book club, otherwise I doubt I would have looked twice at it. The subject matter is interesting and, despite how long it took me, it's a quick read. I found the writing to be a little trivial and not good for much of it, though.
Very engaging, compelling and well written, especially for a book about science. Of course the people that should read it, the ones that don't "believe in" evolution never will but even for people that accept the theoretical idea of evolution the book explores ways to consider its effects that I certainly never thought about.
Super interesting material, but the writing is... not good.
This book is more about asking questions and challenging common thought than hard science. It is easy to follow, with most concepts not going beyond the scope of high school science. Which doesn't mean it isn't interesting. Moalem offers theories for the development of various genetic conditions that, today, appear maladaptive but would have been a biological advantage hundreds, thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.
It's a light look at a variety of diseases and why it would be that they would continue to survive and perpetuate their genes. In the end it leaves a lot of questions, which is only right. Science often hasn't got a clue and a lot of this book is as much speculation as fact, but it admits this.