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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
A thoroughly enjoyable book. If you enjoy reading Jared Diamond's books, you'll probably reading this book too. I'm glad that I used to chew sugarcane when I was young. Perhaps, that was the reason, my teeth are mostly not crooked (except the lower front teeth) and why I didn't have any issue with wisdom teeth. As it turns out, some of the non-communicable ailments like crooked teeth, lower back pain and most importantly type-2 diabetes are probably preventable. Chapter 11 is certainly the most interesting chapter in the book.
Fascinating looking at the human body through the evolutionary lens. Most of it I already knew: processed foods=bad, refined sugar=bad, sitting=bad... but he explains about how unnatural these are, why it's completely natural to crave them. It's interesting to think about how mismatched we are to our environment now that we've culturally evolved beyond what our bodies have adapted to.
The section on wisdom teeth and fallen arches blew my mind.
Time to celebrate finishing this book with some cake while sitting on a couch in comfy shoes.
The section on wisdom teeth and fallen arches blew my mind.
Time to celebrate finishing this book with some cake while sitting on a couch in comfy shoes.
Been several years since I read it, but damn do I still think about mastication more than a normal person does.
Crucial Read!
The Story of the Human Body is Dr. Daniel Lieberman's plain spoken but powerful account of how the rise of bipedalism, the shift to a non-fruit-based diet, the advent of hunting and gathering, the rise of agriculture, the industrial revolution and the high tech revolution all shaped the key adaptations that typify the modern human body.
If you've ever wondered why modern humans are such a sickly and chunky bunch, Lieberman's got a pretty satisfying answer for you.
"we didn't evolve to be healthy, but instead we were selected to have as many offspring as possible under diverse, challenging conditions. As a consequence, we never evolved to make rational choices about what to eat or how to exercise in conditions of abundance and comfort".
Lieberman's argument (in a nut shell) is that Humans evolved in an environment that necessitated eating as much as possible in order to build up fat reserves, so that we could either work our asses off to get more food, or lay low during the times when no food was available, all the while pumping out a steady stream of lil papooses.
We evolved to be able to stalk and kill wild game in the 100 degree heat, drag that shit back to camp, and start all over again the next time you get hungry.
So now fast forward to 2015, when you can take your air conditioned car to the Carls Jr. drive in and get a 3500 calorie meal for seven dollars that took a 350 calorie expenditure to earn.
From this perspective it's pretty obvious that we are metabolically mismatched for our current environment. This has lead to what Lieberman terms "mismatch diseases" i.e. diseases that occur simply because our body is not adapted to our world of cushy excess.
Mismatch diseases occur due to:
1. a surfeit of energy (eating too much).
-obesity
-diabetes
2. under use (not exercising enough).
-osteoporosis
-lower back pain
Lieberman argues that we often treat the symptoms of these issues and ignore the causes, leading to a state of what he terms "dysevoloution", a state of affairs in which disadvantageous traits are nurtured and conserved.
In other words, the proper interventions for obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and chronic lower back pain are behavioral interventions that target the cause of these issues e.g. eating less and exercising more.
Lieberman is not naive about what it will realistically take to change our behaviors though. To the contrary, he's well aware of how hard it is, mostly due to millions of years of evolutionary conditioning. However, it's not hopeless, and the last few chapters propose possible interventions.
Lieberman's summary argument is; if culture got us in to this mess, than culture can get us out of it. In Lieberman's opinion, the best interventions for mismatch diseases are public health policies that assist us in making better choices.
Lieberman joins the likes of Sunstein and Thaler (Nudge) in his endorsement for Libertarian (soft) Paternalism. Libertarian paternalism refers to social policies designed to help people who behave irrationally (against their better interests), while interfering only minimally with people who behave rationally.
One obvious example being the laws that regulate cigarette smoking. We tax the crap out of cigarettes in order to dissuade people from smoking. But we don't make it illegal for adults to smoke, provided they don't do it near people who would prefer to not die of lung cancer.
Lieberman proposes similar "nudges" to inhibit consumption of junk food and encourage exercise.
If you're not already convinced, you're just going to have to trust me on this one. This is the users manual for the modern human. Everyone should be equipped with this information. Skip it at your own risk.
Five Stars!
The Story of the Human Body is Dr. Daniel Lieberman's plain spoken but powerful account of how the rise of bipedalism, the shift to a non-fruit-based diet, the advent of hunting and gathering, the rise of agriculture, the industrial revolution and the high tech revolution all shaped the key adaptations that typify the modern human body.
If you've ever wondered why modern humans are such a sickly and chunky bunch, Lieberman's got a pretty satisfying answer for you.
"we didn't evolve to be healthy, but instead we were selected to have as many offspring as possible under diverse, challenging conditions. As a consequence, we never evolved to make rational choices about what to eat or how to exercise in conditions of abundance and comfort".
Lieberman's argument (in a nut shell) is that Humans evolved in an environment that necessitated eating as much as possible in order to build up fat reserves, so that we could either work our asses off to get more food, or lay low during the times when no food was available, all the while pumping out a steady stream of lil papooses.
We evolved to be able to stalk and kill wild game in the 100 degree heat, drag that shit back to camp, and start all over again the next time you get hungry.
So now fast forward to 2015, when you can take your air conditioned car to the Carls Jr. drive in and get a 3500 calorie meal for seven dollars that took a 350 calorie expenditure to earn.
From this perspective it's pretty obvious that we are metabolically mismatched for our current environment. This has lead to what Lieberman terms "mismatch diseases" i.e. diseases that occur simply because our body is not adapted to our world of cushy excess.
Mismatch diseases occur due to:
1. a surfeit of energy (eating too much).
-obesity
-diabetes
2. under use (not exercising enough).
-osteoporosis
-lower back pain
Lieberman argues that we often treat the symptoms of these issues and ignore the causes, leading to a state of what he terms "dysevoloution", a state of affairs in which disadvantageous traits are nurtured and conserved.
In other words, the proper interventions for obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis and chronic lower back pain are behavioral interventions that target the cause of these issues e.g. eating less and exercising more.
Lieberman is not naive about what it will realistically take to change our behaviors though. To the contrary, he's well aware of how hard it is, mostly due to millions of years of evolutionary conditioning. However, it's not hopeless, and the last few chapters propose possible interventions.
Lieberman's summary argument is; if culture got us in to this mess, than culture can get us out of it. In Lieberman's opinion, the best interventions for mismatch diseases are public health policies that assist us in making better choices.
Lieberman joins the likes of Sunstein and Thaler (Nudge) in his endorsement for Libertarian (soft) Paternalism. Libertarian paternalism refers to social policies designed to help people who behave irrationally (against their better interests), while interfering only minimally with people who behave rationally.
One obvious example being the laws that regulate cigarette smoking. We tax the crap out of cigarettes in order to dissuade people from smoking. But we don't make it illegal for adults to smoke, provided they don't do it near people who would prefer to not die of lung cancer.
Lieberman proposes similar "nudges" to inhibit consumption of junk food and encourage exercise.
If you're not already convinced, you're just going to have to trust me on this one. This is the users manual for the modern human. Everyone should be equipped with this information. Skip it at your own risk.
Five Stars!
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Fatphobia, Medical content
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Infertility, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
A lot of uncritical focus on the "obesity epidemic."
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
Content Warnings
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Car accident, Pregnancy
So, after humans and chimpanzees split, our ancestors were weak and slow. Why were we so successful?
And, as a person living today, what does that have to do with your everyday life?
This book is a super interesting answer to that question.
One good point Liberman makes is that a lot of arguments about what the human body has evolved to do, or is adapted for, are too simplistic. Take the barefoot running trend: yes, our bodies are supremely well-adapted to walking and running barefoot. But to take that fact and conclude that shoes are bad mmmmkay is a bit too facile. Instead, take the middle ground: wear shoes, but try to spend more time barefoot, building your muscles, bones, ligaments, and getting the exercise that thousands of generations of your hunter-gatherer ancestors did.
Another big idea that I hadn't quite thought of it cultural evolution: we pass on our genes to our children, but also our culture. Wearing certain kinds of clothes, sleeping in super warm, soft, comfy beds; eating certain kinds of foods; and so on -- we think of the ways we do those things as normal, even if they are not, compared to the standards of a few generations -- or hundreds of generations! -- ago.
I am coincidentally reading [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] at the moment and was surprised to see so many ideas from this book showing up in Tchaikovsky's space opera. The Story of the Human Body isn't just for anthropology nerds. Are you human? Do you have a body? Read this!
And, as a person living today, what does that have to do with your everyday life?
This book is a super interesting answer to that question.
One good point Liberman makes is that a lot of arguments about what the human body has evolved to do, or is adapted for, are too simplistic. Take the barefoot running trend: yes, our bodies are supremely well-adapted to walking and running barefoot. But to take that fact and conclude that shoes are bad mmmmkay is a bit too facile. Instead, take the middle ground: wear shoes, but try to spend more time barefoot, building your muscles, bones, ligaments, and getting the exercise that thousands of generations of your hunter-gatherer ancestors did.
Another big idea that I hadn't quite thought of it cultural evolution: we pass on our genes to our children, but also our culture. Wearing certain kinds of clothes, sleeping in super warm, soft, comfy beds; eating certain kinds of foods; and so on -- we think of the ways we do those things as normal, even if they are not, compared to the standards of a few generations -- or hundreds of generations! -- ago.
I am coincidentally reading [b:Children of Time|25499718|Children of Time (Children of Time #1)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1431014197l/25499718._SY75_.jpg|45276208] at the moment and was surprised to see so many ideas from this book showing up in Tchaikovsky's space opera. The Story of the Human Body isn't just for anthropology nerds. Are you human? Do you have a body? Read this!
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced