Scan barcode
slnewman89's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not typically a huge fan of non-fiction books, but I read a review about this on NPR and thought it sounded really interesting. I learned a lot about how the human body functions and why we suffer from the ailments that we do today. I think for anyone interested in human evolution, this is a fascinating read.
shashankbk10's review against another edition
5.0
A very fascinating and a slightly unsettling book. The crux of the story is that we've changed our environment and lifestyle so drastically in the last few millennia that natural selection hasn't had enough time to adapt our bodies to this change, the result of which is widespread disease.
Can an evolutionary perspective on medical care help us better fight or prevent these diseases? The answer may be yes.
Can an evolutionary perspective on medical care help us better fight or prevent these diseases? The answer may be yes.
davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
4.0
Not much that's new for people who follow evolutionary medicine, but well packaged, well written, and well structured. A good mix of skepticism and promise.
jenn756's review against another edition
5.0
Oh dear. I don’t exercise enough, I eat too much sugar and I’m generally a physical wreck. I’ll probably succumb to diabetes or heart disease when I’m older. According to Lieberman we’re living lives our bodies were not designed for, and sitting slumped in front of a computer all day just doesn’t cut it. The diseases that kill us today, the ones doctors cannot eradicate, are all evolutionary `mis-matches’.
Apparently our distant ancestors did not eat ice-cream or chicken tikka masala on a Friday night and had to forage for tough chewy roots under a sweltering hot sun. Their fruit was no sweeter than a turnip. They walked 8-9 miles a day. And now we’re paying the price for our poor diets and laziness.
Some of this is intuitive. My elderly mother for instance will tell you too much sugar causes diabetes, but Lieberman is very good at backing it up with compelling evidence. Some of it I hadn’t considered – breast cancer as an evolutionary mis-match - girls mature earlier than they have ever done, have fewer children and breast-feed their babies for a shorter time. Cumulatively this means more periods over a life time, and more oestrogen swilling round their bodies – excess of hormones being a trigger factor for cancer.
Lieberman is an engaging writer. And altogether this is an interesting and ultimately empowering book. My kids (who are lazy slobs) are beginning to curse his name as I keep quoting him at them. Get off your backsides and walk I say, otherwise you’ll contract osteoporosis. But do they listen to me? No!
He takes us through the different stages of human evolution to examine how each stage affected our physique and metabolism. There was the Austrolopiths 4-2 million years ago, upright and smaller brained than us and who walked miles in search of fruits and tubers. They had to survive in a semi-arid climate and their diet forced them to chew for hours and hours.
Then 1.9 million years ago Homo Erectus appears, much like us from the neck downwards. Meat appears on the menu 2.6 million years ago. Lieberman suggests hominids developed the techniques of endurance running to literally run prey to death, perhaps up 19 miles a day. Our ability to cool by sweating played a big part in this as hominids can tolerate hot sun in a way other mammals that have fur and pant can’t. Also our ability to retain fat was essential for maintaining energy reserves on a long hunt.
Another interesting twist in evolution was the relative size of guts to brains. Most mammals have large guts and small brains, Homo erectus reversed this be switching to higher quality diets and by manually processing food (apparently the Huns who also ate raw meat would soften it by putting it between their horses flanks!) Just as important was co-operating and sharing food and the role of extended family (which suggests mentally too we’re living lives evolution didn’t intended us for.)
500,000 years ago Hominids invented the pointed spear which revolutionised hunting. Then about 400,000 years ago came the control of fire. It was during the Ice Ages between 3 million and 500,000 years ago that the brain doubles in size. I suppose extreme environmental conditions provoked a strong evolutionary response. The brain takes a whopping 280-420 calories a day, and by comparing structure and size with other apes scientists have worked out that our brain size permits us to work with social networks of approx 100-230 people (which explains a lot when you think about it.) He seems to suggest that the primary reason for the development of the brain was co-operation, working together - not as you might assume the creation of tools. It was more man (or woman) the talker instead of man the handy man.
One fact that hit me is that everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people. We are genetically homogenous. Humans left Africa about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. Then in the Upper Palaeolithic 50,000 years ago comes the tipping point – sophisticated tools and a technological revolution. People somehow think and behave differently from then onwards.
12,000 years ago comes the invention of farming
Apparently our distant ancestors did not eat ice-cream or chicken tikka masala on a Friday night and had to forage for tough chewy roots under a sweltering hot sun. Their fruit was no sweeter than a turnip. They walked 8-9 miles a day. And now we’re paying the price for our poor diets and laziness.
Some of this is intuitive. My elderly mother for instance will tell you too much sugar causes diabetes, but Lieberman is very good at backing it up with compelling evidence. Some of it I hadn’t considered – breast cancer as an evolutionary mis-match - girls mature earlier than they have ever done, have fewer children and breast-feed their babies for a shorter time. Cumulatively this means more periods over a life time, and more oestrogen swilling round their bodies – excess of hormones being a trigger factor for cancer.
Lieberman is an engaging writer. And altogether this is an interesting and ultimately empowering book. My kids (who are lazy slobs) are beginning to curse his name as I keep quoting him at them. Get off your backsides and walk I say, otherwise you’ll contract osteoporosis. But do they listen to me? No!
He takes us through the different stages of human evolution to examine how each stage affected our physique and metabolism. There was the Austrolopiths 4-2 million years ago, upright and smaller brained than us and who walked miles in search of fruits and tubers. They had to survive in a semi-arid climate and their diet forced them to chew for hours and hours.
Then 1.9 million years ago Homo Erectus appears, much like us from the neck downwards. Meat appears on the menu 2.6 million years ago. Lieberman suggests hominids developed the techniques of endurance running to literally run prey to death, perhaps up 19 miles a day. Our ability to cool by sweating played a big part in this as hominids can tolerate hot sun in a way other mammals that have fur and pant can’t. Also our ability to retain fat was essential for maintaining energy reserves on a long hunt.
Another interesting twist in evolution was the relative size of guts to brains. Most mammals have large guts and small brains, Homo erectus reversed this be switching to higher quality diets and by manually processing food (apparently the Huns who also ate raw meat would soften it by putting it between their horses flanks!) Just as important was co-operating and sharing food and the role of extended family (which suggests mentally too we’re living lives evolution didn’t intended us for.)
500,000 years ago Hominids invented the pointed spear which revolutionised hunting. Then about 400,000 years ago came the control of fire. It was during the Ice Ages between 3 million and 500,000 years ago that the brain doubles in size. I suppose extreme environmental conditions provoked a strong evolutionary response. The brain takes a whopping 280-420 calories a day, and by comparing structure and size with other apes scientists have worked out that our brain size permits us to work with social networks of approx 100-230 people (which explains a lot when you think about it.) He seems to suggest that the primary reason for the development of the brain was co-operation, working together - not as you might assume the creation of tools. It was more man (or woman) the talker instead of man the handy man.
One fact that hit me is that everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people. We are genetically homogenous. Humans left Africa about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. Then in the Upper Palaeolithic 50,000 years ago comes the tipping point – sophisticated tools and a technological revolution. People somehow think and behave differently from then onwards.
12,000 years ago comes the invention of farming
jamiebooks15's review against another edition
4.0
This book took a while but I really enjoyed the writing and the style. Lieberman basically started at the beginning of our evolution and painted a clear picture of how we got here, why our bodies are the way they are, and why certain diseases impact us. It was really, really fascinating. Basically, we aren't meant for this world, our big brains have created an environment that our bodies aren't suited for. We naturally crave sugar and fat which will cause us to get sick. It's all kinds of interesting and frustrating. If anything, my takeaway is that a deeper understanding of why I do certain things - why I crave certain foods or why I prefer sitting to standing or driving over walking or wearing shoes over being barefoot - are totally natural in my environment, but also not what my body was meant to do. Not that we have to totally buck cultural and societal norms, but it has certainly given me a lot to think about.
benjobuks's review against another edition
4.0
Really incredible book to inform viewing humans and human health through the lens of evolutionary ecology. One of the main books whose facts I CONSTANTLY reference. Main issue is the active neo-colonial (and in many cases colonial) sources of his information on how “traditional” hunter-gatherers operate. Many issues with how this research is conducted given that almost none of the information returns to the communities from whom it’s extracted, and the extraction process is often invasive and insensitive in the least.
ela_lee_'s review against another edition
5.0
I absolutely loved this book, it is one of the best educational resources I’ve ever read. Lieberman has a great way of explaining things sequentially and simply. This book was very easy to follow while answering so many questions I’ve always had, but never knew where to start. I highlighted so many educational notes from this book…how could I not?!
"Like money in the bank, fat reserves enable humans to stay active, maintain their bodies, and even reproduce during lean seasons. Unfortunately, natural selection never prepared us to cope with endless seasons of plenty, let alone fast food restaurants."
"All living humans can trace their roots to a common ancestral population that lived in Africa about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, and that a subset of humans dispersed out of Africa starting about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. In other words, until very recently, all human beings were Africans. All living humans are descended from an alarmingly small number of ancestors. According to one calculation, everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people."
"Most of the diseases that are likely to afflict you are triggered or intensified by environmental factors that have mostly become common since farming and industrialization. For most of human evolution, people did not have the opportunity to get sick or become disabled from diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and myopia."
"If we really wanted to prevent cavities, we would have to reduce our consumption of sugar and starch drastically. However, ever since farming, most of the world’s population has been dependent on cereals and grains for most of their calories, making a truly cavity preventing diet impossible for all but a few. In effect, cavities are the price we pay for cheap calories."
"More food is good, but agricultural diets can provoke mismatched diseases. One of the biggest problems is a loss of nutritional variety and quality. Hunter-gatherers survived because they eat just about anything and everything that is edible. Hunter-gatherers therefore necessarily consume an extremely diverse diet, typically including many dozens of plant species in any given season. In contrast, farmers sacrifice quality and diversity for quantity by focusing their efforts on just a few staple crops with high yields. It is likely that more than 50% of the calories you consume today derived from rice, corn, wheat, or potatoes."
"Farming surpluses also made possible social stratification, suppression, slavery, war, famine, and other evils unknown to hunter-gatherer societies. Farming also ushered in many mismatched diseases that range from cavities to cholera. Hundreds of millions of people have died from plagues, malnutrition, and starvation - deaths that would not have occurred if we remained hunter-gatherers. Yet despite these many deaths, there are nearly 6 billion more people alive today than would be the case had the agriculture revolution never begun."
"It is as if the human species had a total makeover. Our daily lives would be barely comprehensible to our ancestors from just a few generations ago, but we are essentially identical genetically, anatomically, and physiologically. The change has been so rapid that too little time has elapsed for more than a modicum of natural selection to have occurred. Was it worth it?"
"Yet just because we can live lives of exceptional cleanliness and comfort, doesn’t mean they are good for us - especially children. To grow properly, almost every part of the body needs to be stressed appropriately by interactions with the outside world. Just as not requiring a child to reason critically will stunt her intellect, not stressing a child’s bones, muscles, and immune systems will fail to match these organs capacities to their demands."
"Yet the rate and power of cultural evolution has vastly outpaced the rate and power of natural selection. The bodies we inherited are still adapted, to a significant extent, to the various and diverse environmental conditions in which we evolved over millions of years."
"Humans are also marvelously adapted to make and use tools: to communicate effectively, to cooperate intensively, to innovate, and to use culture to cope with a wide range of challenges. These extraordinary cultural capacities enabled homo sapiens to spread rapidly across the planet and then, paradoxically, seize being hunter-gatherers."
"The next generation of Americans risks being the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents."
"The US, for example, spends more than $2 trillion a year on healthcare - nearly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product. And it is estimated that approximately 70% of the illnesses we treat are preventable."
"We humans sometimes behave in ways that are not in our best interests because we lack sufficient information, we cannot control our environments, we are unfairly manipulated by others, and, crucially, because we are poorly adapted to control deep cravings for comforts and calories that used to be rare. Consequently, a sensible role of government that benefits everyone is to help one another make choices that we would rationally judge to be in our own self-interest. In other words, government has the right, and even duty, to nudge (or sometimes push) us to behave rationally while preserving our right to still behave irrationally if we so choose."
PS: Children chewing gum could prevent crooked teeth and cavities! Over the years, we have eaten too many cooked and softened foods (therefore, chewing significantly less) so our mouths have tightened up and our faces shrunk. Instead of expanding our mouth and creating space, we now have impacted wisdom teeth and crooked teeth.
"Like money in the bank, fat reserves enable humans to stay active, maintain their bodies, and even reproduce during lean seasons. Unfortunately, natural selection never prepared us to cope with endless seasons of plenty, let alone fast food restaurants."
"All living humans can trace their roots to a common ancestral population that lived in Africa about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, and that a subset of humans dispersed out of Africa starting about 100,000 to 80,000 years ago. In other words, until very recently, all human beings were Africans. All living humans are descended from an alarmingly small number of ancestors. According to one calculation, everyone alive today descends from a population of fewer than 14,000 breeding individuals from Sub-Saharan Africa. And the initial population that gave rise to all non-Africans was probably fewer than 3,000 people."
"Most of the diseases that are likely to afflict you are triggered or intensified by environmental factors that have mostly become common since farming and industrialization. For most of human evolution, people did not have the opportunity to get sick or become disabled from diseases such as Type 2 diabetes and myopia."
"If we really wanted to prevent cavities, we would have to reduce our consumption of sugar and starch drastically. However, ever since farming, most of the world’s population has been dependent on cereals and grains for most of their calories, making a truly cavity preventing diet impossible for all but a few. In effect, cavities are the price we pay for cheap calories."
"More food is good, but agricultural diets can provoke mismatched diseases. One of the biggest problems is a loss of nutritional variety and quality. Hunter-gatherers survived because they eat just about anything and everything that is edible. Hunter-gatherers therefore necessarily consume an extremely diverse diet, typically including many dozens of plant species in any given season. In contrast, farmers sacrifice quality and diversity for quantity by focusing their efforts on just a few staple crops with high yields. It is likely that more than 50% of the calories you consume today derived from rice, corn, wheat, or potatoes."
"Farming surpluses also made possible social stratification, suppression, slavery, war, famine, and other evils unknown to hunter-gatherer societies. Farming also ushered in many mismatched diseases that range from cavities to cholera. Hundreds of millions of people have died from plagues, malnutrition, and starvation - deaths that would not have occurred if we remained hunter-gatherers. Yet despite these many deaths, there are nearly 6 billion more people alive today than would be the case had the agriculture revolution never begun."
"It is as if the human species had a total makeover. Our daily lives would be barely comprehensible to our ancestors from just a few generations ago, but we are essentially identical genetically, anatomically, and physiologically. The change has been so rapid that too little time has elapsed for more than a modicum of natural selection to have occurred. Was it worth it?"
"Yet just because we can live lives of exceptional cleanliness and comfort, doesn’t mean they are good for us - especially children. To grow properly, almost every part of the body needs to be stressed appropriately by interactions with the outside world. Just as not requiring a child to reason critically will stunt her intellect, not stressing a child’s bones, muscles, and immune systems will fail to match these organs capacities to their demands."
"Yet the rate and power of cultural evolution has vastly outpaced the rate and power of natural selection. The bodies we inherited are still adapted, to a significant extent, to the various and diverse environmental conditions in which we evolved over millions of years."
"Humans are also marvelously adapted to make and use tools: to communicate effectively, to cooperate intensively, to innovate, and to use culture to cope with a wide range of challenges. These extraordinary cultural capacities enabled homo sapiens to spread rapidly across the planet and then, paradoxically, seize being hunter-gatherers."
"The next generation of Americans risks being the first generation to live shorter lives than their parents."
"The US, for example, spends more than $2 trillion a year on healthcare - nearly 20% of the country’s gross domestic product. And it is estimated that approximately 70% of the illnesses we treat are preventable."
"We humans sometimes behave in ways that are not in our best interests because we lack sufficient information, we cannot control our environments, we are unfairly manipulated by others, and, crucially, because we are poorly adapted to control deep cravings for comforts and calories that used to be rare. Consequently, a sensible role of government that benefits everyone is to help one another make choices that we would rationally judge to be in our own self-interest. In other words, government has the right, and even duty, to nudge (or sometimes push) us to behave rationally while preserving our right to still behave irrationally if we so choose."
PS: Children chewing gum could prevent crooked teeth and cavities! Over the years, we have eaten too many cooked and softened foods (therefore, chewing significantly less) so our mouths have tightened up and our faces shrunk. Instead of expanding our mouth and creating space, we now have impacted wisdom teeth and crooked teeth.