The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease

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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Jul 1, 2014 - Science - 480 pages
A landmark book of popular science that gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years—with charts and line drawings throughout.

“Fascinating.... A readable introduction to the whole field and great on the making of our physicality.”—Nature

In this book, Daniel E. Lieberman illuminates the major transformations that contributed to key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering; and how cultural changes like the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions have impacted us physically. He shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning a paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease. And finally—provocatively—he advocates the use of evolutionary information to help nudge, push, and sometimes even compel us to create a more salubrious environment and pursue better lifestyles.
 

Contents

Introduction
3
Upstanding Apes
25
Much Depends on Dinner
48
The First HunterGatherers
67
Energy in the Ice Age
94
A Very Cultured Species
126
Progress Mismatch and Dysevolution
157
Paradise Lost?
180
Modern Times Modern Bodies
209
The Vicious Circle of Too Much
251
Disuse
293
The Hidden Dangers of Novelty and Comfort
318
Survival of the Fitter
347
Acknowledgments
369
Index
433
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About the author (2014)

DANIEL E. LIEBERMAN is professor of human evolutionary biology and the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard. He has written more than one hundred articles, many appearing in the journals Nature and Science. Lieberman is especially well known for his research on the evolution of the human head and the evolution of running, including barefoot running (earning him the nickname the Barefoot Professor). His research and discoveries have been highlighted widely in newspapers, magazines, books, news programs, and documentaries.

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