Have you ever wondered how the disparity between the life experiences of our ancestors and ourselves might affect our health? For the majority of our evolutionary history, humans lived in small hunter- gatherer groups whose diet, lifestyle, living conditions, and environmental pressures were very different to the experiences of most humans today. The adaptations making us uniquely human - height, brain size, body proportions, metabolic rate, day range - were established during the Pleistocene - some 200 times as long as our recent evolutionary history - and may not fit us as well at the end of the 20th Century. This fascinating book explores and analyses the ways in which our ancient genes contend with, and influence, human life in the space age. It offers the first broad, in-depth coverage of the many points of contact between evolutionary biology and medical science. Evolutionary biology is not a standard part of medical education, but it offers many important insights into central problems of human health and disease. These include the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the evolution of pathogen virulence, the evolution of ageing, the design of vaccines, and population- and genotype-specific reactions to drugs and susceptibility to disease. They also include new insights into mother-offspring conflict during pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, child abuse, homicide, depression, schizophrenia, and many chronic degenerative diseases, such as cancer and osteoporosis. This book, written by a team of world experts in evolutionary medicine, describes the state of the art, and provides easy, clear access to the primary literature. Addressed to medical students, medical researchers, and evolutionary biologists, it provides compelling arguments for why the tools of evolutionary biology - both its ideas and its methods - belong in every doctor's tool-kit.

Review

"Perhaps now is the right time for the new ways of thinking that Evolution in Health and Disease so effectively presents."--Science "There is great breadth in what is covered--from chapters considering parasite virulence to those on complex genetic disorders (and including the entertainingly titled 'Putting the stone age in perspective'). That there is something of interest for everyone is its strength . . . There is much of interest in this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it."--Heredity "Helps establish evolutionary biology as a legitimate discipline by challenging the notion that the body is a Platonic ideal designed for health and happiness except for happenstance flaws, and characterizing it instead as a bundle of trade-offs shaped by natural selection to maximize reproductive success in the ancestral environment. Scientists from around the world place within that context such matters as human history and human genes; natural selection, conflict, and constraints; pathogens, drugs, and virulence; and non-infectious and degenerative disease."--SciTech Book News "it is perhaps most remarkable how little medicine has so far benefited from the unique insights of the Darwinian point of view. Hence, I am happy to report this book is a superlative effort. If it is not curative of this chronic " medical malady" of ignorance of evolution, then it is certainly a good dose of what the doctor ordered. The editor, Steven Stearns of the Zoological Institute of Basle, has forged a fine contribution. Indeed, it is really a book complete with a basic theme, sustained coherence, appealing substance, and style that arrives at a propitious time. Each is well-written, thought-stimulating, and expert. The book is a resounding success. It is a smart yet accessible synopsis of exactly what the title offers." -- Daniel R. Wilson, American Journal of Human Biology, Vol 13, No 2, Mar/Apr 2001 "Perhaps now is the right time for the new ways of thinking that Evolution in Health and Disease so effectively presents."--Science "There is great breadth in what is covered--from chapters considering parasite virulence to those on complex genetic disorders (and including the entertainingly titled 'Putting the stone age in perspective'). That there is something of interest for everyone is its strength . . . There is much of interest in this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it."--Heredity "Helps establish evolutionary biology as a legitimate discipline by challenging the notion that the body is a Platonic ideal designed for health and happiness except for happenstance flaws, and characterizing it instead as a bundle of trade-offs shaped by natural selection to maximize reproductive success in the ancestral environment. Scientists from around the world place within that context such matters as human history and human genes; natural selection, conflict, and constraints; pathogens, drugs, and virulence; and non-infectious and degenerative disease."--SciTech Book News "it is perhaps most remarkable how little medicine has so far benefited from the unique insights of the Darwinian point of view. Hence, I am happy to report this book is a superlative effort. If it is not curative of this chronic" medical malady" of ignorance of evolution, then it is certainly a good dose of what the doctor ordered. The editor, Steven Stearns of the Zoological Institute of Basle, has forged a fine contribution. Indeed, it is really a book complete with a basic theme, sustained coherence, appealing substance, and style that arrives at a propitious time. Each is well-written, thought-stimulating, and expert. The book is a resounding success. It is a smart yet accessible synopsis of exactly what the title offers." -- Daniel R. Wilson, American Journal of Human Biology, Vol 13, No 2, Mar/Apr 2001 "Perhaps now is the right time for the new ways of thinking that Evolution in Health and Disease so effectively presents."--Science "There is great breadth in what is covered--from chapters considering parasite virulence to those on complex genetic disorders (and including the entertainingly titled 'Putting the stone age in perspective'). That there is something of interest for everyone is its strength . . . There is much of interest in this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it."--Heredity "Helps establish evolutionary biology as a legitimate discipline by challenging the notion that the body is a Platonic ideal designed for health and happiness except for happenstance flaws, and characterizing it instead as a bundle of trade-offs shaped by natural selection to maximize reproductive success in the ancestral environment. Scientists from around the world place within that context such matters as human history and human genes; natural selection, conflict, and constraints; pathogens, drugs, and virulence; and non-infectious and degenerative disease."--SciTech Book News "it is perhaps most remarkable how little medicine has so far benefited from the unique insights of the Darwinian point of view. Hence, I am happy to report this book is a superlative effort. If it is not curative of this chronic" medical malady" of ignorance of evolution, then it is certainly a good dose of what the doctor ordered. The editor, Steven Stearns of the Zoological Institute of Basle, has forged a fine contribution. Indeed, it is really a book complete with a basic theme, sustained coherence, appealing substance, and style that arrives ata propitious time. Each is well-written, thought-stimulating, and expert. The book is a resounding success. It is a smart yet accessible synopsis of exactly what the title offers." -- Daniel R. Wilson, American Journal of Human Biology, Vol 13, No 2, Mar/Apr 2001 "Perhaps now is the right time for the new ways of thinking that Evolution in Health and Disease so effectively presents."--Science "There is great breadth in what is covered--from chapters considering parasite virulence to those on complex genetic disorders (and including the entertainingly titled 'Putting the stone age in perspective'). That there is something of interest for everyone is its strength . . . There is much of interest in this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it."--Heredity "Helps establish evolutionary biology as a legitimate discipline by challenging the notion that the body is a Platonic ideal designed for health and happiness except for happenstance flaws, and characterizing it instead as a bundle of trade-offs shaped by natural selection to maximize reproductive success in the ancestral environment. Scientists from around the world place within that context such matters as human history and human genes; natural selection, conflict, and constraints; pathogens, drugs, and virulence; and non-infectious and degenerative disease."--SciTech Book News "it is perhaps most remarkable how little medicine has so far benefited from the unique insights of the Darwinian point of view. Hence, I am happy to report this book is a superlative effort. If it is not curative of this chronic" medical malady" of ignorance of evolution, then it is certainly a good dose of what the doctor ordered. The editor, Steven Stearns of the Zoological Institute of Basle, has forged a fine contribution. Indeed, it is really a book complete with a basic theme, sustained coherence, appealing substance, and style that arrives at a propitious time. Each iswell-written, thought-stimulating, and expert. The book is a resounding success. It is a smart yet accessible synopsis of exactly what the title offers." -- Daniel R. Wilson, American Journal of Human Biology, Vol 13, No 2, Mar/Apr 2001

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