
Adaptable
How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us
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Narrated by:
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P.J. Ochlan
About this listen
A new understanding of how our bodies work, how to keep them healthy, and how our biological diversity unites us rather than divides us
How does the body work—and why does it seem to work so differently for each of us? Why do we grow tall or short, obese or slim? Why do some of us stay healthy despite our bad habits while others who do all the right things fall ill? When we look around the planet, why do people vary in skin color, facial features, stature, body proportions, and disease risk?
The answer is both simple and powerful: We’re different because we’re adaptable. Over the past 100,000 years, as humans expanded into every biome on the planet, our bodies were fine-tuned to our local environments. Adaptability is at the heart of being human and the engine of our diversity–our species’ original superpower. As an evolutionary anthropologist working with human populations around the globe, Herman Pontzer has conducted research that embraces our incredible diversity, documenting the connections among lifestyle, landscape, local adaptations, and health.
Adaptable takes us on a tour of the human body. In each chapter, we learn how our bodies navigate an uncertain world: how we grow and mature; how our brains develop and learn; how our hearts, lungs, and digestive systems deliver oxygen and nutrients; how we manage toxins, temperature, and water balance; how we move and reproduce; how our immune system keeps invaders at bay; and how we age and decline. Along the way, we learn how to take care of our remarkable bodies, and that the universe of healthy lifestyles is vast (we don’t need the latest fad diet or cleanse!). Crucially, we come to see how understanding our bodies helps us make sense of the big issues we face today, from vaccines to heart disease, IQ to athletic excellence, diets and obesity to sex and gender, and what we can do to live longer and healthier.
©2025 Herman Pontzer, (P)2025 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Adaptable is ambitious, wide-ranging, and fun to read. Pontzer has a gift for explaining complicated and nuanced topics in fresh ways, and he tackles all the big questions about how our bodies work with a delicate—and entertaining—touch.”—Alex Hutchinson, author of the New York Times bestseller Endure
“Pontzer has written a dazzling guide to the human body, in all its weird and wonderful glory. This is the fascinating story of how our bodies—products of evolutionary history and genes, environment and culture—work and why they differ. Brimming with wit and wisdom, Adaptable is essential reading for anyone interested in how we humans came to be the way we are.”—Kate Wong, senior editor, Scientific American
“Adaptable is the book I've been waiting for. It answers questions that nag us today about the human condition and describes how we got here. It’s an engaging and down-to earth read that bristles with up-to-date and thoughtfully provocative scholarship.”—Nina G. Jablonski, PhD, professor of anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University
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Story
What does it mean to live in a body? For Gabriel Weston, there was always something missing from the anatomy she was taught at medical school. She’d forged an unconventional path, first studying humanities and getting an entry-level job in publishing, before a spark of inspiration set her on the path to becoming a doctor.
By: Gabriel Weston
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Proof
- The Art and Science of Certainty
- By: Adam Kucharski
- Narrated by: Nathaniel Priestley
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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An award-winning mathematician shows how we prove what’s true, and what to do when we can’t.
By: Adam Kucharski
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Stronger
- How to build strength: the secret to a longer, healthier life
- By: David Vaux
- Narrated by: Guy Slocombe
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Renowned Osteopath David Vaux unveils decades of scientific research on strength and the musculoskeletal system. He explains why getting stronger is one of the simplest, cheapest and most life-changing things you can do - and unveils a simple ten-step strength plan that will empower you to embark on your journey towards a stronger and healthier life. Stronger is the definitive guide to unlocking a life full of vitality and health, explaining the what, why and how strength is key to longevity right up to your last day on this planet.
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A must read!
- By Rob on 08-19-24
By: David Vaux
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The Instability of Truth
- Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion
- By: Rebecca Lemov
- Narrated by: Patty Nieman
- Length: 13 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Because brainwashing affects both the world and our observation of the world, we often don’t recognize it while it’s happening—unless we know where to look. As Rebecca Lemov writes in The Instability of Truth, “Brainwashing erases itself.” What we call brainwashing is more common than we think; it is not so much what happens to other people as what can happen to anyone.
By: Rebecca Lemov
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Ordinary Magic
- The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts
- By: Gregory M. Walton PhD
- Narrated by: Gregory M. Walton PhD, Hattie Tate
- Length: 14 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The emotional questions we face can define our lives. If you’re expecting an interaction to go wrong, that expectation can make it so. That’s spiraling down. But as esteemed Stanford psychologist Greg Walton shows, when we see these questions clearly, we can answer them well. Known to social psychologists as wise interventions, these shifts in perspective can help us chart new trajectories for our lives. They help us spiral up. This is ordinary magic: The ordinary experiences that help us set aside the ordinary worries of life to unleash extraordinary change.
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Seeking Shelter
- A Working Mother, Her Children, and a Story of Homelessness in America
- By: Jeff Hobbs
- Narrated by: Janina Edwards, Jeff Hobbs
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2018, poverty and domestic violence cast Evelyn and her children into the urban wilderness of Los Angeles, where she avoids the family crisis network that offers no clear pathway for her children to remain together and in a decent school. For the next five years, Evelyn works full time as a waitress yet remains unable to afford legitimate housing or qualify for government aid. All the while she strives to provide stability, education, loving memories, and college aspirations for her children even as they sleep in motels and in her car.
By: Jeff Hobbs
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A History of the World in Six Plagues
- How Contagion, Class, and Captivity Shaped Us, from Cholera to Covid-19
- By: Edna Bonhomme
- Narrated by: Veronique Olin
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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A History of the World in Six Plagues shows that throughout history, outbreaks of disease have been exacerbated by and gone on to further expand the racial, economic, and sociopolitical divides we allow to fester in times of good health. Princeton-trained historian Edna Bonhomme’s examination of humanity’s disastrous treatment of pandemic disease takes us across place and time from Port-au-Prince to Tanzania, and from plantation-era America to our modern COVID-19-scarred world to unravel shocking truths about the patterns of discrimination in the face of disease.
By: Edna Bonhomme
What listeners say about Adaptable
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- user7720393
- 04-11-25
Surprisingly Engaging
I thought this would be harder to get through, but I found myself finishing the book rather quickly. Nice blend of biology and culture. I’m not well versed on anthropology so this was insightful. Broadly covering many areas of biology with a bit of history behind each was more novel than I expected it to be.
For how approachable this was in content, the performance was a bit lackluster. Hopefully the reader reviews some of the (more polite) feedback on other books because honestly good voice good sound quality, just held back by each 1-3 sentences being read like its own statement rather than nice flowing paragraphs. Jarring at times.
Not the most insightful review but felt obligated as there were no others. Good book, many would benefit from reading!
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