The Story of the Human Body
Evolution, Health, and Disease
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Narrated by:
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Sean Runnette
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By:
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Daniel Lieberman
About this listen
In this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman - chair of the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a leader in the field - gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years, even as it shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning this paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease.
The Story of the Human Body brilliantly illuminates as never before the major transformations that contributed key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering, leading to our superlative endurance athleticism; the development of a very large brain; and the incipience of cultural proficiencies. Lieberman also elucidates how cultural evolution differs from biological evolution, and how our bodies were further transformed during the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions.
While these ongoing changes have brought about many benefits, they have also created conditions to which our bodies are not entirely adapted, Lieberman argues, resulting in the growing incidence of obesity and new but avoidable diseases, such as type 2 diabetes. Lieberman proposes that many of these chronic illnesses persist and in some cases are intensifying because of "dysevolution," a pernicious dynamic whereby only the symptoms rather than the causes of these maladies are treated. 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.
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Are you taking calcium or vitamin D? This book could save your life! Learn the secret to avoiding osteoporosis and heart disease. Millions of people take calcium and Vitamin D supplements thinking they're helping their bones. The truth is, without the addition of Vitamin K2, such a health regimen could prove dangerous. Without Vitamin K2, the body cannot direct calcium to the bones where it's needed; instead, the calcium resides in soft tissue, like the arteries, leading to a combination of osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, or the dreaded "calcium paradox".
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I CANNOT APPLAUD THIS BOOK ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!
- By @THEROOTMATTERS on 03-22-19
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An Epidemic of Absence
- A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases
- By: Moises Velasquez-Manoff
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
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An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.
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The point of view from a Veterinarian immunologist
- By rtgymnast on 11-03-17
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The Cancer Chronicles
- Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery
- By: George Johnson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
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When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way - an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease.
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A quick read - hard to put down
- By Digital Dilema on 09-06-13
By: George Johnson
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Healthy at 100
- By: John Robbins
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
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Why do some people age in failing health and sadness, while others grow old with vitality and joy? In this revolutionary audiobook, best-selling author John Robbins presents us with a bold new paradigm of aging, showing us how we can increase not only our lifespan but also our health span.
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Changed my Life
- By David Shear on 05-23-13
By: John Robbins
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Welcome to the Microbiome
- Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You
- By: Rob DeSalle, Susan L. Perkins
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
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Suddenly, research findings require a paradigm shift in our view of the microbial world. The Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health is well under way, and unprecedented scientific technology now allows the censusing of trillions of microbes inside and on our bodies as well as in the places where we live, work, and play. This intriguing, up-to-the-minute book for scientists and nonscientists alike explains what researchers are discovering about the microbe world and what the implications are for modern science and medicine.
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I learned so much from this book. I am happy.
- By Jonathan Miller on 09-08-18
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Superfuel
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- By: Dr. James DiNicolantonio
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Should you cook with coconut oil or vegetable oil? Eat butter, cream, or olive oil? Supplement with fish oil or flax oil? Sometimes it seems as if everyone has a different opinion on these crucial questions - but this audiobook holds real answers. Best-selling author and teacher Dr. Joseph Mercola teams up with cardiovascular expert Dr. James DiNicolantonio to cut through the confusion about how dietary fats affect our bodies and set the record straight on how to eat for optimal well-being.
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There IS a PDF (now)
- By Maya on 11-16-18
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Sicker, Fatter, Poorer
- The Urgent Threat of Hormone-Disrupting Chemicals on Our Health and Future . . . and What We Can Do About It
- By: Leonardo Trasande MD MPP
- Narrated by: Leonardo Trasande MD MPP
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Lurking in our homes, hiding in our offices, and polluting the air we breathe is something sinister. Something we’ve turned a blind eye to for far too long. Dr. Leonardo Trasande, a pediatrician, professor, and world-renowned researcher, tells the story of how our everyday surroundings are making us sicker, fatter, and poorer. Through a blend of narrative, scientific detective work, and concrete information about the connections between chemicals and disease, he reveals what we can do to protect ourselves and our families in the short-term, and how we can help bring the change we deserve.
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The Must Read Book of 2019 is here early on Audio!
- By Ryan S on 12-21-18
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Catching Fire
- How Cooking Made Us Human
- By: Richard Wrangham
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Ever since Darwin and The Descent of Man, the existence of humans has been attributed to our intelligence and adaptability. But in Catching Fire, renowned primatologist Richard Wrangham presents a startling alternative: our evolutionary success is the result of cooking. In a groundbreaking theory of our origins, Wrangham shows that the shift from raw to cooked foods was the key factor in human evolution.
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Fascinating book about early human development...
- By KevinH on 12-10-09
By: Richard Wrangham
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Wheat Belly
- Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health
- By: William David MD
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Since the introduction of dietary guidelines calling for reduced fat intake in the 1970s, a strange phenomenon has occurred: Americans have steadily, inexorably become heavier, less healthy, and more prone to diabetes than ever before. After putting more than two thousand of his at-risk patients on a wheat-free regimen and seeing extraordinary results, cardiologist William Davis has come to the disturbing conclusion that it is not fat, not sugar, not our sedentary lifestyle that is causing America’s obesity epidemic—it is wheat.
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Raw vegetables, eggs, meat and cheese
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 10-27-12
By: William David MD
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KetoFast
- Rejuvenate Your Health with a Step-by-Step Guide to Timing Your Ketogenic Meals
- By: Dr. Joseph Mercola
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
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In this in-depth yet accessible guide, Dr. Joseph Mercola explores the profound health benefits that result when ketogenic living and well-planned fasting are combined.
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BUY THE HARDCOPY - not the Audio
- By KAWAM on 05-05-19
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This Is Your Brain on Parasites
- How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society
- By: Kathleen McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
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A riveting investigation of the myriad ways that parasites control how other creatures - including humans - think, feel, and act. These tiny organisms can live only inside another animal, and, as McAuliffe reveals, they have many evolutionary motives for manipulating their host's behavior. Far more often than appreciated, these puppeteers orchestrate the interplay between predator and prey.
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Entertaining but questionable studies
- By mdkoci on 01-02-17
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Waste of a credit for common sense observations
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Did you know conservatives have more orgasms?
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In 1994, a team led by fossil-hunting legend Tim White—"the Steve Jobs of paleoanthropology"—uncovered the bones of a human ancestor in Ethiopia's Afar region. The findings challenged many assumptions about human evolution and repudiated a half-century of paleoanthropological orthodoxy. An intriguing tale of scientific discovery, obsession and rivalry that moves from the sun-baked desert of Africa to modern high-tech labs and academic lecture halls, Fossil Men is popular science at its best, and a must-listen for fans of Jared Diamond, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson.
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I wish to give it 5 stars but…
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Nobel laureate Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life? is one of the great science classics of the 20th century. A distinguished physicist's exploration of the question which lies at the heart of biology, it was written for the layman but proved one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of the structure of DNA. It appears here together with "Mind and Matter", his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times.
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Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.
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Understanding our humanity - the essence of who we are - is one of the deepest mysteries and biggest challenges in modern science. Why do we have bad moods? Why are we capable of having such strange dreams? How can metaphors in our language hold such sway on our actions? As we learn more about the mechanisms of human behavior through evolutionary biology, neuroscience, anthropology, and other related fields, we're discovering just how intriguing the human species is.
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Somewhat Interesting but not Quite as Advertised
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We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided, and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness, and chronic illness continue to skyrocket. How do we explain the gap between these truths? And how should we respond? For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our troubles is clear: The accelerating rate of change in the modern world has outstripped the capacity of our brains and bodies to adapt.
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Presents conjecture and bias as science
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Plant Science: An Introduction to Botany
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Dr. Catherine Kleier invites us to open our eyes to the phenomenal world of plant life and to the process she calls “Natura Revelata”, the joy of celebrating and learning from the secrets of nature. As Dr. Kleier shares her knowledge with contagious excitement for her subject, she emphasizes the middle ground: Instead of focusing on cell microbiology or the study of ecosystems and habitats, she stresses the basic biology, function, and the amazing adaptations of the plants we see all around us.
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Needs accompanying documentation and visual aides
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Richard Dawkins' brilliant reformulation of the theory of natural selection has the rare distinction of having provoked as much excitement and interest outside the scientific community as within it. His theories have helped change the whole nature of the study of social biology, and have forced thousands to rethink their beliefs about life.
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Better than print!
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By: Richard Dawkins
What listeners say about The Story of the Human Body
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Kazuhiko
- 01-08-14
They should make us read this book in high school
I think this is the first time I rate a book with five stars for both story and performance. So many of the diseases prevalent in modern societies (e.g., Type 2 diabetes) are called "mismatch disease" because they are caused by mismatch of the modern life style such as abundance of food (of unbalanced kind) vs. our evolutionary tendency to store fat and sugar when we can because food was scarce. This book provides a comprehensive view on how we humans developed since our ancestors started walking on two feet. The author has a rare quality of being able to translate his research expertise to its public health implications. I feel lucky to be alive in this age when books like this can teach us the evolutionary perspective on how we are living now compared to the past and what can be improved. It is also devastating to know that so many of modern diseases are preventable, and yet, important information like this has not seeped into the mainstream culture.
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5 people found this helpful
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- TLB
- 05-25-21
required knowledge
without this knowledge we are shooting blind at many important medical issues. I would have given all five stars, but the book was unnecessarily repetitive.
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1 person found this helpful
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- ana c.
- 05-16-16
Amazing!!
What an amazing book! Listened twice some chapters to make sure I got the information right! Everyone should read or listen to this book, either you are in the healthcare or fitness field or just care to know a little more about your body!!! Absolutely loved it!!!
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- The Harvey’s
- 08-30-16
Interesting
I'm thinking had some interesting theories. A lot of good science involved from the nutritional aspect. Overall pretty good book I would give it a shot especially if it's something that interest you
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- laura torrado
- 11-13-21
Narrator
The narrators way of speech does not do justice to the book .
Is distracting and disengaging
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Overall
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Performance
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Superb
Narration: Perfect
Content: Fascinating, clearly explained, informative, profound integration of evolutionary theory, archaeology, history of human development, cultural sensitivity, health, etiology and cautionary understanding of disease, and paradigmatic exemplar of how to write science for the lay public.
Summary Evaluation: Highly Recommended!
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- Aaron S.
- 04-05-22
informative and interesting.
gave me lots of interesting info in an informative way without being boring or disappointing
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- Mark
- 09-10-15
From tree to car
This is a really enjoyable book. I suppose the points made aren’t all that novel or mind-blowing, but they are made in a really entertaining, comprehensive and satisfying way and it is packed with insights reinforcing the world-view of evolutionary biology that I’ve gleaned from similar audiobooks on related topics.
The author is a Harvard professor of biology, and the subject is the human body. He spends the first half of the book describing how the human body evolved since the time of our last common ancestor with the other great apes. Over these six million years or so our bodies have changed due to a sequence of important adaptations, and his explanations of each of these changes and their advantages in the environmental conditions of the time are truly enlightening. Although some of these are well-known to the point of being clichéd, e.g. becoming bipedal, losing our fur, developing better voice-boxes, etc, he describes each of these steps to a level of detail that really boosted my understanding of the subject.
An example of this is the bipedal adaptation. In order to become efficient walkers our legs got longer, our hips turned inwards, we developed arches in our feet, and the end result was that we use significantly fewer calories to cover a given distance compared to a chimp. We covered long distances in great heat to find food, losing our fur and developing sweat glands to facilitate this activity in the hot African sun – retaining head hair to protect us from sunburn. I knew that we were good walkers but I hadn’t previously realised that we also evolved as runners. We are very slow runners compared to most of our predators (e.g. lions) and I thought that was just the price we had to pay for becoming bipedal and freeing up our hands for tool-use. But actually, while being rubbish at sprinting, we are excellent, well-evolved long-distance runners. There is evidence that we hunted large mammals using a ‘persistence’ method; We would patiently jog after a large mammal, which would gallop off until it had to rest in the shade. We would catch up with it and it would gallop off again before it had time to fully recover, and this sequence would continue until the beast eventually collapsed with heat-stroke, making it an easy kill.
The second part of the book focuses on the concept of evolutionary ‘mismatch’. This is a detailed look at how, when faced with a changing environment, our bodies have initially been poorly matched and have taken time to adapt. There is then a special emphasis on the mismatches that we currently face, with our modern Western lifestyle (the extremely new environment of chairs, beds, computers, pollution, abundant high calorie food, etc, etc).
So many modern chronic diseases seem to be associated with us using our bodies in ways they weren’t adapted for. They are too numerous to mention, but examples are heart disease, fallen arches, type 2 diabetes, short-sightedness and lower back pain. These diseases are rare in present day hunter-gatherer societies, and it isn’t because they don’t live long enough to succumb to these ‘old-age’ disorders, the older members of these societies don’t typically get them either.
So there’s a really good discussion of how modern ailments have resulted from the mismatch between our bodies and our new environment. Again, this is not a particularly novel idea, but it’s a thorough and stimulating discussion with many suggestions for how we could prevent or reduce these diseases, both on a societal and a personal level. If you’re interested in this kind of stuff, I wholeheartedly recommend this book.
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24 people found this helpful
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- scott
- 10-27-13
Fascinating
Kind of boggles the mind to think mankind has been around hundreds of thousands of years. First part of the book is an evolution history lesson, second part is an examination of where we currently are and implications for the future. Very readable, Lieberman often points out evolution facts (learned through fossil discoveries) and assumptions. Some surprising facts like most people have 1-3% Neanderthal DNA and most of the world can be traced back to a small community of 14,000 people in Africa. Overall, Lieberman has made what could have been a very dry book, come to life.
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3 people found this helpful
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- R. Williams
- 03-19-21
Agree this is 2 Books, one a 5 the other a 3
The whole Jared Diamond thing about farming being the worst thing humans ever did is so dumb. The Sapiens guy spews this silliness too. One of the funniest things about this is when it appears in a book about evolution, it just comes off as even more ridiculous: so each step along the way, going bipedal, etc., made sense until this larger brain made a big mistake? It's a case of doing exactly what evolution taught us science must not do!! ('Nothing in the past makes sense except in light of evolution...')
I was also disappointed when the author got up on his soapbox about people being mean to fat people. He said that was like being mad at the poor (what?? wrong) and that in fact obesity and being poor do coincide (yes). There's a huge difference: a person who is eating a garbage diet has other choices. Half the world lives on a dollar a day and those people are not using up hundreds of thousands on bypasses and infusions. A poor person can't just go to a store and buy something else to solve their economic problems?
The thing about authors like Lieberman and Harari is they might have been pushed by editors to put some sizzle, but then, the good parts of the book are demoted and pushed into the background.
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1 person found this helpful