Sharon Moalem
Hardcover | Pages: 267 pages Rating: 4.15 | 6710 Users | 618 Reviews
Present Of Books Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
| Title | : | Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease |
| Author | : | Sharon Moalem |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 267 pages |
| Published | : | February 6th 2007 by William Morrow (first published 2007) |
| Categories | : | Science. Nonfiction. Health. Medicine. Medical. Biology |
Interpretation To Books Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off? Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria. Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time. Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives..Mention Books During Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
| Original Title: | Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease |
| ISBN: | 0060889659 (ISBN13: 9780060889654) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating Of Books Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
Ratings: 4.15 From 6710 Users | 618 ReviewsCrit Of Books Survival of the Sickest: A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
This is a prime example of the problems with science books written for a lay audience. The author regularly presents hypotheses/hunches than he believes as if they're well-supported by scienceI picked this book up because it spent time on my field of study, infectious disease. The first chapter was okay, but then it just went downhill from there. The type 1 diabetes chapter that posits that it aids in survival in a cold climate is laughably implausible. Moalem states that "some scientists"This book is one of the best books I've ever read. I learned so much and have recommended it to so many people (and have given it as gifts). I learned things I would have never known...so many pieces came together in this book. I would suggest it to anyone who needs a break from their "novel" reading. Switch it up and read this book. You'll be glad you did!
Very good.As I wrote to Dr. Moalem,Dear Dr. Moalem,I found your book, Survival of the Sickest, on a table in the bookstore that employs me. The title and concept intrigued me. The material has proved fascinating, and, for the large part, very well researched. I am concerned, though, with a statement you make on page 87, regarding psoralen production in organically grown celery. It reads, Farmers who use synthetic pesticides, while creating a whole host of other problems, are essentially
The thesis sounds interesting, but the author doesn't provide very many examples, and for those he does, the evidence is speculative at best. Do people have diabetes today because it "may" have helped during the ice age? Prove it. While he tries to explain the past, he offers no ideas as to how things may change now that the ice age is over and plague is rare. He cites his sources, but if you check them out, many turn out to be ordinary newspapers like US Today. These are not valid sources of
A slick production this is. The musical transitions are snappy and the narrator converts what might have been prosaic pitfalls to satisfying conversational tidbits. Yes, the book has sentences like, "Compromises, compromises." Probably, some readers will find the tone condescending. Even worse, some readers will feel they have read everything before. So why did I rate this book so highly? This is a wonderful book because it ties together disparate facts from the world of modern biology. Books
Marketing looked like a complete ripoff of Freakonomics. Style reads like Freakonomics with a personal health/medicine spin. Too boldly mixes well accepted medical observations: Sickle Cell Anemia is related to genes that provide resistance to Malaria. Get one you're good, get two you're screwed.With absolutely left field speculation: African-Americans have high incidents of hypertension and heart disease due to a artificial selectional pressure exerted on them by their ancestors' passage across
This book was EXCELLENT! Despite being written in 2007, this book is as up to date as any book about evolution. In fact, it's even better than his 2014 book Inheritance. If you are tired of reading books that work very hard to preserve the image of the selfish gene and are looking for a book that celebrates the newer information researchers have gained since the 1970s, I highly recommend reading this. Geneticist Sharon Moalem examines the role that jumping genes, parasites and viruses, and
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