Jonathan Prince,Sharon Moalem

Survival of the Sickest

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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?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, 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.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth — and, especially, what that means for us.
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285 printed pages
Publication year
2009
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Impressions

  • юрий чугреевshared an impression4 years ago

    Книга замечательная,но,всё же,для подготовленного читателя.Хороший стиль.чувство юмора-всё это подкупает.Читал на английском.два-в одном.Биологию изучаю всю жизнь,потому ,что её очень люблю,поэтому книгу читать было легко.Учите биологию,мать вашу!

Quotes

  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    With the help of insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, glucose is stored in your liver, muscles, and fat cells (think of them as your own internal OPEC) waiting to be converted to fuel as necessary.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    to fight infection by reducing the amount of iron available to feed an invader, providing an assist to the body’s natural tendency to hide iron when it recognizes an infection.
  • jesshas quoted4 years ago
    doctor named John Murray was working with his wife in a Somali refugee camp when he noticed that many of the nomads, despite pervasive anemia and repeated exposure to a range of virulent pathogens, including malaria, tuberculosis, and brucellosis, were free of visible infection.
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