What I'm Reading: Survival of the Sickest
Now that I’ve re-devoted my free time to reading, I’m burning through books at a pretty good clip. This past week, I read . It was an interesting book, discussing the advantages that various diseases conferred on people throughout the ages and why they are now liabilities. Dr. Moalem talked about Type II Diabetes and Ice Ages; high cholesterol, skin color, and vitamin D; favism, sickle cell, and malaria; and various other diseases.
All in all, this was a very untechnical, easy read, only about 210 pages. I give it 3.5 stars. Through the first 5 chapters, I was thinking perhaps a 3 star rating because much of what he had to say was interesting, but not completely convincing. His discussion of genes, epigenetics, and aging starting in Chapter 6 brought the rating up a bit. As I started reading his epigenetics chapter, I was thinking that the article on epigenetics and male infertility couldn’t have come at a better time. He mentioned a bit about the theory of humans being descended from semi-aquatic apes, a theory which I’ve heard, but never read enough into to know if it should be given any credence. I’ll probably have a post on that in the future after I’ve had a chance to do some research.
Anyway, this book is worth checking out and you can probably burn through it in a few days of dedicated reading as I did. It’s not the best book out there, but it does certainly have some food for thought.
Edit: Thanks to Regina Wilshire for pointing out that the author of this book is male, not female. I changed all of the female pronouns to male pronouns.
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
2 Reader Comments
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I really enjoyed this book!
Minor thing – Dr. Moalem is male =)
Haha…Whoops! I guess the name Sharon threw me off. I too enjoyed it, but thought HE could have gone into more detail in parts…some of it came off more as a theory that he was leaving unexplained. However, it is still an excellent “food for thought” book.
Cheers
Scott