Name: Survival of the Sickest
ISBN: 9780007256549

Sharon Moalem

Jonathan Prince

Sharon Moalem proposes that common diseases came into existence for very good reasons - for example, how diabetes may be a by-product of a mechanism that helped humans survive the Ice Age, and why Asians can't drink as much alcohol as Europeans. She also looks at how the modern world influences disease.

The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity

Survival of the Sickest

Dr. Sharon Moalem

Read it. You're already living it. 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.

Arohi parikh

Rushali Parikh

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Vibha Kodancha

Kathleen Mullins

Catherine Nicolai

Dr Sharon Moalem

In this groundbreaking and absorbing book Dr. Sharon Moalem, a leading medical researcher in the emerging fields of neurogenetics and evolutionary medicine, delves back into the evolution of man to offer a radical new way of thinking about survival, the human body, and our understanding of disease.

Survival of the Sickest The Surprising Connections Between Disease and Longevity