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The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease Paperback – Illustrated, 1 July 2014

by Daniel E Lieberman (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 2,000 ratings
Edition: Illustrated
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A landmark book of popular science that gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years--with charts and line drawings throughout.

"Fascinating.... A readable introduction to the whole field and great on the making of our physicality."--Nature

In this book, Daniel E. Lieberman illuminates the major transformations that contributed to key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering; and how cultural changes like the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions have impacted us physically. He shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning a paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease. 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 and pursue better lifestyles.
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  1. ISBN-10
    030774180X
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0307741806
  3. Edition
    Illustrated
  4. Publisher
    Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  5. Publication date
    1 July 2014
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    13.16 x 2.72 x 20.29 cm
  8. Print length
    480 pages
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Popular Highlights in this book
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  1. We didn’t evolve to be healthy, but instead we were selected to have as many offspring as possible under diverse, challenging conditions. As a consequence, we never evolved to make rational choices about what to eat or how to exercise in conditions of abundance and comfort.
    Highlighted by 507 Kindle readers
  2. Men and women aged forty-five to seventy-nine who are physically active, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, do not smoke, and consume alcohol moderately have on average one-fourth the risk of death during a given year than people with unhealthy habits.
    Highlighted by 413 Kindle readers
  3. The fundamental answer to why so many humans are now getting sick from previously rare illnesses is that many of the body’s features were adaptive in the environments for which we evolved but have become maladaptive in the modern environments we have now created.
    Highlighted by 409 Kindle readers
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Product description

Review

"Monumental ... an epic voyage that reveals how the past six million years shaped every part of us--our heads, limbs, and even our metabolism.... Through Lieberman's eyes, evolutionary history not only comes alive, it becomes the means to understand, and ultimately influence, our body's future."
--Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish

"Fascinating.... A readable introduction to the whole field and great on the making of our physicality."
--Nature

"Sweeping.... Convincingly makes the case for a wholesale rethinking of how we live our modern lives.'"
--CommonHealth, WBUR

"Riveting, enlightening, and more than a little frightening.... No one understands the human body like Daniel Lieberman or tells its story more eloquently."
--Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run

"These are not debates to gloss over or reduce to simple statements of cause and effect--they are stories with scientific complexity and tremendous, sometimes contradictory accumulations of evidence and detail. The Story of the Human Body does full justice to those stories, to that evidence and to that detail, and brings them to bear on daily health and well-being, individual and collective."
--The Washington Post

"[Lieberman] is a true expert in a system where architecture and history intersect: the human foot. He ably describes how behavior and anatomy can lead to foot injuries in long-distance runners."
--The Wall Street Journal

"The ultimate science-based Paleo investigation.... Convincing.... A great read, and I recommend it highly for those of you who are interested in learning the facts about our biological roots, and how we can rationally apply 'Paleo' concepts to prevent and reverse modern 'mismatch' diseases."
--Dr. Ronald Hoffman, The Hoffman Center/Health Talk

"Eloquent and precise ... Lieberman is the first to point out that modern living and technology have made our lives better in many ways. Still, a look back at where we came from can tell us a lot about where we're headed, he says--and how we might alter that course for the better."
--Grist

"A doozy.... That humans are poorly adapted to our modern lifestyle of convenience foods, flat screens, and desk jobs isn't very controversial. But how we best cope with this new reality often is. Lieberman takes on many popular notions, including barefoot running, the paleo diet, epigenetics, and a host of hot topics ranging from obesity and chronic disease to Nanny State politics."
--Outside

"[Lieberman's] evolutionary approach produces some counterintuitive surprises.... The Story of the Human Body is a reliable guide to a problem that is going to get worse before it gets better."
--The Guardian

"In thoroughly enjoyable and edifying prose, Lieberman ... leads a fascinating journey through human evolution. He comprehensively explains how evolutionary forces have shaped the human species as we know it.... He balances a historical perspective with a contemporary one ... while asking how we might control the destiny of our species. He argues persuasively that 'cultural evolution is now the dominant force of evolutionary change acting on the human body.'"
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Lieberman gracefully combines paleontology, anatomy, physiology, and experimental biomechanics to clarify how the human body has evolved and how evolutionary design now clashes with the particularities of modern society.... An important book."
--Library Journal

"Lieberman holds nothing back.... He cleverly and comprehensively points out the perils of possessing Paleolithic anatomy and physiology in a modern world and bemoans 'just how out of touch we have become with our bodies.' ... If we want to continue our phenomenal run as a species, it is essential to understand (and embrace) our evolutionary legacy."
--Booklist

"A massive review of where we came from and what ails us now ... Would that industry and governments take heed."
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

DANIEL E. LIEBERMAN is professor of human evolutionary biology and the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard. He has written more than one hundred articles, many appearing in the journals Nature and Science. Lieberman is especially well known for his research on the evolution of the human head and the evolution of running, including barefoot running (earning him the nickname the Barefoot Professor). His research and discoveries have been highlighted widely in newspapers, magazines, books, news programs, and documentaries.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 July 2014
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Illustrated
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 030774180X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0307741806
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 454 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.16 x 2.72 x 20.29 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 305,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 out of 5 stars 2,000 ratings

About the author

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Daniel Lieberman

Daniel Lieberman

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Daniel Lieberman is Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and a professor of the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He received degrees from Harvard and Cambridge, and taught at Rutgers University and George Washington University before joining Harvard University as a Professor in 2001. He is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Lieberman studies and teaches how and why the human body is the way it is, and how our evolutionary history affects health and disease. In his research he combines experimental biomechanics, anatomy, and physiology both in the lab and in the field (primarily Kenya and Mexico). He is best known for his work on the evolution of running and other kinds of physical activities such as walking and throwing, but is also well known for studying the evolution of the human head.

Lieberman loves teaching and has published over 150 peer-reviewed papers, many in journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS, as well as three popular books, The Evolution of the Human Head (2011), The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health and Disease (2013), and Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding (2020).

In his spare time, he enjoys running - sometimes barefoot, earning him the nickname 'the Barefoot Professor'.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
2,000 global ratings

Top reviews from Australia

  • Alvaro Salvo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read
    Reviewed in Australia on 15 November 2022
    Format: Audiobook
    This book has to be read by those undergoing medical training, it establishes the right architecture for understanding disease in today’s world . An amazing read ,highly recommended
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  • Filipe Medeiros
    4.0 out of 5 stars The book is amazing!
    Reviewed in Australia on 31 October 2018
    Verified Purchase
    I love the book, however the delivery man tried to fit it in a very small mail box causing some denting on a couple of pages.
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  • JS
    4.0 out of 5 stars An insightful read
    Reviewed in Australia on 28 January 2015
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    A thought provoking, well researched book, that brings science to what is often a subjective topic. An enjoyable writing style keeps the book interesting while educating on how our culture can impact our health and can assist the reader take better control to manage their life choices.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • albertoam
    5.0 out of 5 stars great book
    Reviewed in Italy on 19 November 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Why bipedalism os such a revolition which shaped our body and brain and ultimately may be the reason behind the emergence of conscioismess and the mind? Great book.
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  • A. Volk
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book on the evolution of the body and modern health
    Reviewed in Canada on 7 November 2013
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Lieberman sets out to describe the evolution of the human body and how our evolutionary history has prepared us (or not) for healthy living in our modern environments. The first part of the book deals with our evolution from distant ape ancestors to humans. It's a good, up-to-date account of human evolutionary history (although it doesn't include the most recent fossil findings from Georgia). It paints a strong picture of how our bodies changed and evolved, what different hominid species were adapted for, and why some went extinct. It's certainly not the most thorough introduction to the topic, but it definitely gets the job done as a general introduction or a refresher.

    The second part of the book deals with the agricultural revolution and its consequences for our bodies. At first, it was largely a good thing. But as time went on and agriculture became more intensive people's health suffered, as witnessed by their bones. We are not very well adapted to a farming lifestyle, although evolution has occurred to steer us towards that direction amongst long-time farming populations. The ability for adults to digest lactose, resistance to agricultural plague diseases, and a great tolerance of insulin are some examples. In this way, the book is rather reminiscent of The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution. The idea that human evolution didn't stop in the paleolithic is a view that I'm very sympathetic towards so it was a very interesting section to read.

    Yet it's the final part of the book that has perhaps the greatest punch. Lieberman discusses how we are living in a health paradox. We generally live longer, healthier, more pain-free lives than ever (although he doesn't talk very much about mental health). However, we are now subject to a variety of illnesses caused by a mismatch between our bodies and the radically new environment that they live in. Lieberman likes the terms cultural evolution and dysevolution to refer to cultural changes and the bodies' inability to thrive with those changes. He spends a lot of time on our diet, focusing largely on the excess of calories that we eat. He also spends a significant amount of time on exercise, and how a lack of excerise fails to promote optimal body development. Because many of our modern health problems occur late in life, they are both not strongly subject to natural (or sexual) selection and they are easy for people to fall into as the consequences of poor choices don't appear for decades. Without ruining the content of the book, I can say that these changes are profound. As a former personal trainer, I've read a ton about diets and exercise. Lieberman reinforces the essential truth of dieting and exercise- there is no magic bullet or diet or exercise. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables and exercise regularly. That's the key. Unfortunately, neither is easy for us to do when we are bombarded with environmental opportunities to engage in much more pleasurable eating choices (e.g., junk food) and much more comfortable exercise choices (e.g., relaxing in an easy chair). Lieberman concludes by reviewing the evidence and making suggestions. Recognizing the challenge of just getting people to eat right and exercise (our bodies generally don't like doing that), he recommends altering our environments to incentive our choices. For example, putting taxes on sugary foods. Putting premiums on exercise opportunities. Etc. It's a realistic, sound approach that recognizes the scope of the problem as well as the solutions.

    Overall then, this is an excellent book. It has significant scientific rigor (with dozens of pages of citations and footnotes), yet it is easily readable by a general audience. Besides the general public, I think this is one of the greatest books for doctors since Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine. Lieberman collects the evidence, presents it without bias, and then proposes real solutions. This book isn't the cure for our modern ailments, but it is a very clear call to recognize them and start dealing with them, particularly since we all want to live a long and healthy life and have our children do even better than we did. My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen more about our mental health, but I suppose that would either be out of his area of expertise or it would simply make the book too big for his tastes. So a solid five stars.
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  • Craig Inskip
    5.0 out of 5 stars Life Changing...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 March 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I think the headline says it all really. This book is probably up there with the best I've ever read. My major passions include evolutionary biology, health and wellbeing and fitness - this book combines them all. The first part of this book is very similar to Sapiens: A look back at our ancestors including how they used to live and their evolutionary past. The second part of the book focuses more on where we are now and describes how the environment we live in and the power of cultural evolution has created a mis-match for our bodies. The book is absolutely packed full of information and if you're anything like me, you will finish it examining your own lifestyle and how you can make small or major changes to improve your health and longevity.

    I really cannot praise this book enough. It's the type of book which should be read not just by individuals, but governments around the Western world in order to improve our societal approach to health and disease. As the book illustrates - we've created an environment which has done some wonderful but also damaging things which is making us sick. Hundreds of thousands of years of evolution have not prepared us for a life of inactivity and an abundance of fatty, sugary, salty foods.

    There are changes that need to be made before healthcare systems in the Western world are crippled and collapse.
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  • Client d'Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Instructif et plaisant
    Reviewed in France on 6 February 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Une promenade, très accessible pour découvrir le corps humain.
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  • Alejandro Sahuquillo
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best scientific books I have ver read
    Reviewed in Spain on 3 December 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    Great book about how are body evolved the way it is and how living in an environment different from the one that we had has made us suffer the illness that we have.
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