Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us About Sex, Diet, and How We Live

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

We evolved to eat berries rather than bagels, to live in mud huts rather than condos, to sprint barefoot rather than play football--or did we? Are our bodies and brains truly at odds with modern life? Although it may seem as though we have barely had time to shed our hunter-gatherer legacy, biologist Marlene Zuk reveals that the story is not so simple. Popular theories about how our ancestors lived--and why we should emulate them--are often based on speculation, not scientific evidence.

Armed with a razor-sharp wit and brilliant, eye-opening research, Zuk takes us to the cutting edge of biology to show that evolution can work much faster than was previously realized, meaning that we are not biologically the same as our caveman ancestors. Contrary to what the glossy magazines would have us believe, we do not enjoy potato chips because they crunch just like the insects our forebears snacked on. And women don't go into shoe-shopping frenzies because their prehistoric foremothers gathered resources for their clans. As Zuk compellingly argues, such beliefs incorrectly assume that we're stuck--finished evolving--and have been for tens of thousands of years. She draws on fascinating evidence that examines everything from adults' ability to drink milk to the texture of our ear wax to show that we've actually never stopped evolving. Our nostalgic visions of an ideal evolutionary past in which we ate, lived, and reproduced as we were "meant to" fail to recognize that we were never perfectly suited to our environment. Evolution is about change, and every organism is full of trade-offs.

From debunking the caveman diet to unraveling gender stereotypes, Zuk delivers an engrossing analysis of widespread paleofantasies and the scientific evidence that undermines them, all the while broadening our understanding of our origins and what they can really tell us about our present and our future.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction (p. 1)
• 1 Cavemen in Condos (p. 19)
• 2 Are We Stuck? (p. 44)
• 3 Crickets, Sparrows, and Darwins-or, Evolution before Our Eyes (p. 67)
• 4 The Perfect Paleofantasy Diet: Milk (p. 92)
• 5 The Perfect Paleofantasy Diet: Meat, Grains, and Cooking (p. 109)
• 6 Exercising the Paleofantasy (p. 134)
• 7 Paleofantasy Love (p. 164)
• 8 The Paleofantasy Family (p. 194)
• 9 Paleofantasy, in Sickness and in Health (p. 219)
• 10 Are We Still Evolving? A Tale of Genes, Altitude, and Earwax (p. 245)
• Acknowledgments (p. 273)
• Notes (p. 275)
• Bibliography (p. 293)
• Index (p. 315)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Contrary to what the book jacket blurb suggests, no one believes that humans are biologically the same as caveman ancestors. Zuk (ecology, evolution, and behavior, Univ. of Minnesota; Sex on Six Legs, CH, Mar'12, 49-3870) believes that the paleofantasy fringe should be put right, and so has sought out speeches, magazine articles, blogs, and websites from paleofantasy proponents to do so. Her goal is to rebut them with facts and evidence, especially with regard to diet, exercise, individual relationships, family groups, and social dynamics. She also aims to refute such paleofantasy claims that 10,000 years is too short a time for human evolution and that humans are designed for the Paleolithic period. Her approach, which is to knock down such straw men one at a time, makes for an episodic treatment. Topics that speak to humans' evolutionary legacy--infant mortality, diseases, epidemics, obesity, and aggression--are scattered throughout or barely treated. This is done without discussing the mechanisms from epigenetics, cultural and technological evolution that reveal how humans utilize their mix of ancient and modified genes, while continuing to be responsive to their environments through artificial and natural selection. This work may interest biologists who know the subject and can appreciate the gaps in coverage. Summing Up: Optional. Researchers/faculty, professionals. B. K. Hall emeritus, Dalhousie University