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.