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Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live by Marlene Zuk
greeniezona's review against another edition
3.0
Everything about this subject matter should be directly up my alley, and indeed, there were a number of sections that were fascinating. And yet still, for some reason I kept having to force myself to pick this book back up. Maybe I was just too easily convinced of the premise (that just because our ancestors may (or may not) have done X, that does not mean we should still be doing X now), so additional argumentation quickly became unnecessary.
The sections I found most interesting were generally those offering evidence for "modern" evolution of the human race. On the flip-side, if figuring out how recently an evolutionary change has happened is important, the science of how to make that determinations should have been explained less haphazardly. One technique was repeatedly described so vaguely that I was frustrated and distracted, trying to remember from my college genetics class 16 years ago why it should work out that way, until, two or three chapters later, a more thorough explanation was finally given.
I don't know, the paleo fad annoys me and I'm happy to be able to better articulate why, but largely I wish I'd spent the time reading Sarah Blaffer Hrdy instead.
The sections I found most interesting were generally those offering evidence for "modern" evolution of the human race. On the flip-side, if figuring out how recently an evolutionary change has happened is important, the science of how to make that determinations should have been explained less haphazardly. One technique was repeatedly described so vaguely that I was frustrated and distracted, trying to remember from my college genetics class 16 years ago why it should work out that way, until, two or three chapters later, a more thorough explanation was finally given.
I don't know, the paleo fad annoys me and I'm happy to be able to better articulate why, but largely I wish I'd spent the time reading Sarah Blaffer Hrdy instead.
marjolaine_lafreniere's review against another edition
2.0
I don't think I was in the right mood for this kind of book, but it was interesting.
sam_reads10's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
cmspin's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, but some of the thoughts could have been developled more.
rebus's review against another edition
4.75
There must be a lot of people out there who hated this book, disturbed deeply by the actual picture of who we really are as a species and hidebound to the dogma of their own modern and unnatural lives. Woe betide those who fail to live in accordance with their biology, for they are not long for this world...
snowynight's review against another edition
4.0
Very informational and argue convincingly that humans have always been changing, and there is neither a golden age nor a point that humans have gone beyond evolution - as there is no end goal for evolution, and humans are just another creature in the world.
ejdecoster's review against another edition
3.0
A fairly clear-eyed and thorough look at what is and isn't (and might be or might not be) about the current paleo/primal fad.
theartolater's review against another edition
4.0
I have a lot of friends (perhaps more than most) who do some version of the paleo lifestyle, whether it be simply the food, or some combination of food and exercise, or some modified version. I'm very much live-and-let-live with what people want to do - if it makes you happy, it makes you happy. With that said, any time I can learn more about something, I want to take the opportunity. I've gotten a lot of information about paleo from the pro-side, but not much of anything otherwise. Paleofantasy tries to be the other side, and I'm glad I read it on a whole.
The book has small, digestable chapters that are pretty standard. It takes a claim, looks at the science, and lays it out there. Given the title of the book, you can probably guess where the information lands, but it is interesting to get some history and science behind things like evolution, genetics, digestion, and so forth. Even without the paleo stuff, it's a solid primer on a lot of issues and specific ideas.
If I have a complaint, it's that the book doesn't really take a point of view beyond the science. While it's probably fine that the book doesn't come across as explicitly pro- or anti-paleo specifically, it would have been nice to have that extra insight from an expert.
Overall, a solid read. Very glad I picked it up, definitely learned a lot from it.
The book has small, digestable chapters that are pretty standard. It takes a claim, looks at the science, and lays it out there. Given the title of the book, you can probably guess where the information lands, but it is interesting to get some history and science behind things like evolution, genetics, digestion, and so forth. Even without the paleo stuff, it's a solid primer on a lot of issues and specific ideas.
If I have a complaint, it's that the book doesn't really take a point of view beyond the science. While it's probably fine that the book doesn't come across as explicitly pro- or anti-paleo specifically, it would have been nice to have that extra insight from an expert.
Overall, a solid read. Very glad I picked it up, definitely learned a lot from it.
urban_mermaid's review
4.0
3.5 stars. She is basically using the title as a way to get people involved in a book about evolution. It was interesting but a slow read. There are other books on the topic that are slightly more interesting.