Evolution and Healing: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine

by Randolph M. Nesse, George C. Williams

The first ever description of how evolutionary principles can be applied to questions of health and sickness.

Genres: Evolution, Medicine, Science, Biology

304 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1996

About the author

Randolph M. Nesse, MD is Professor of Life Sciences and ASU Foundation Professor at Arizona State University, where he became the Founding Director of the Center for Evolution Medicine in 2014. He was previously Professor of Psychiatry and of Psychology at the University of Michigan where he led the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program and helped to establish one of the world’s first anxiety disorders clinics. His research on the neuroendocrinology of anxiety evolved into studies on why aging exists. Those studies led to collaboration with the evolutionary biologist George Williams on "Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine," a book that initiated much new work in the field of evolutionary medicine. His current research is on how selection shapes mechanisms that regulate defenses such as pain, fever, anxiety and low mood. Closely related work investigates the origins and functions of emotions, why emotional disorders are so common, and how social selection shaped human capacities for altruism and moral emotions. His mission is to establish evolutionary biology as a basic science for medicine. Dr. Nesse is the President of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine & Public Health. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences, and an elected Fellow of the AAAS.

Reviews

[Vilhelmiina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was some really good science writing!! Free of jargon and engagingly written throughout. Funnily enough it was not informative for the course that my prof recommended it for, but glad I picked it up nonetheless.

[Jonas Gehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

A interesting book about how evolutionary thought can help medicine. It is mostly used as a perspective through which to make sense of medical diagnosis and abnormalities. Here under also talking about mental illness. The most salient points though are in communication to patients as most modern medical diagnosis is given without a central perspective more like a hodgepodge of ideas with no guiding idea. This is where evolution would be able to come in without to much trouble. That it is not given by use of antibiotics now is somewhat suspect since why should the patient be certain to kill all bacteria if you don`t need to stop resistance. The main problem with the book is how speculative it is and how hard it would be to get a lot of the ideas into modern medicine while the authors are a bit to optimistic. Still a interesting read if you want to know about possible changes to the medical complex

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting book on the new science of evolutionary medicine. Kate essential reading!

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read for anyone interested in evolution and human health. Well argued points, readable and clear.