Science and Inquiry discussion

For May 2024, we will be reading Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon.

Please use this thread to post questions, comments, and reviews, at any time.

I just finished reading this book today, and unfortunately I was not a fan. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

CatReader wrote: "I just finished reading this book today, and unfortunately I was not a fan. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

You are a scientist and I can understand your preference for scientist authors, but there are many good science writers who are not technically scientists. Carl Zimmer and Ed Yong are two who come immediately to mind. And sometimes scientists are not the best at communicating to nonscientists.

If you found some of Bohannon's statements "spurious", I would be curious to know what specifically you dispute.

I read this book a few months ago and enjoyed it. I felt that I learned a lot about the evolution of our species that I didn't know before. Here is my review.

Betsy wrote: "CatReader wrote: "I just finished reading this book today, and unfortunately I was not a fan. Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."

You are a scientist and I can und..."

I didn't agree with Bohannon's repeated argument about how early humans must not have been a "rapey" species because our reproductive parts haven't evolved convoluted twists, spikes, etc. like ducks or cats. That seems like a personal pet theory of hers - very difficult to either prove or disprove.

This is more nitpicky, but when she talked about being hopeful that fertility advances will allow people with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) to have their own biological children, it came across as if she hadn't researched this condition enough to understand why it's not physically possible. AIS is a true hermaphroditic condition where a person's chromosomes are XY but there is a nonfunctional (in complete AIS) or partially functional (in partial AIS) androgen receptor gene on the X chromosome. As a result, these individuals (with complete AIS) have the testosterone levels expected for XY individuals but their body can't respond to it, so during embryogenesis their gonads develop into testes instead of ovaries (due to having the SRY gene on their Y chromosome) but they don't develop a uterus. They won't have the other necessary parts to produce functional sperm, and without a uterus, they can't carry a pregnancy conceived by IVF, so fertility interventions won't work. (T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us gives a much better understanding of this condition for laypeople.)

CatReader wrote: "I didn't agree with Bohannon's repeated argument about how early humans must not have been a "rapey" species..."

Thanks for your response. My recollection is that those points were fairly minor. I also had some fairly minor objections to unsupported opinions. But I really enjoyed the majority of the book.

I was hoping to read this with the group, but unfortunately my library suffered a cyber attack a few months back. This meant that (among other things) some of the holds got super stalled - especially ones with long lines.

I've been hopeful that others will drop out of the holds list, which has happened to some extent. However, at this rate, I still won't have a copy until (maybe) mid-June :(

As an Eve I have to say that the book startled me with all the ideas about possibilities of how we may have contributed to our species development. I am so used to hearing about about males have come up with pretty much everything and I think one is as likely as the other since they are not all provable. I love that she is putting forth new ideas. Some of them we may never know, but they fully deserve to be attended to pondered and studied as as much as the other. Over all I believe this will help empower women on our journey to true equality. I also did learn many actual facts about my body that I was clueless about.

One of the things I learned that I found astonishing is that breastfeeding is two-way. While feeding, some of the baby's saliva enters the mother's body which can then adjust the contents of the mother's milk to include antibodies and nutrients that the baby needs. If that's true, I find it incredible.

Amelia wrote: "As an Eve I have to say that the book startled me with all the ideas about possibilities of how we may have contributed to our species development. I am so used to hearing about about males have come up with pretty much everything and I think one is as likely as the other since they are not all provable. I love that she is putting forth new ideas. Some of them we may never know, but they fully deserve to be attended to pondered and studied as as much as the other. Over all I believe this will help empower women on our journey to true equality. I also did learn many actual facts about my body that I was clueless about.
"

I feel the same. The book is informative, I enjoyed it very much. A bit disappointed that the grandmother hypothesis is probably not true.

One thing I notice that in a book about the evolution of female body and biology, she made a great effort to include the "gender identity", although clearly transwomen do not have a female body in the evolution sense, even after surgeries and cross-sex hormones. At least she said something like the gender identity probably has something to do with the brain and a lot to do with culture, i.e. not something to do with the biological body. Good for her. Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men's author Caroline Criado Pérez was attacked online because some activists think she wasn't inclusive enough.

I think this is a terrific book whatever the shortcomings, which seem few to me. I have never read a book so informative on the female body. I welcome her liberal opinions as well. In fact, they made me ecstatic with happiness since I welcome anybody who is on the side of rights and freedoms for women. Since Trump and the conservative Supreme Court, I am more militant after seeing how the next generation of girls will be growing up with a lot fewer choices than we have had. As a female child of the 1950’s and 1960’s, I grew up angry and frustrated by the everyday and horrific restraints on my education, lack of respect from my father who totally thought my place was being barefoot and pregnant, hating that I was accepted into a university since what he wanted for me was early marriage and lots of babies, and he thought an education would cause “no man will want you!” He actually told me no man would want me while ripping up my college loan and acceptance letters. My rage was long-lasting, so that I refused to learn how to cook and I never regretted not having a child. I couldn’t have children because of an infection when I was raped when I was three years old.

Amelia wrote: "As an Eve I have to say that the book startled me with all the ideas about possibilities of how we may have contributed to our species development. I am so used to hearing about about males have co..."

Totally, absolutely agree with everything in your comment.

I was able to attend an interview of her on Sunday and she is truly impressive. There are a bunch on YouTube too. I think she can and should have her own Netflix series and she said that are trying to make that happen.

Amelia wrote: "I was able to attend an interview of her on Sunday and she is truly impressive. There are a bunch on YouTube too. I think she can and should have her own Netflix series and she said that are trying..."

Yes!

I managed to get a copy earlier than expected, so I can actually participate this month!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is definitely evolutionary psychology, rather than biology, so if you're not someone who likes speculation and hedging of conclusions it's likely not for you. Evolutionary psychology is heavily influenced by philosophy, after all!

Aside from the mounds of new information for me to mull over, I love just how many "fun facts" I now have to pester my friends with. So far they've threatened to remove me from the group chat for talking about how nipples absorb baby saliva.

My full review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...