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Author: Kevin Holbrook Publisher: Pinon Press ISBN: 9780692229323 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 282
Book Description
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." - Theodosius Dobzhansky, prominent early geneticist Can evolution advance our understanding of human well-being? The emerging sciences of Darwinian Medicine, Evolutionary Psychology, and Ancestral Health certainly confirm that it can, and that it does. Bringing these and other disciplines together, science writer Kevin Holbrook tells a compelling story about our species, one that embeds scientific knowledge within the logical framework of evolution, drawing from the diverse world of evolutionary theory in order to shed light on what it means to be healthy, happy, and human. Evolution is the guiding principle of biology. It is the unifying theory of the life sciences. It is considered by many to be the most important idea to have ever occurred to anyone in the history of human thought. And like Dobzhansky's famous dictum, nothing in life makes sense except in the light of evolution. In this far-reaching and important work, Holbrook tells a compelling story about our species that identifies the true causes of modern mental and physical disease, and lists practical strategies to attain well-being at the end of each chapter. Using the tools of science, logic, and strategy, Holbrook looks closely at diet, movement, sleep, happiness, nature, sociality, virtue, and sustainability in order to integrate these parts into a cohesive whole. Far more than a health book, this comprehensive work inspires an understanding of the nature of the world, ourselves, and the miracle of life, covering an impressive array of topics relevant to one's well-being, including longevity, stress, muscle building, fat loss, nutrition, exercise, posture, energy, productivity, life satisfaction, bonding mechanisms, social status, attraction, beauty, and much more. In candid language, this book takes you on a journey to discover the human animal of yesterday in order to decipher what it means for the human being today.
Author: Kevin Holbrook Publisher: Pinon Press ISBN: 9780692229323 Category : Health & Fitness Languages : en Pages : 282
Book Description
"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." - Theodosius Dobzhansky, prominent early geneticist Can evolution advance our understanding of human well-being? The emerging sciences of Darwinian Medicine, Evolutionary Psychology, and Ancestral Health certainly confirm that it can, and that it does. Bringing these and other disciplines together, science writer Kevin Holbrook tells a compelling story about our species, one that embeds scientific knowledge within the logical framework of evolution, drawing from the diverse world of evolutionary theory in order to shed light on what it means to be healthy, happy, and human. Evolution is the guiding principle of biology. It is the unifying theory of the life sciences. It is considered by many to be the most important idea to have ever occurred to anyone in the history of human thought. And like Dobzhansky's famous dictum, nothing in life makes sense except in the light of evolution. In this far-reaching and important work, Holbrook tells a compelling story about our species that identifies the true causes of modern mental and physical disease, and lists practical strategies to attain well-being at the end of each chapter. Using the tools of science, logic, and strategy, Holbrook looks closely at diet, movement, sleep, happiness, nature, sociality, virtue, and sustainability in order to integrate these parts into a cohesive whole. Far more than a health book, this comprehensive work inspires an understanding of the nature of the world, ourselves, and the miracle of life, covering an impressive array of topics relevant to one's well-being, including longevity, stress, muscle building, fat loss, nutrition, exercise, posture, energy, productivity, life satisfaction, bonding mechanisms, social status, attraction, beauty, and much more. In candid language, this book takes you on a journey to discover the human animal of yesterday in order to decipher what it means for the human being today.
Author: Daniel Lieberman Publisher: Vintage ISBN: 030774180X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 482
Book Description
A landmark book of popular science that gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years—with charts and line drawings throughout. “Fascinating.... A readable introduction to the whole field and great on the making of our physicality.”—Nature In this book, Daniel E. Lieberman illuminates the major transformations that contributed to key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering; and how cultural changes like the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions have impacted us physically. He shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning a paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease. And finally—provocatively—he advocates the use of evolutionary information to help nudge, push, and sometimes even compel us to create a more salubrious environment and pursue better lifestyles.
Author: Darcia Narvaez Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0199964262 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 364
Book Description
The social contexts in which children develop have transformed over recent decades, but also over millennia. Modern parenting practices have diverged greatly from ancestral practices, which included natural childbirth, extensive and on-demand breastfeeding, constant touch, responsiveness to the needs of the child, free play in nature with multiple-aged playmates, and multiple adult caregivers. Only recently have scientists begun to document the outcomes for the presence or absence of such parenting practices, but early results indicate that psychological wellbeing is impacted by these factors. Ancestral Landscapes in Human Evolution addresses how a shift in the way we parent can influence child outcomes. It examines evolved contexts for mammalian development, optimal and suboptimal contexts for human evolved needs, and the effects on childrens development and human wellbeing. Bringing together an interdisciplinary set of renowned contributors, this volume examines how different parenting styles and cultural personality influence one another. Chapters discuss the nature of childrearing, social relationships, the range of personalities people exhibit, the social and moral skills expected of adults, and what wellbeing looks like. As a solid knowledge base regarding normal development is considered integral to understanding psychopathology, this volume also focuses on the effects of early childhood maltreatment. By increasing our understanding of basic mammalian emotional and motivational needs in contexts representative of our ancestral conditions, we may be in a better position to facilitate changes in social structures and systems that better support optimal human development. This book will be a unique resource for researchers and students in psychology, anthropology, and psychiatry, as well as professionals in public health, social work, clinical psychology, and early care and education.
Author: Glenn Geher Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 0190624965 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 513
Book Description
There is a paradox when it comes to Darwinian ideas within the academy. On one hand, Darwin's theories have famously changed the foundational ideas related to the origins of life, shaping entire disciplines in the biological sciences. On the other hand, people in educated societies across the globe today are famously misinformed and uneducated about Darwinian principles and ideas. Applications of evolutionary theory outside the traditional areas of biology have been slow to progress, and scholars doing such work regularly run into all kinds of political backlash. However, a slow but steady push to advance the teaching of evolution across academic disciplines has been under way for more than a decade. This book serves to integrate the vast literature in the interdisciplinary field of Evolutionary Studies (EvoS), providing clear examples of how evolutionary concepts relate to all facets of life. Further, this book provides chapters dedicated to the processes associated with an EvoS education, including examples of how an interdisciplinary approach to evolutionary theory has been implemented successfully at various colleges, universities, and degree programs. This book also offers chapters outlining a variety of applications to an evolution education, including improved sustainable development, medical practices, and creative and critical thinking skills. Exploring controversies surrounding evolution education, this volume provides a roadmap to asking and answering Darwinian questions across all areas of intellectual inquiry.
Author: National Academy of Sciences Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309296439 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 394
Book Description
Humans possess certain unique mental traits. Self-reflection, as well as ethic and aesthetic values, is among them, constituting an essential part of what we call the human condition. The human mental machinery led our species to have a self-awareness but, at the same time, a sense of justice, willing to punish unfair actions even if the consequences of such outrages harm our own interests. Also, we appreciate searching for novelties, listening to music, viewing beautiful pictures, or living in well-designed houses. But why is this so? What is the meaning of our tendency, among other particularities, to defend and share values, to evaluate the rectitude of our actions and the beauty of our surroundings? What brain mechanisms correlate with the human capacity to maintain inner speech, or to carry out judgments of value? To what extent are they different from other primates' equivalent behaviors? In the Light of Evolution Volume VII aims to survey what has been learned about the human "mental machinery." This book is a collection of colloquium papers from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium "The Human Mental Machinery," which was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences on January 11-12, 2013. The colloquium brought together leading scientists who have worked on brain and mental traits. Their 16 contributions focus the objective of better understanding human brain processes, their evolution, and their eventual shared mechanisms with other animals. The articles are grouped into three primary sections: current study of the mind-brain relationships; the primate evolutionary continuity; and the human difference: from ethics to aesthetics. This book offers fresh perspectives coming from interdisciplinary approaches that open new research fields and constitute the state of the art in some important aspects of the mind-brain relationships.
Author: Glenn Geher Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0190624981 Category : Psychology Languages : en Pages : 400
Book Description
There is a paradox when it comes to Darwinian ideas within the academy. On one hand, Darwin's theories have famously changed the foundational ideas related to the origins of life, shaping entire disciplines in the biological sciences. On the other hand, people in educated societies across the globe today are famously misinformed and uneducated about Darwinian principles and ideas. Applications of evolutionary theory outside the traditional areas of biology have been slow to progress, and scholars doing such work regularly run into all kinds of political backlash. However, a slow but steady push to advance the teaching of evolution across academic disciplines has been under way for more than a decade. This book serves to integrate the vast literature in the interdisciplinary field of Evolutionary Studies (EvoS), providing clear examples of how evolutionary concepts relate to all facets of life. Further, this book provides chapters dedicated to the processes associated with an EvoS education, including examples of how an interdisciplinary approach to evolutionary theory has been implemented successfully at various colleges, universities, and degree programs. This book also offers chapters outlining a variety of applications to an evolution education, including improved sustainable development, medical practices, and creative and critical thinking skills. Exploring controversies surrounding evolution education, this volume provides a roadmap to asking and answering Darwinian questions across all areas of intellectual inquiry.
Author: National Academy of Sciences Publisher: Sackler Colloquium ISBN: Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 388
Book Description
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.
Author: National Academy of Sciences Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309185289 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 429
Book Description
The Human Condition is a collection of papers by leading evolutionary biologists and philosophers of science that reflect on the Darwinian Revolution as it relates to the human condition at levels ranging from the molecular to the theological. The book focuses on understanding the evolutionary origin of humans and their biological and cultural traits. The Human Condition is organized into three parts: Human Phylogenetic History and the Paleontological Record; Structure and Function of the Human Genome; and Cultural Evolution and the Uniqueness of Being Human. This fourth volume from the In the Light of Evolution (ILE) series, based on a series of Arthur M. Sackler colloquia, was designed to promote the evolutionary sciences. Each volume explores evolutionary perspectives on a particular biological topic that is scientifically intriguing but also has special relevance to contemporary societal issues or challenges. Individually and collectively, the ILE series interprets phenomena in various areas of biology through the lens of evolution, addresses some of the most intellectually engaging as well as pragmatically important societal issues of our times, and fosters a greater appreciation of evolutionary biology as a consolidating foundation for the life sciences.
Author: Robert C. Richardson Publisher: MIT Press ISBN: 0262261111 Category : Philosophy Languages : en Pages : 227
Book Description
A philosopher subjects the claims of evolutionary psychology to the evidential and methodological requirements of evolutionary biology, concluding that evolutionary psychology's explanations amount to speculation disguised as results. Human beings, like other organisms, are the products of evolution. Like other organisms, we exhibit traits that are the product of natural selection. Our psychological capacities are evolved traits as much as are our gait and posture. This much few would dispute. Evolutionary psychology goes further than this, claiming that our psychological traits—including a wide variety of traits, from mate preference and jealousy to language and reason—can be understood as specific adaptations to ancestral Pleistocene conditions. In Evolutionary Psychology as Maladapted Psychology, Robert Richardson takes a critical look at evolutionary psychology by subjecting its ambitious and controversial claims to the same sorts of methodological and evidential constraints that are broadly accepted within evolutionary biology. The claims of evolutionary psychology may pass muster as psychology; but what are their evolutionary credentials? Richardson considers three ways adaptive hypotheses can be evaluated, using examples from the biological literature to illustrate what sorts of evidence and methodology would be necessary to establish specific evolutionary and adaptive explanations of human psychological traits. He shows that existing explanations within evolutionary psychology fall woefully short of accepted biological standards. The theories offered by evolutionary psychologists may identify traits that are, or were, beneficial to humans. But gauged by biological standards, there is inadequate evidence: evolutionary psychologists are largely silent on the evolutionary evidence relevant to assessing their claims, including such matters as variation in ancestral populations, heritability, and the advantage offered to our ancestors. As evolutionary claims they are unsubstantiated. Evolutionary psychology, Richardson concludes, may offer a program of research, but it lacks the kind of evidence that is generally expected within evolutionary biology. It is speculation rather than sound science—and we should treat its claims with skepticism.
Author: Kevin Holbrook
Author: Kevin Holbrook
Author: Daniel Lieberman
Author: Darcia Narvaez
Author: 
Author: Glenn Geher
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Author: Glenn Geher
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Author: Robert C. Richardson