Starred review from JIn thoroughly enjoyable and edifying prose, Lieberman, professor of human evolution at Harvard, leads a fascinating journey through human evolution. Why are people getting fatter? How do we lose weight and change our diets? How do we prevent our. The health challenges we face are causing an intense worldwide conversation among parents, doctors, patients, politicians, journalists, researchers, and others. Moreover, the image in the crystal ball looks bad because these diseases are also growing in prevalence as development spreads across the planet. As baby boomers retire, their chronic illnesses are straining health-care systems and stifling economies. This epidemiological transition is causing not just misery but also economic woe. To some extent, these diseases are on the rise because people are living longer, but most of them are showing up in middle-aged people. Some of these troubles are ancient, but many are novel or have recently exploded in prevalence and intensity. Billions of people are also suffering from ailments like lower back pain, fallen arches, plantar fasciitis, myopia, arthritis, constipation, acid reflux, and irritable bowel syndrome. These preventable diseases include certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, strokes, kidney disease, some allergies, dementia, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and other illnesses. A wave of obesity and chronic, preventable illnesses and disabilities is sweeping across the globe. On the other hand, we could be doing better, much better. To be sure, there is still too much malnutrition and disease in some countries, but these evils are often the result of bad government and social inequality, not a lack of food or medical know-how. People are taller, and formerly life-threatening conditions like appendicitis, dysentery, a broken leg, or anemia are easily remedied. We have conquered or quelled many diseases that used to kill people in droves: smallpox, measles, polio, and the plague. If you live in a developed country, you can reasonably expect all your offspring to survive childhood, to live to their dotage, and to become parents and grandparents. On the one hand, this era is probably the healthiest in human history. We live in paradoxical times for our bodies.
I have since changed my mind about this question and now consider the human body's future to be one of the most important issues we can think about. My reflexive answer was always something along the lines of: "Human beings aren't evolving very much because of culture." This response is a variant of the standard answer that many of my colleagues give when asked the same question.
I am not a soothsayer, and the question made me think of tawdry science fiction movies that depict humans of the distant future as having enormous brains, pale and tiny bodies, and shiny clothing. But of all the questions I am commonly asked, the one I used to dread the most was "What will human beings look like in the future?" I hated this question! I am a professor of human evolutionary biology, which means I study the past, not what lies ahead. Like most professors, I also love to talk, and I enjoy people's questions. In addition to working with students, I study fossils, I travel to interesting corners of the earth to see how people use their bodies, and I do experiments in the lab on how human and animal bodies work. My job and my interests allow me to be a jack-of-all trades. In fact, I am extremely lucky to be a professor at Harvard University, where I teach and study how and why the human body is the way it is. Like most people, I am fascinated by the human body, but unlike most folks, who sensibly relegate their interest in people's bodies to evenings and weekends, I have made the human body the focus of my career.