A biologist shows the influence of wild species on our well-being and the world and how nature still clings to us--and always will.
We evol... read full description
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Jan 17, 2012
Lauren
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I liked this book, but as a microbiologist, I found the science behind the assertions to be either dumbed down or not explained fully. For example, in the case of intestinal worms improving auto-immune diseases, it would have been nice to see any evidence of a mechanism behind this phenomenon, rather than vague hand-waving about the immune system chasing things that aren't there. I did like many of the ideas in the book, but I found the book to have an overall negative tone that was distracting.
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Jan 27, 2012
Brian
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Dunn writes that many human ills and behaviors reflect the evolutionary past where we put ourselves above nature and all other species. Our super sterile environment is hurting us all by unbalancing our immune systems, leading to attacks on our own tissues rather than invading organisms. His solution is to repopulate the gut with worms that the immune system tolerates or that may suppress the system’s hyperactivity. Dunn writes that Crohn’s and other such disorders are rare wherever gut parasite
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Jan 21, 2012
Kili
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Humans like to think of themselves as different from other living things. Germs and parasites are bad: we should eliminate them. After all, it's what our immune system does. In this book, Dunn argues quite convincingly that this is a destructive view. Species don't evolve in isolation of other species - predators and their prey engage in an evolutionary arms race (which explains, for example, why mollusks have thicker shells in the Pacific as compared to the Atlantic), symbiosis is found all ove
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Oct 10, 2011
Carl
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The main theme of this book is the comparison between “what we were and what we are.” By what “we were”, the author takes a long evolutionary view: not just a few decades ago, not just when we were hunter-gatherers, not just when we were little primates, but back to when we were lizards. Over the millions of years we have collected a distressing amount of evolutionary baggage that influences “what we are” and sometimes conflicts with our modern world.
The author gives quite a number o More...
The author gives quite a number o More...
Sep 16, 2011
Chris
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Other reviews mirror many of my thoughts - I really wished the final chapter was fleshed out into two or more chapters. And for some reason I had this idea that the author was going to promote the idea of having our cities be wild to the extent that predators would be let loose there. I kept hoping to read about that somewhere in the last chapter, but I must have missed it.
Don't get me wrong, the other stuff about the evolution of mankind from H&G to Agricultural to our post-agricult More...
Don't get me wrong, the other stuff about the evolution of mankind from H&G to Agricultural to our post-agricult More...
Dec 17, 2011
Jenny
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The subject matter of this book is extremely interesting. Unfortunately, the author dumbed down his text to the level of a cable channel documentary so that you won't learn very much actual science from reading the book.
He gives many pages to long, detailed accounts of human interest anecdotes that don't contribute anything to our understanding of his topic--for example, the discovery of an early hominid fossil or one patient's trip to Mexico to get a treatment based on a theory he More...
He gives many pages to long, detailed accounts of human interest anecdotes that don't contribute anything to our understanding of his topic--for example, the discovery of an early hominid fossil or one patient's trip to Mexico to get a treatment based on a theory he More...
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Sep 16, 2011
Tanja
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This was a quite interesting and fun read. The title is slightly misleading if it makes you think of only what is on or in our bodies. This book covers more. Interesting chapter titles include "when cows and grass domesticated humans", "we were hunted, which is why all of are afraid some of the time and some of us are afraid all of the time" and "how lice and ticks mad us naked and gave us skin cancer", to name a few.
What I learned that I didn't know be More...
What I learned that I didn't know be More...
Dec 28, 2011
Josh
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This book really wasn't what I was expecting. I had expected it to primarily be about our internal flora and fauna, the creatures living in and on us. Probably this was my own misunderstanding, and in reality this book is far more interesting than that.
It's actually about how no species develops in a vacuum. This seems obvious - the environment in which a species lives impacts its development, of course, and vice versa. But there are many different aspects to this interaction, th More...
It's actually about how no species develops in a vacuum. This seems obvious - the environment in which a species lives impacts its development, of course, and vice versa. But there are many different aspects to this interaction, th More...
Nov 20, 2011
Mary Ronan
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Joel Weinstock was flying somewhere over New York or Pennsylvania when he got his crazy idea. He had been studying intestinal parasites. That day he began reading about Crohn's Disease. Why, he wondered, did people who had intestinal worms not have Crohn's and people who had Crohn's never have intestinal parasites? Could it be that worms prevented Crohn's? Naw. Impossible.
But he couldn't get the idea out of his head. In the 1940s half of American children had worms. In 1980 there wer More...
But he couldn't get the idea out of his head. In the 1940s half of American children had worms. In 1980 there wer More...
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Jan 27, 2012
Maura
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Fascinating! Rob Dunn does a wonderful job of explaining scientific principles, experiments and theories in a way that the everyday reader can easily follow. Basically, the book delves into why there seems to be an epidemic of certain diseases such as lupus, Crohn's, multiple sclerosis, and the like. The basic premise is that out bodies have spent many thousands of years adapting to and thriving in a more wild environment. Our more refined lifestyles of today leave our immune systems with li
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Feb 02, 2012
Darcy
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I loved the first half of this book where I finally got to learn a plausible theory of what the purpose of the appendix is and the evolution of how adult humans came to be able to drink the milk of another species. However, I got progressively more bored as the chapters went on, perhaps because the topics were less obscure and already kind of well known ideas (i.e.--that our fear response is a leftover "survival gene" from our evolutionary past as the hunted.)
The author has More...
The author has More...
Jul 25, 2011
Jennie
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This book packed such a knowledge punch I am somewhat at a loss for words even days after reading the last page. One of the things I admired most while reading this book was how science was at the forefront – research, evolution and the beginning of mankind in forms that we would hardly recognize now. This book covers a range of topics from the lack of worms in our guts, to how STD’s have changed since we have become pro-less hair. Every page was fascinating and full of ideas that let your mind
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Aug 02, 2011
Kristin
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While the style is one that hops around, which I have trouble following, it was a very interesting book about humans in the context of other species - the fact that we need other species in order for us to make sense and learn about ourselves. It is a series of "fringe" ideas and theories strung together with stories (it reads better than I'm making it sound right now). Here are some examples: intestinal parasites helping to cure IBS; the use of our appendix; why our vision developed
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Sep 20, 2011
Jennifer
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This is a fascinating book. I picked it up from the "New" section of the library without knowing a thing about it and liked it from the first pages. All of the ideas in this book really gets your mind ticking away - do we have new chronic diseases because we got rid of our parasites and our bodies have nothing to fight but ourselves? Was moving from being hunter-gatherers to farmers (while probably a necessity at the time) a really dumb thing to do? Did we evolve from cliffdwellers
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Aug 04, 2011
Stacy
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I'm going to paraphrase part of someone else's review because I don't know quite know how to explain this book.
"It was a very interesting book about humans in the context of other species - the fact that we need other species in order for us to make sense and learn about ourselves. It is a series of ideas and theories strung together with stories. Here are some examples: intestinal parasites helping to cure IBS, asthma, and Crohnes; the use of our appendix; why our vision develo More...
"It was a very interesting book about humans in the context of other species - the fact that we need other species in order for us to make sense and learn about ourselves. It is a series of ideas and theories strung together with stories. Here are some examples: intestinal parasites helping to cure IBS, asthma, and Crohnes; the use of our appendix; why our vision develo More...
Sep 26, 2011
Jim
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This book was very interesting in parts. The writer discusses some interesting research that shows that we may be having negative physical problems because our culture has become too clean. We have lost our worms and parisites that may be actually doing us good rather than bad. It is an interesting and challenging theory. The writer does a good job with explaining the research and using real examples. But then the middle of the book drifts into how we humans have evolved with the outside world.
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Nov 02, 2011
Harry
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Dunn's premise is that we have shaped evolution as much as evolution has shaped us, and not always to our advantage. His argument is fairly strong, and his conclusions well worth consideration. But it is something implicit in his presentation that I think is equally important: the degree of specialization in science is a barrier to some types of insights that only come from connecting notions from disparate fields.
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Dec 13, 2011
Jennifer
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I thought this book was well-written and thought-provoking. I was a little annoyed at times because I felt like he just started randomly talking about unrelated things but the topics always ended up being relevant. I'm not sure I necessarily agree with all of the hypotheses discussed in the book but I still found the ideas behind them intriguing.
Nov 05, 2011
Paul
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Rob Dunn is a popular biologist (i.e., he tries to make biology accessible and interesting to those of us not versed in biology). His writing style is engaging and entertaining. He is a story-teller, weaving connected stories througout the book. The book is thought-provoking as well as entertaining. I'm going to read his previous book now too.
Jan 20, 2012
Jack
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A fun non-fiction read for people who enjoy quirky infomation. Somehow he manages to tie to together a lot of disparate information into a good read. After reading this, I can know say I know what the purpose of our appendix is (discovered by two Duke researchers!!).
Jun 09, 2011
Bob
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This is an extremely interesting book on mankind and our relations with other bodies and species. The subtitle states what most of this book is about, predators, parasites and partners (or mutualists) that shape who we (humans) are today. Even though worms and parasites are mostly absent from our lives today, our ancestors evolved with them for thousands of years and our bodies have become instinctually reliant on them. Their absence is ailing us today. If you don’t know what your appendix does,
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Dec 30, 2011
Heather
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For some reason, I was put off by Rob Dunn's writing style in the first chapter or two, but I enjoyed the later chapters more. As some other reviewers noted, the book is not just about critters that inhabit our bodies, but other animals (predators, etc.) who have influenced our evolution.
Feb 03, 2012
Steve
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This book blew my mind. Worms treating people for asthma, chrohns or heart disease? Incredible. If you enjoy biology - a must read!
Nov 04, 2011
Ernest
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3 stars for the language -- I sometimes feel like I'm being talked to as a kid. 4 stars for content. If I have time, I'll write a summary tomorrow after I come home from work.
Aug 04, 2011
Nosocialize
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Very informative and interesting. Sadly it ends not very strong, but at that point I was in full agreement so maybe i was disappointed i wasn't won over.
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Dec 04, 2011
David
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A good introduction to a promising revolution in the way we look at the relationship between our bodies and other creatures. We not only could not live without them but also we could not live without them within us: bacteria, parasites, etc.
Jul 19, 2011
Pgirty
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The premise is extremely interesting - i.e. that our modern sanitized world has led to a new set of problems - such as Crohn's disease and other autoimmune disorders.
Jan 16, 2012
Adrienne
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Not for the faint of heart. A good synthesis of some esoteric/unpopular unfolding scientific currents. Very enjoyable.
Aug 29, 2011
Jim
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Left me with more questions than answers, but the ideas raised are fascinating and deserve more scientific study. University of Wisconsin researchers earn a few shout outs too, which I always enjoy. Not for the squeamish.
Nov 22, 2011
Taffnerd
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A fun if disgusting read. Dunn is engaging and often funny without being jokey, not unlike Bill Bryson. If bugs and worms make you squeemish this isn't for you.
