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Sep 21, 2007

John rated it:

I encountered a link to a speech by Sapolsky on Pharyngula, I think, and was immediately engaged by his speaking style. His books, or this one at least, is similarly easy to get into, and manages to discuss topics of fair complexity in an incredibly approachable way. He's clearly aware that his book might be read by a wide range of audiences, and strives to provide something for everyone. I'll definitely be working my way through the rest of his catalog.

The book is fascinating, too, More...

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Nov 04, 2007

Katie rated it:

This is a pretty good book on stress, in animals as well as humans. I like his scientific style (though as with most academics, his prose style could be improved). He has a straight-forward way of presenting complex information without dumbing it down too much (I've been comparing it to an actual endocrinology textbook).
The end of the book also provides a much-needed element of perspective on what it really means to be poor in America, discussing why universal health care won't make a hug More...

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Oct 02, 2011

Rosalía rated it:

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Mr. Sapolsky attacks a very scientific subject with wit and charm. If you're a biologist or anthropologist or like me, just a reader who's interested in finding out more about our bodies and about my disease, multiple sclerosis, you will greatly enjoy this book. I took it in chunks and that was probably the best thing to do but I do recommend it for anyone who's curious about how chronic stress affects the human body.

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Aug 07, 2011

Ron rated it:

Sapolsky's primer on neuroendocrinology benefits greatly from a new edition in that the metaphors are more topical and a great deal of old theory has been validated by modern research, showing that psychological stress does indeed ultimately have a physiological component (organ stress due to wildly fluctuating hormone levels). The upshot is that we all need to find our own unique ways of coping with stress based on our personality types and numerous other factors in order to live long and healt More...

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May 11, 2010

Chris rated it:

This book is a good introduction to stress and its effects on physiology and psychology (Nicola's area of expertise). Although it is written for a lay audience, I often got the feeling it was written for a lay audience of primarily MDs.

By the end of the book, you will feel like you and epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucocorticoids are all old friends--but in spite of the terminology, it is really an easy read and full of good humor and interesting anecdotes (e.g. hyenas are very p More...

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Dec 29, 2011

susan rated it:

This is hands down the best medical book I have ever read. In a series of memorable and highly amusing stories and anecdotes Sapolsky explains the complex biology behind why well known principles of psychology, religion, new age philosophy and even voodoo curses work.

The central story of the book is how the fight or flight response – the most powerful force that has shaped vertebrate evolution for hundreds of millions of years - is now being turned against modern humans through chr More...

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Aug 22, 2010

Nick rated it:

A brilliantly written analysis of stress. The basics are simple and well understood, but Sapolsky gets into the details and they are fascinating. For example, if a child suffers extreme stress, he/she can simply stop growing. In a Victorian example, a family with two sons suffered the death of the older child from one of those dread Victorian diseases. The mother took to her bed and refused to recognize the younger son for the rest of her life, instead greeting him as the ghost of her dead son w More...

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May 29, 2010

Valerie added it

To summarize: Adrenaline is a DEATH drug. It's designed to keep you alive for the next 15 seconds, or to ease your death. As such, it's necessarily thriftless. If you can survive to the 16th second only by losing a limb, it's worthwhile to sacrifice the limb. Otherwise, it's wasteful and disabling.

Zebras don't get ulcers because they (mostly) only release stress hormones 'in the event of an actual emergency'. Humans deliberately evoke stress on an everyday basis, and the reckle More...

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May 28, 2009

Carol rated it:

Thus far, I am learning the process of brain chemistry known as "fight or flight," which is the central focus of this book. As an addendum to a course in brain chemistry, this book is actually fun to read and well written. The premise as evidenced by the title of the book puts forth the observations of how animals react in fight or flight as compared to how human animals anticipate stress and often live daily in a world where the fight or flight mechanism of the brain is constantly b More...

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Jan 07, 2010

Nick rated it:

Well researched book. Sapolsky, who I am a big fan of, explains why certain types of stresses like long work days end up having more serious negative effects on your physiology than do other types of stress such as a lion chasing after you. Sure the lion stresses you out then and there but a week from now your bodily functions won't still be affected by it.

My one beef with this book is that it doesn't give you much in the way of how to handle stress. I felt somewhat more stressed af More...

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Dec 05, 2007

Jenny rated it:

Enlightening and full of humor. Complex pathways of stress mechanisms are untangled and presented in a simple yet captivating way.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Astrid rated it:

Most scientific books are dry and overly technical. Not so with Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers. This book is laugh-out-loud funny.

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Dec 17, 2009

Layla rated it:

This book is beautifully written and very informative. Sapolsky is one of the greatest science writers of our time.

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Jan 26, 2012

Terence rated it:

I like to throw a little nonfiction onto my night stand every now and then to help broaden my horizons and to learn a little more about new subject areas. And this was the perfect book for just that. The author writes in a lucid style infused with a sense of personal familiarty and playfulness that helps ameliorate some of the denser concepts. And though I didn't take notes as I was reading there is a little part of me that regrets that I didn't. Even so I come away from this with a much great a More...

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Aug 10, 2011

Erin rated it:

Robert Sapolsky is one of my favorite science writers. I generally find his work engaging, informative, and conversational, and “Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers” is no exception. This book is dense! It is jam packed with information on how your body reacts to and copes with stress. By the end of it, I found my self wondering if there was anything that glucocorticoids couldn't screw up. Though parts of it did drag a bit (for me), on the whole I found the chapters in this book to be interesting and fu More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Ashley rated it:

Major props to Sapolsky for taking such a complex, technical issue and simultaneously making it readable and not painful. He keeps a light tone throughout, cracking some not unfunny jokes along the way (and multiple references to The Onion - what else could you ask for?). And this man knows his stuff - the notes alone take up almost 100 pages and are definitely worth a skim for some extra tidbits he throws in there.

Sapolsky thoroughly and methodically walks the reader through how st More...

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Dec 22, 2008

Megan rated it:

some people might not be a fan of all the science of hormones and neurotransmitters, etc. etc.. so if you don't like having to check out the whys and whats of what the body does, this might be a bit irritating to read since there's a lot to slog through in that sense. having said that, i definitely found it to be quite interesting and a fun read. there's a good mix of humor through out the book.

overall, i enjoyed it and i feel like i learned a fair bit. it didn't go into as muc More...

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Oct 16, 2010

Punk rated it:

Non-Fiction. Twelve chapters on how stress is going to kill you, followed by six chapters on why stress is stressful, when it's not, and what we can do about it.

If you're a worrier, this may not be the book for you. I won't lie, it upset me in the beginning. There are so many ways that stress can affect your health, your memory, the way you age, how you deal with stressors, and even how your children deal with stressors. The book can become a source of stress itself, one that far out More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Jason rated it:

I can't comment on the factual accuracy of the bulk of this book, because it's outside my field of expertise, but the material about J. M. Barrie ranges from carelessly inaccurate to outright fictitious. Sapolsky claims to have researched the writer's life, but gets many basic facts wrong, and appears to have invented things (e.g. sadomasochistic writings, a history of child sexual abuse) which no biographer has ever mentioned. See http://neverpedia.com/pan/Why_Zebras_Don... for details. More...

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Sep 12, 2010

kyle rated it:

First off, Sapolsky is a delightful writer. For a rather depressing book on all the scientifically understood harmful effects of stress, this book is often laugh out loud funny. But beyond that, Sapolsky is brilliant. He makes complex topics seem simple, but doesn't simplify to the point of losing the complexity. Quite a feat. If you are ever curious about examining what stress really is, and what effect it has on your body, this book is a must-read (especially useful I think for yoga teac More...

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Mar 19, 2011

Tyler rated it:

Let's be clear this is not light-reading. It is funny fairly often but it is long and fairly tough going. This is not because the author is a bad writer, he is a great writer. I wouldn't want to read this by any other author. This is not a medical textbook but this is not your normal pop-science book. You will learn a ton about your body and how it functions. I still need to re-read the chapters explaining immune system functioning, heart disease and a few others to really get those.

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Mar 30, 2011

Teva added it

Interesting. I wonder if the Type A personality described equates to former military service, based on a photograph of the cars "parked for a quick getaway" (p. 326 in the 3rd edition). The military teaches people to back into parking spaces to assist their escape, and so this "personality" characteristic may not reflect intuitive, but trained behaviour. Horrified by the inclusion (p.385 footnote) of the nonsense that people's hair will turn grey or white "over the co More...

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Apr 05, 2009

Bob rated it:

Sapolsky is an amazing writer and Primate's Memoir ranks as one of my favorite books. That said, the title, cover, and prior experience with Primate's Memoir led me to have unrealistic expectations of this book. It is thorough and well-written, but approaches the topic of stress from a phsyiological perspective that doesn't spare any of the details. As such, it often calmed my stress by putting me to sleep. The subtitle's promise of a section on "coping" with stress didn't pan out, and More...

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Jan 04, 2009

Emily rated it:

If you want a Neuroscience 101 class on stress, then this can be your textbook. It was interesting to learn about the various stress hormones that circulate in the body and how they affect all the other systems of the body. But the bottom-line message, that stress is really bad for you so you should manage it as best as you can, is something that I always believed to be true anyway, and there weren't any earth-shattering tips about how to manage it that can't be found elsewhere. If you don't bel More...

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May 03, 2008

Dave rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 05, 2010

Tim rated it:

I read this book some time ago, and it came up in conversation recently which reminded me to add it here. I thought that it was an exceptional book interesting and covering a technical subject in an approachable manner although my scientific background definitely helped a bit whilst reading it.

The book explores stress in a biochemical manner, biochemical in the sense that one can measure stress levels and further measure it in a scientific and non subjective manner.
More...

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Feb 10, 2009

Elaine rated it:

I read this for my senior thesis, but it's accessible enough that I would recommend it to any good biology nerd.

Sapolsky isn't really saying anything new, he's just saying it really well. He summarizes all the findings, current and historical, regarding how stress affect the body. I find it absolutely mind-boggling, but I guess I'm a little biased since I spent a whole year studying it.

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Mar 19, 2010

Debbie rated it:

Sapolsky is a riot. The cover doesn't really match the content, though-- it looks like a self-help book for the self-help masses looking for stress management techniques, but it's actually quite geeky, filled with biochemistry and anatomy/physiology. Very well written, so it's relatively easy to follow, but maybe not for the "Men Are From Mars" (or whatever is currently in vogue) crowd.

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Jun 25, 2010

Zachary rated it:

One of those books that everyone should read. Lots of insight into stress, disease, and our bodies in general. Still readable despite being technical/scientific. I underlined/noted 111 things in this book on my kindle, a new personal record. Thanks due to Shyam for the original recommendation. One note to consider when pondering your next friend request:
"What the data show: the fewer social relationships a person has, the shorter his or her life expectancy, and the worse the impa More...

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Feb 05, 2012

Jeff rated it:

In each chapter he discusses how a particular body system or disease works and then how stress chemicals interact with it.
He discusses the relevant studies for each of these effects and comments on the quality and weakness/ open issues of the studies.
It gave me a clearer understanding of the scope of a scientific studies in determining cause.

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