published 10/14/06
Review of Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine, a book by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams
Evolutionary medicine answers some nagging questions
by Paul Ingraham, Vancouver, Canada MOREclose
Credentials and qualifications
I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.
For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.
Credentials and qualifications
I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.
For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.
Randolph M Nesse and George C Williams. Why We Get Sick: The new science of darwinian medicine. Random House, 1995.
This excellent and user-friendly book begins with a series of questions that I had been asking for many years when I first picked it up: why do we get sick? More exactly, “Why, in a body of such exquisite design, are there a thousand flaws and frailties that make us vulnerable to disease?” I could hardly believe my luck that someone had written a whole book to try to answer this question! I’ve always wondered the very same.
Nesse and Williams present an amazingly clear set of answers to questions that I had almost completely given up any hope of having answered in this lifetime. Through every chapter of the book, I found myself nodding and slapping my forehead and saying, “Of course!” By the end, I felt deeply satisfied by the resolution of several nagging mysteries of human biology. I am grateful to them for it.
”Darwinian medicine” is the secret ingredient: the scientific perspective that makes the book work and provides such enlightening answers to otherwise unapproachable questions.
Nesse and Williams have spent a lot of time thinking about out how natural selection accounts for the delicate compromises that constitute human physiology, the imperfections that are built into the system. One peculiarity of human frailty after another is made sensible. By the end of the book, I was accustomed to the unusual perspective and starting to apply it to other questions. My understanding of health has deepened substantially since then.
Further Reading
- Nesse and Williams’ book inspired me to write at least one article directly: Natural Imperfection: Evolution doesn’t care if you have back pain … just as long as you can breed.