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Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine Paperback – January 30, 1996

by Randolph M. Nesse (Author), George C. Williams (Author)

4.4 366 ratings

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The next time you get sick, consider this before picking up the aspirin: your body may be doing exactly what it's supposed to. In this ground-breaking book, two pioneers of the science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness as well as the factors that predispose us toward it are subject to the same laws of natural selection that otherwise make our bodies such miracles of design. Among the concerns they raise:

When may a fever be beneficial?
Why do pregnant women get morning sickness?
How do certain viruses "manipulate" their hosts into infecting others?
What evolutionary factors may be responsible for depression and panic disorder?

Deftly summarizing research on disorders ranging from allergies to Alzheimer's, and form cancer to Huntington's chorea, Why We Get Sick, answers these questions and more. The result is a book that will revolutionize our attitudes toward illness and will intrigue and instruct lay person and medical practitioners alike.

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Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Vintage
Publication date

January 30, 1996
Dimensions

8.5 x 5.43 x 0.3 inches
ISBN-10

0679746749
ISBN-13

978-0679746744
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Is our tendency to "fix" our bodies with medicine keeping them from working exactly as they're supposed to? Two pioneers of the emerging science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness is part and parcel of the evolutionary system and as such, may be helping us to evolve towards better adaptation to our environment.

Review

"By bringing the evolutionary vision systematically into one of the last unconquered provinces, Nesse and Williams have devised not only means for the improvement of medicine but fundamental new insights into the human condition."--Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University

"In moving the focus from 'how' to 'why' questions, Nesse and Williams introduce readers to a new way of thinking about illness, one that promises to be of increasing interest as...our culture turns toward evolutionary explanations for human predicaments."--Peter D. Kramer, author of Listening to Prozac

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Vintage; First Edition (January 30, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0679746749
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0679746744
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.5 x 5.43 x 0.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #123,352 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #74 in Science & Anatomy Coloring Books for Grown-Ups
- #165 in Anatomy (Books)
- #6,180 in Medical Books (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.4 366 ratings

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George C. Williams PhD

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George C. Williams

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Randolph M. Nesse

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Randolph M. Nesse, MD is Professor of Life Sciences and ASU Foundation Professor at Arizona State University, where he became the Founding Director of the Center for Evolution Medicine in 2014. He was previously Professor of Psychiatry and of Psychology at the University of Michigan where he led the Evolution and Human Adaptation Program and helped to establish one of the world’s first anxiety disorders clinics. His research on the neuroendocrinology of anxiety evolved into studies on why aging exists. Those studies led to collaboration with the evolutionary biologist George Williams on "Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine," a book that initiated much new work in the field of evolutionary medicine. His current research is on how selection shapes mechanisms that regulate defenses such as pain, fever, anxiety and low mood. Closely related work investigates the origins and functions of emotions, why emotional disorders are so common, and how social selection shaped human capacities for altruism and moral emotions. His mission is to establish evolutionary biology as a basic science for medicine. Dr. Nesse is the President of the International Society for Evolution, Medicine & Public Health. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Sciences, and an elected Fellow of the AAAS. His website is at http://nesse.us

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4.4 out of 5

366 global ratings

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Katarina

Really opens up your mind to new perspectives and ideas

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2021

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I read this book as an assignment for my Evolution class and I loved it overall. The authors do a good job in hooking the reader at the beginning of every chapter by introducing a topic that is very relatable. They do so by asking questions that we often ask ourselves or perhaps questions that i've never even thought of. They then try to answer said questions as best as they can by bringing in facts from past studies and researches. The authors state that they're not trying to impose any particular opinion onto the reader, but rather are just trying to explain things from a Darwinian perspective. Overall it was a very informative book and there are definitely some aspects that I will incorporate into my everyday life. I have a new respect for our bodies and how we've evolved into the wonderful, complex organisms that we are today!

One person found this helpful

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Luc REYNAERT

Hippocrates and Darwin

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2009

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This is by any standard a very important book. It stresses the impact which evolutionary biology should have on medical progress. It challenges head-on long ingrained medical treatments of symptoms, which in fact are a part of the body's defenses against illnesses.
It explains the beneficial effects, among others, of fever, vomiting, low iron levels, pain, cough, diarrhea, fear, anxiety or panic.

The basis of the book is Darwin's theory of natural selection which explains the functional design of all organisms. Natural selection involves no plan, no goal, no direction, only `selfish genes' (R. Dawkins). Survival of the latter depends on their reproductive success, not on perfect design, health or (sexual) satisfaction. The role of chance ensures that the future course of evolution is unpredictable.

The authors see six categories of evolutionary explanations of diseases: defenses (ex. fever, emotions); infections (ex. by bacteria); novel environments (ex. artificial light, agriculture instead of hunting-gathering); genes (ex. mutations); design compromises (ex. walking upright predisposes man to back problems); evolutionary legacies (ex. food passes through a tube in front of our windpipe).
The book contains also a serious warning: New breeds of disease-resistant plants should be treated very cautiously.

Why has, until now, the medical profession not taken advantage of the help from evolutionary biology? Opposition to the idea of evolution (ex. by religion) has minimized in general education the impact of Darwin's contribution to the understanding of ourselves and the world we live in.

This book is a must read for all those who want to understand who we really are and how and why we live.

10 people found this helpful

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D. S. Heersink

Why Evolution Is Important to Our Health

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2005

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Both authors are scientists of the highest caliber, and "Why We Get Sick" is a marvelous, important, and valuable read. The book's purpose is to include functional evolutionary explanations into ordinary medicine, a project that is only slowly coming to be. The key to unlocking so many mysteries behind so many diseases is to look beyond proximate causes and look instead for functional, often evolutionary, causes of disease and dysfunction. This requirement demands that we don't stop at signs and symptoms of disease, but that we understand how the disease disrupts the function of organisms. Only by a functional understanding of disease, which requires an evolutionary perspective, can we both prevent and treat disease more quickly, accurately, and thoroughly.

The classic case is fever. Hopefully, we all know that most fevers are generally good for us (to a degree), namely that it is the body's own defense mechanism to raise the body's temperature to help kill pathogens. Some fevers, obviously, need to be treated with aspirin, but by doing so, you may actually prolong the disease. If we understand that fevers play a vital evolutionary role in helping us ward off pathogens, we'll not want to reduce a fever unless absolutely necessary (e.g., very high temperatures). Our body's own immune system is a marvel of evolution at work; and we need to learn to work with it, not work around it, much less against it. Certainly we ought not be taking antibiotics for viral infections, yet patients demand it, and doctors give in. There are health consequences to this slipshod type of medicine.

If we understand, similarly, that being biped is relatively recent in our evolutionary history, and we understand how our visceral girdle is designed for quadrupeds, not bipeds, then the fact that so many of us get back pain should not come as a surprise. And, the more sedentary and unexercised this girdle becomes, the more prone to back disorders (e.g., herniated discs) we become. Part of the evolutionary scheme of things is preventative as well as curative, so rigorous exercise of our midriff girdle will do much to prevent back disorders resulting from flabby girdles. By taking the evolutionary function into account, we are better able to prevent as well as treat most disorders.

These are just two examples of a plethora of diseases that, when given their functional aetiology, give a fuller account of what steps are necessary to keep us healthy and which steps are necessary to treat illnesses. The authors maintain that we must get to the true, real, and functional cause of most disorders before we have a real grasp of disease itself, thereby opening the door to both conventional and evolutionary prevention and treatment. I can't possibly do justice to the depth and breadth of this very important work. While I believe it should be in every doctor's library (like "Darwinian Psychiatry" should be in every psychiatrist's library), it is also one book most health consumers need to understand. Some parts are challenging reading, but it's worth it.

I do have several criticisms. First, the book is not the finest in scientific writing for the layperson. Many doubly compound sentences (and subjects) would have been better developed with a shorter, simpler sentential writing style. Second, no footnotes; there are notes at the end of the text, and no bibliography. Third, the organization and presentation in the first part of the book could be better, with implications made explicit. These criticisms, while not major, do affect the overall rating of the book.

28 people found this helpful

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Nehemiah Cole

The summary of existence we needed!

Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2019

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The evolutionary arms race between all living things on earth is portrayed in great detail and the instances cover just about all aspects of life: from birth to death; sickness and heath; physiological and psychological - it's just about all there. Nesse and Willams go into as much detail as they can in this 300-page volume. They are able to cover the span of existence and the trade-offs/cost-benefits of nearly all aspects. This book will change how you see the world and give you a new appreciation for life.

4 people found this helpful

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Aurea E. Rodriguez

Good

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2023

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Good to understand genetic diseases

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Steve Diput

For thinking people

Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2015

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It is so refreshing to get a wider view of why we get sick instead of treating it as inscrutable Fate (even if subconsciously).
Succinct and easy to understand. If you want to think and act, to take things into your own hands, and all this science-based not one of these idiotic fake books by swindlers who propose weird solutions for the gullible. This is a book for someone who actually wants to think.
It is endorsed by Professor Robert Ornstein, a giant of deep thinking about the brain and the body relationship, about consciousness, about who we are, what how we think and what we are aware of from the myriad od aspects of the universe.

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Nazar Al Haddad

very good

Reviewed in Canada on October 25, 2023

Verified Purchase

Thanks

Matthew Hodgson

A jolly good read

Reviewed in Germany on June 29, 2019

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The book is slightly outdated now in terms of its examples and theories, but it's still informative and an interesting read. The book itself was great quality considering that it was second had.

One person found this helpful

Maria Rojas

Libro super interesante

Reviewed in Spain on September 15, 2018

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Este libro dá una visión muy interesante y con un punto de vista distinto de por qué efermamos. A pesar de estar bien, es difícil de leer, a veces resulta un poco farrogoso, pero es realmente interesante.

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Amazon Customer

This is an interesting and useful book. It should have an Indian print copy ...

Reviewed in India on June 15, 2018

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This is an interesting and useful book. It should have an Indian print copy to reduce cost so that more people can read the book.

2 people found this helpful

Blake

Excellently informative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 2, 2014

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It's impossible for me to understand how people can deny evolution when it explains so much! Once you understand biology, you know evolution is a fact of life. This book explains another aspect of biology we often don't like to be victims of... illness. However, that too is a product of evolution and has reasons for its existence. Enlightening stuff, and very informative.

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