Far and away the best book I've read in the field of evolutionary medicine since Nesse and Williams' Why We Get Sick. The most sophisticated understanding of evolution combined with the best original empirical science and the most creative theoretical thinking. -- Peter T. Ellison, author of On Fertile Ground Jasienska offers readers an engaging discourse on a critical part of the modern human condition, and the evolutionary and biocultural processes responsible for its development. -- Michael P. Muehlenbein, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington Jasienska refuses to present a model of how modern women should lead their lives; rather she insists that each woman is an individual in her own circumstances and must make decisions about the trade-offs inherent to her personal life history. -- Jane B. Lancaster, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, and editor, Human Nature
Grazyna Jasienska is Professor at the Institute of Public Health, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
Jasienska [is]…uniquely qualified to explore women’s reproductive
health from a perspective that is not only cross-cultural but also
infused with evolutionary wisdom. Her book is a revelation…
Intellectually invigorating.
*Chronicle of Higher Education*
Women may aim for perfect health through diet, exercise and close
attention to medical advice, but still develop breast cancer or
osteoporosis. Reproductive fitness often wars with general physical
fitness over a woman’s lifetime, argues public-health specialist
Grazyna Jasienska. Drawing on a raft of research in evolutionary
biology and beyond, she points to factors such as the disjunction
between ‘palaeo’ and current lifestyles, hormonal disparities and
longer lifespans as key to informing disease-prevention
strategies.
*Nature*
The antithesis of the diet and get-fit-quick books we’re bombarded
with at this time of year, The Fragile Wisdom: An Evolutionary View
on Women’s Biology and Health by Grazyna Jasienska is an engaging
examination of how our hormonal and reproductive systems are
attuned to our evolving circumstances. Don’t expect instant
solutions—Jasienska suggests our bodies are not so much ‘wise’ but
‘confused’ as they adapt to whatever life has thrown at us over the
generations. Fascinating stuff.
*Psychologies*
In The Fragile Wisdom, Jasienska offers new insights into
evolutionary trade-offs between reproductive viability and other
aspects of a woman’s health. The book includes well-researched (48
pages of references) analyses of Paleolithic dietary patterns as
well as hormonal fluctuations that support fertility of younger
women and place these same women at risk for postmenopausal cancers
of their reproductive organs. One of many strengths of the book is
the author’s refusal to settle for easy answers or to offer advice.
Rather, she raises questions and argues persuasively that human
evolutionary heritage is far more complex, more interesting, and
more challenging than most readers may have imagined. Although the
emphasis is on women’s health, this thought-provoking,
well-reasoned work is relevant for anyone seeking a better
understanding of humanity’s collective history and its implications
for today.
*Choice*
A great read for those interested in women’s health and
evolutionary biology.
*Library Journal*
Jasienska explores the ways in which modern changes in attitude
(and medicine) with respect to the evolutionary role of women to
reproduce might be contributing to rising female health problems.
Jasienska demonstrates that long ago, estrogen levels were kept in
check by the frequency with which women, lacking any suitable form
of birth control, became pregnant; today, on the other hand,
women—abetted by social and technological advances—can choose a
life for themselves other than motherhood. However, this means that
women are pregnant fewer times during their lifespan, therefore
they cycle more frequently and thus produce more estrogen—a hormone
which, at high levels, shows a high correlation with the incidence
of breast cancer. Despite huge steps made in the last 100 years
toward gender equality, Jasienska compellingly shows that the
impact of millennia of biological evolution continues to assert
itself.
*Publishers Weekly*
Far and away the best book I’ve read in the field of evolutionary
medicine since Nesse and Williams’s Why We Get Sick. The most
sophisticated understanding of evolution combined with the best
original empirical science and the most creative theoretical
thinking.
*Peter T. Ellison, author of On Fertile Ground*
Jasienska offers readers an engaging discourse on a critical part
of the modern human condition, and the evolutionary and biocultural
processes responsible for its development.
*Michael P. Muehlenbein, Associate Professor of Anthropology,
Indiana University, Bloomington*
Jasienska refuses to present a model of how modern women should
lead their lives; rather she insists that each woman is an
individual in her own circumstances and must make decisions about
the trade-offs inherent to her personal life history.
*Jane B. Lancaster, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology,
University of New Mexico, and editor, Human Nature*
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