On fertile ground / Peter T. Ellison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellison, Peter Thorpe.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human reproduction.

Human evolution.

Natural selection.

Physical Description:

358 p. : ill.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Reproduction is among the most basic of human biological functions, both for our distant ancestors and for ourselves, whether we live on the plains of Africa or in North American suburbs. Our reproductive biology unites us as a species, but it has also been an important engine of our evolution. In the way our bodies function today we can see both the imprint of our formative past and implications for our future. It is the infinitely subtle and endlessly dramatic story of human reproduction and its evolutionary context that Peter T. Ellison tells in On Fertile Ground. Ranging from the latest achievements of modern fertility clinics to the lives of subsistence farmers in the rain forests of Africa, this book offers both a remarkably broad and a minutely detailed exploration of human reproduction. Ellison, a leading pioneer in the field, combines the perspectives of anthropology, stressing the range and variation of human experience; ecology, sensitive to the two-way interactions between humans and their environments; and evolutionary biology, emphasizing a functional understanding of human reproductive biology and its role in our evolutionary history. Whether contrasting female athletes missing their periods and male athletes using anabolic steroids with Polish farm women and hunter-gatherers in Paraguay, or exploring the intricate choreography of an implanting embryo or of a nursing mother and her child, On Fertile Ground advances a rich and deeply satisfying explanation of the mechanisms by which we reproduce and the evolutionary forces behind their design.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

TWO BIRTHS

SURVIVING THE FIRST CUT

A TIME TO BE BORN

THE ELIXIR OF LIFE

WHY GROW UP?

BALANCING ACT

THE ARC OF LIFE

THE BODY BUILDERS

THE JOURNEY AND THE PROCESSION

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [301]-344) and index.

ISBN:

9780674263284

0674263286

9780674036444

0674036441

OCLC:

923110727