The wild life of our bodies : predators, parasites, and partners that shape who we are today / Rob Dunn.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dunn, Rob, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Microbial ecology.

Human ecology.

Human evolution.

Host-parasite relationships.

Physical Description:

xii, 290 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First Harper Perennial edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Harper Perennial, 2014.

Summary:

Shares the known and potential consequences of the changing relationships with nature and interactions with other species and emphasizes the importance of reconnecting with the web of life.

Contents:

Part I. Who we all used to be: The origins of humans and the control of nature

part II. Why we sometimes need worms and whether or not you should rewild your gut: When good bodies go bad (and why)

The pronghorn principle and what our guts flee

The dirty realities of what to do when you are sick and missing your worms

part III. What your appendix does and how it has changed: Several things the gut knows and the brain ignores

I need my appendix (and so do my bacteria)

part IV. How we tried to tame cows (and crops) but instead they tamed us, and why it made some of us fat: When cows and grass domesticated humans

So who cares if your ancestors sucked milk from aurochsen?

part V. How predators left us scared, pathos-ridden and covered in goose bumps: We were hunted, which is why all of us are afraid some of the time and some of us are afraid all of the time

From flight to fight

Vermeij's law of evolutionary consequences and how snakes made the world

Choosing who lives

part VI. The pathogens that left us hairless and xenophobic: How lice and ticks (and their pathogens) made us naked and gave us skin cancer

How the pathogens that made us naked also made us xenophobic, collectivist, and disgusted

part VII. The future of human nature: The reluctant revolutionary of hope.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-278) and index.

ISBN:

9780061806469

0061806463

OCLC:

923863926

Publisher Number:

40019578352