2024 the best years of our lives reviews review

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(as of Nov 24, 2024 11:20:10 UTC - Details)

“Extraordinary. . . . takes the reader into the overlap of medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology to reveal an important domain of the human condition.” —Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Anthill and The Future of Life

We evolved in a wilderness of parasites, mutualists, and pathogens, but we no longer see ourselves as being part of nature. In the name of progress and clean living, we scrub much of nature off our bodies and try to remove whole kinds of life—parasites, bacteria, mutualists, and predators—to allow ourselves to live free of wild danger. Nature, in this new world, is the landscape outside, a kind of living painting that is pleasant to contemplate but nice to have escaped.

The truth, though, according to biologist Rob Dunn, is that while “clean living” has benefited us in some ways, it has also made us sicker in others. As Dunn reveals, our modern disconnect from the web of life has resulted in unprecedented effects that immunologists, evolutionary biologists, psychologists, and other scientists are only beginning to understand. Diabetes, autism, allergies, many anxiety disorders, autoimmune diseases, and even tooth, jaw, and vision problems are increasingly plaguing bodies that have been removed from the ecological context in which they existed for millennia.

In this eye-opening book, Dunn considers the crossroads at which we find ourselves. Through the stories of visionaries, Dunn argues that we can create a richer nature, one in which we choose to surround ourselves with species that benefit us, not just those that, despite us, survive.

“A pleasure to read.” —Boston Globe

“[Dunn’s] sure use of language, scientific research, and humor . . . keep the reader highly engaged.” —New York Journal of Books

“Not merely interesting but gripping.” —Booklist, starred review

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B004MMEIHS
Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins e-books; Reprint edition (June 21, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 21, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3749 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
Reviewer: ZzAzZ
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Awesome interesting book.
Review: Let me just start off saying that I was skeptical coming into this because of lack of anything but 5 star ratings. I am a paranoid type of person and thought something had to be up with 100% of the ratings being 5 stars, and that, maybe, people associated with the book or writer padded the reviews. I couldn't be more happy about giving it a try anyway.If this kind of thing interests you (and if you are reading this, I would imagine it does) then you will find this to be one of the most interesting books you could read. It teaches, it opens your mind, it presents you with a way of thinking that you might not otherwise experience.The major theme of the book seems to be the effect modernization has had on our evolutionary benefits. It's a story of our evolutionary baggage and what we can or should do to turn that baggage back into usefulness. It ranges from large predators to microbial effects on our modern lives and explains how being indiscriminate of our extermination of perceived threats, we may have been doing more harm than good.If you are worried about this being over your head, don't be. As I'm sure you will be able to gather from reading this review, I am not the smartest person on the planet and yet it was still as enjoyable to read as I could hope for. It really is worthy of 5 stars, and I am not very generous with my 5 star ratings.

Reviewer: Rebecca Walden
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Dunn Did It Again
Review: I've been reading Rob Dunn's articles, essays, poems and now books, since he held up a sign in an airport saying "Will Count Bugs for Food" at the onset of an early internship so that the doctorate candidate would find him. He's "done" it again with The Wild Life of Our Bodies. Done what? Communicated information he's obviously very passionate and learned about that both educates and entertains. Rob Dunn peppers his prose with humor and "slices of life" uncommon to typical scientific studies. I always get the feeling when reading writings by Rob that he so wants to share the boundless joy his field of study has brought him with the rest of us, infect us with the same enthusiasm. He delights his readers and still makes his points. Most of us can write and talk "peer to peer". It takes a true artist to convey his material in such a way that a "non-scientifically inclined" person such as myself still anxiously turns each page. Rob will no doubt be rewarded with readership beyond his immediate sphere because of his rare talent.

Reviewer: The Green Phantasm
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fascinating Interior World
Review: This book enhances our understanding of how our bodies got to be the way they are inside—and why an awareness of those factors can help us adapt our diets and lifestyles more sensibly in response to our changed world. The data and anecdotes are fascinating. As an overarching explanation, it may not soar quite as high as Guns, Germs and Steel or Evolution for Everybody or The Future of Life, but it strikes me as reaching the same stratum. Definitely worth the time to read it--and what an intriguing read it is!

Reviewer: Helen G
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Things in my body
Review: I have been reading Dr. Dunn's articles and I read his first book. They are all very good, but this is new book is better. It isn't like a normal science book. It is easy to read and exciting. I found myself wanting to skip ahead to see how things turn out. I learned all sorts of things about my life. I learned about my appendix, about the bacteria in my body, about why I get stressed, but I didn't realize I was learning, I just wanted to keep reading. I felt like there were complicated things in the book, but nothing was hard to understand. I don't have a science background but I saw how this book related to my life and it also made me think about the things I do on a daily basis and how often I am affected by other animals and bacteria without knowing it, or I guess whether I know it or not. The book also made me think about the ways that nature seems out of balance and how that balance might be affecting me. It seems silly to say that a book about the people in general made me thing about me, but that is what it did. In general this book was interesting, but it was also exciting and it has me thinking about myself differently.

Reviewer: J. Dawg
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Clever Science
Review: After hearing an interview with Rob Dunn on NPR I decided I had to read this book. I was not disappointed. As an Evolutionary Biologist this was definitely right up my alley but I do think this book would be enjoyed by anyone who has an interest in the interconnectedness of species. Dunn's writing is superb. It is witty and informative without bogging down in long technical descriptions. He does however provide enough detail to spark a researcher's curiosity to delve into the topic further at a later time. My husband, also a Biologist, was a little disappointed that there were no pictures of Whipworms since he considered invertebrates to be the coolest organisms on the planet! I've always argued that we did not evolve in a bubble and I find it refreshing to read a well thought review of how important co-evolution was in shaping who we are today. I highly reccommend this book and look forward to more from Dr. Dunn.

Reviewer: Midwestisbest
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very interesting and entertaining read
Review: If you are interested at all in modern ailments, and the potential why behind them that most people don't realize or understand, this book will keep you engaged and thinking! Science based but written in a way that is easily read and understood. I really enjoyed both the background on certain disease states, parasites, body functions etc. and how and why they inflicted us millennia ago to why it matters that they are missing (or not missing) today.

Reviewer: HHDRM
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Caution advised
Review: This book is full of tantalizing and wild ideas, with inadequate disclosure in my opinion. Though the text has lots of words like maybe, likely, not yet proven, etc., the overall tone suggests that his statements have strong scientific support. At first I was intrigued and entertained, but halfway through the book realized that the framework of his ideas was very shaky. I worry that people may try his suggestions for managing health and illness without sufficient awareness of their speculative nature.

Reviewer: Judith McDougall
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I bought this book after reading Rob's blog. He has an inquisitive mind that links together so many things, it might make you dizzy in a good way. I finished reading it today but I'm sure I will be thinking about it for a long time. This is the kind of book you recommend to all your friends. Thoughtful but not pedantic, it encourages deep thought about the connections we have with everything.

Reviewer: Pipistrel
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Having read an excellent article by Rob Dunn, I was astonished to see only one review for this book, giving it two stars. So I checked amazon.com and found that 27 out of 33 reviews awarded five stars. I went ahead and ordered it, and I now wonder whether the two-star reviewer even read more than a few pages. It is very readable and full of exciting ideas.Dunn's topic is the interaction between human beings and the many species of animals, plants and microbes that have lived with us or on us or in us, now or in the past. It turns out that this wildlife was responsible for the evolution of many of our characteristics, including our immune systems, our vision and our other senses, our emotions and our proneness to anxiety, our taste in urban landscapes and building styles, even perhaps our naked skins.This is not a textbook, but it covers many aspects of human ecology in a way that makes them accessible to the general reader. Most topics are introduced by stories about the people who opened them up, often by accident and in the most unexpected ways - the experimenters on mice who discovered the benefits of gut bacteria; the monkey specialist who stepped on a snake; the worm scientist who became an urban designer. They illustrate the maxim that 'chance favours the prepared mind'. Most of these researchers are unknown even to most ecologists, and their experiences make the work they have done interesting and memorable.Some of the topics are, on the surface, horrifying: intestinal worms, man-eating big cats and pubic lice... but they all played a part in making us the way we are. Ecology is dispassionate and seeks simply to describe things as they are. Still more interestingly it describes how things probably were and how the ghosts of the past may explain the present.Since the invention of agriculture about ten thousand years ago, and still more since the industrial revolution, we have destroyed huge areas of natural ecosystems and increasingly distanced ourselves from the creatures that live in or on us, and from those on which we live. We are better off without contact with some of these; nobody has found any benefits from living with bedbugs.But it is to our cost that many other things are destroyed, including the beneficial bacteria - and perhaps some of the worms - in our guts. Our immune systems evolved to fight off challenges, and many modern ailments may result from the fact that too much hygiene means that our immune reactions have not been properly developed and may even turn on our own bodies.There is much that is worrying in this book, but the humour of the telling helps the reader to swallow the pills. The last chapter offers an uplifting vision of a possible future. I hope many people will read it and be inspired to get involved.

Reviewer: Mr Tim
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: In response to a rather negative review of this book, I feel compelled to defend the author. This book is neither repetitive nor over-written. The author has illustrated what is actually quite a complex and involved theory through various stories and narratives. These humanise his arguments and make the book readable and accessible to those of us who are not from a scientific background. Rob Dunn is a good writer, who understands his audience. Those who seek dry lists of data and bald facts should look elsewhere! This book is for the general reader, and as a general reader myself I can heartily recommend it!

Reviewer: workingonit
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Rob Dunn's book... The Wild Life of Our Bodies...is definitely a mind opener. Nothing could be more personal than your own body.. and health.. and his way of examining it will allow you to take a very different perspective. Not superb penmanship, but still quite pleasant to read. It's great to follow ideas totally driven by facts and reasoned conjecture.... in this world of ideology, hyoe, spin and narrow thinking. This will change the way you look at yourself, others, and our society.. in a positive way. Read it.

Reviewer: Clive Girling
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is an easy to read, fascinating and informative book. Rob Dunn describes how primates and ancient man evolved with a full set of bacteria, parasites and viruses all living in harmony with immune systems that tolerated/needed these fellow travellors to ensure healthy lives. Modern hygiene and antibiotics have robbed us of some of these essential guests and Rob Dunn proposes that our modern diseases are the result. If you believe, as I do that life started in a microbial form, it makes perfect sense that all human and animal life should live in harmony with microbial life and you will enjoy this book.