The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners That Shape Who We Are Today - Tapa dura

"A pleasure to read. He is not a biologist moonlighting as a writer; he is both. Dunn also does a wonderful job interspersing history, research, and speculation with real-life human beings. He has a natural flair for drama and tension ... a highly readable, informative mashing of ideas and disciplines." -- Boston Globe "Grabbing the reader from the start ... Dunn moves through the answer to these and other questions with a sure use of language, scientific research, and humor-all of which combined keep the reader highly engaged... Mr. Dunn is a thorough and talented writer." -- New York Journal of Books "An extraordinary book about a previously little explored subject. With clarity and charm the author takes the reader into the overlap of medicine, ecology, and evolutionary biology to reveal an important domain of the human condition." -- Edward O. Wilson, University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University "[Dunn is] a master at applying the principle of administering a spoonful of sugar (i.e., humor) to make the "medicine" of complicated scientific information not merely interesting but gripping. Nothing less than an every-person's handbook for understanding life, great and small, on planet Earth." -- Booklist (starred review) "Adding touches of humor along the way, Dunn deftly explains complex biological systems for the general reader. [...] Highly recommended for nature aficionados, this book should inspire many lively discussions." -- Library Journal

We evolved, like every other species, in a wilderness of parasites, mutualists and pathogens. But we no longer see ourselves as being part of nature and the broader community of life. In the name of progress and clean living, we have successfully scrubbed much of nature off of our bodies, and have tried to remove whole kinds of life - parasites, bacteria, mutualists, and predators - to allow ourselves to live free of disease and large carnivores. Nature, in this new world, is the landscape outside, a kind of living painting that is pleasant to contemplate but also nice to have escaped. The truth, though, is that while 'clean living' has benefited us in some ways, it has also made us sicker in others, according to biologist Rob Dunn. We are trapped in bodies that evolved to deal with many kinds of interactions with other species. 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. Sickle cell anemia, diabetes, autism, allergies, many anxiety disorders, autoimmune diseases, tooth, jaw, and vision problems, and even heart disease are increasingly plaguing bodies that have been removed from the ecological context in which they existed for millennia. In this eye-opening, well-researched, and reasoned book, Dunn tells the story of the known and potential consequences of our changing relationships with nature and considers the crossroads at which we find ourselves. He also introduces visionaries who aim to correct these difficulties and re-engage us with the rest of life. As Dunn argues, we must learn to manage with more care and nuance, to create a new kind of living world that contains not just the species that survive deforestation, antibiotics, and disturbance, but is a more intelligent and lush Eden that we can interact with in many different ways.