Sharon MoalemCritiques

Excellent book explaining genetics of males and females in easy-to-understand language. Fascinating read about how women have genetic superiority over men and have from the beginning of time. I wish this book would have included more about genetics influence social and behavioral aspects of sex in addition to the medical influences. Overall, well-written and a fascinating topic.

While reading this book, I was constantly calling up friends to tell them, "This is so cool! Did you know...?" Absolutely fascinating book on why humans evolved diseases. Very highly recommended.½

Survival of the Sickest explores the connections between evolution, disease, and current human health. This book is extremely interesting and engaging, despite the cheesey puns. However, I had hoped for more - more science/medical details, more examples of the evolution-disease-health connections. The book was too short and brief!

And here I was hoping it would be more like a guidebook. Author Sharon Moalem (who is a he, despite the name) has written what could be considered an update to Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask. There a lot more evolutionary psychology and biology than there was in EYAWTKASBWATA, though. Moalem isn’t presenting his own research, but reviewing studies from a lot of other authors. Full of interesting little results (the age of puberty in girls depends on the amount of hip fat; the first self-service items in American drug stores were menstrual pads (supposedly because women were too embarrassed to ask a male clerk for them, and then leading to a lot of other self-service items); there are at least 20 different theories attempting to explain female orgasm) but also more detailed discussions of things like intersex conditions. I noticed a couple of things that bear on previous reviews.


Potential evolutionary explanations for male homosexuality: It seems that one study showed female relatives of gay men had more offspring than average women. The authors suggests – not quite so bluntly – that there was a heritable factor that made carriers want to have lots of sex with men – regardless of the carrier’s gender. That could at least partially explain the evolutionary puzzle of homosexuality; there are enough females with the allele to overwhelm nonbreeding male carriers. Could be; other explanations possible.


Athletes with intersex conditions. Moalem lists a couple of examples:


Indian runner Santhi Soundarajan’s was disqualified in 2006 for having (according to anonymous rumor) “more Y chromosomes than allowed”. Moalem doesn’t have further details but notes that Soundarajan had passed many previous sex determination tests. He speculates that the previous tests were limited to physical genital inspection, and that Soundarajan has Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. An earlier (1985) case was Spanish hurdler Maria José Martinez-Patiño, who turned out to have Y chromosomes and AIS. Interestingly, it isn’t clear if AIS would necessarily give you an advantage in women’s athletic competitions; there’s enough variety in expression that AIS people range from externally indistinguishable from 46XX women to externally indistinguishable from 46XY men (despite all having 46XY karotypes).


In a chapter on The Pill, Moalem notes that it has an interesting effect on women’s odor preferences. Studies where women sniffed used men’s clothing (usually called “t-shirt” studies) found that women preferred the scent of men whose immune system genetics differed from their own (the evolutionary idea here being that women would seek mates in “outgroups” rather than among their own group, to avoid inbreeding). Women on The Pill, OTOH, preferred the scent of men with similar immune system profiles. The authors of this study suggested that being on The Pill is essentially fooling the body into thinking you’re pregnant. Women who aren’t pregnant therefore prefer “exotic” men, while pregnant women prefer “familiar” (and therefore presumably “safe” and “protective”) men. Could be, but a lot of evolutionary psychology excruciatingly difficult to prove conclusively. At any rate, I don’t think there’s been a tremendous increase in first cousin marriages since The Pill.


Not bad for a reasonably technical discussion of a lot of aspects of sex and gender. Interestingly, my copy was deacquisitioned by the Denver Public Library even though it was only three years old. Too controversial?
½

This book is AWESOME. It's like Freakonomics, only better because it focuses on nerdy genetics-related topics without being inapproachable. I actually had to read this book for school, but it's fascinating--and though I came into this book with a decent working knowledge of genetics (which was really interesting, since it addressed some concepts--jumping genes, using evolution to our advantage to cause viruses to become less virulent, etc.--that challenge some common teachings in Biology 101), I think this book would still be accessible without that knowledge.

Warning! If you have any tendency towards hypochondria, this is not a book you should open. Moalem starts out by describing how modest body manifestations such as eye spacing and skin texture can signal life threatening genetic conditions. He in fact, encourages the reader to find a mirror and do a self examination.
Although he is an informative and entertaining writer, the net result of his book will be to increase his patient load with readers who think they ‘might’ carry a dangerous gene. That’s dweeby in my book.
He does caution that there may be a danger of increased cancer risk in children treated with growth hormones for what he terms are cosmetic reasons. That is good sense. He also stresses how our environment influences how our genes express.

Biology is not destiny

Inheritance: How Genes Change Our Lives and Our Lives Change Our Genes by Sharon Moalem, M.D., Ph.D. (Grand Central Publishing, $28).

Let’s all give a big shout of gratitude that Dr. Moalem has written this easy-to-follow primer in genetics, because he does a fantastic job of myth-busting, rumor-debunking and fear-comforting.

In short, his premise is that biology is not destiny. Our genetic makeup both influences and is influenced by our lives; we have as much power over our genes as our genes have over us—with a few notable exceptions. And he also makes clear that, for all that humans are similar as members of the same species, we are also, each and every one of us, first and foremost individuals.

Get that? There is no “average” human, which is why a medicine, exercise regimen or diet that really helps your friend may not work—or have really strange/dangerous consequences—for you.

Even better than Moalem’s clear writing is his frequent use of stories to illustrate his points, which puts this book solidly in the camp of general reader-friendly. He covers all the basics, which makes this a necessary volume to offset the outlandish and separate the science from the science fiction.

An interesting look at medical genetics, written with the general public in mind. Many books on the subject are over the head of the average lay reader, but Moalem, a researcher and practicing doctor in the field of genetics, breaks it down so that most readers will understand. He doesn't cover a great deal of material, focusing on only one or two examples per chapter. He usually does not provide the SNP responsible for inherited conditions in his writing, although a person wanting to know more can likely find articles in library databases that will provide the information if they are willing to wade through scientific details. As a genealogist, I loved his recommendation at the end of chapter 6. He says, "One of the best gifts you can provide them [your siblings, children, and grandchildren] with is a thorough genealogical history, starting with what you know about the health of your own parents and moving on up and across the family tree as far as you can." He also cautions persons considering genetic testing to consider its implications for health and life insurance coverage. There is some great information in the book, but it does bog down a bit in places and probably focuses a bit too much on his own work in places although that it is what is most familiar to him.½

bought at Inmedio for 190 RMB
finished reading 17 March 2008

A fascinating book.

Awesome book. Educational, interesting and have a lot of information in it.

Ignore the title and the hype about "a medical maverick." In fact, just take the dust jacket off. It was clearly constructed to be provocative, but it's not accurate.

Moalem marshals evidence for the positive or effective aspects of diseases that we might other characterize as harmful. He is able to do so (and stick to this theme) fairly consistently throughout the book. Afficionados of popular medical non-fiction will recognize some of the diseases and their associated anecdotes (there's some overlap with Meyers's Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs, for example). In some cases this association may not be evident until later in the chapter--"Of Microbes and Men," for example, treats evolutionary considerations for microbes and parasites that parallel those for humans.

I did find myself frustrated at times by what seemed like unreasonable dumbing down, leading to misinformation. On page 199, for example, Moalem discusses "the cold virus." The point would be stronger if he described the cold viruses, since there are a multitude of causal agents for "the cold." Some of his arguments are reductive and eliminate important considerations that are not well-expressed in an either/or paradigm (essence vs. environment makes multiple appearances inn this way, when the explanation is probably much more complex than the binary choice suuggests).

Still and all, this book was enjoyable and does a good job of eleborating on what is, for many people, a paradigm shift in thinking about the role of disease.

More about why disease needs us than "..Why We Need Disease," this book starts the reader on a journey that follows the co-evolution, and integration, of the human species and disease. While this book is mainly focused on the relationship humans have with disease, there are several examples of how disease is just as manipulating in the rest of the animal kingdom. Anyone interested in human evolution, or at the very least the modern health of the species, will find this book interesting. The writing is a bit jumpy and sums up ideas after extended side notes. This is an easy book to read in small sittings or all at once.½

Terribly written and disorganized. The book is full of scattered 'facts' and speculation. While some of the information is interesting (and practical), the overall presentation is very poor.

Clinical and somewhat enlightening on the neurological aspects of attraction.

I can't say enough about this one. I think everyone with an interest in health and science should read it. The insights which new research reveals in the new field of epigenetics literally change our whole understanding of evolution and Darwin's theories. I can't wait to read more on this subject.

Gripping and educational

I was very surprised by how much information is in this book. The author, Dr. Moalem does not dwell on one topic for long. Because of this, the book kept my interest. Some of the information shocked me (not in a bad way, just I never heard of it), and I was so surprised I looked it up the internet to confirm (or deny) his research.

A quick easy read with a few interesting facts. My problem with books of this type is that ultimately they don't amount to much - they are a collection of facts with references to interesting research in the chosen field. Bonk by Mary Roach has the same theme but Dr. Moalem's effort is definitely better.

Easy reading, somewhat repetitive. As someone in a health professional school I was familiar with much of the ideas in the book and predicted the hypotheses I was not familiar with, but this is still an interesting book worth reading, especially as an introduction to current ideas on how our genetic makeup affects our health.
Warning: the metaphors in this book are clunky and frequently inappropriate.

It's a light look at a variety of diseases and why it would be that they would continue to survive and perpetuate their genes. In the end it leaves a lot of questions, which is only right. Science often hasn't got a clue and a lot of this book is as much speculation as fact, but it admits this.½

This book provides a very interesting view on why we have certain diseases. They saved our lives. Awesome book!

Very interesting! information has creative views on things.

It was interesting seeing susceptibility to a disease as a positive charicteristic.

Very interesting book telling about how diseases help people survive other diseases and how diseases evolve to get where they want and how they can manipulate their hosts.

Survival of the Sickest gives an interesting and insightful look into disease and evolution, starting with questions about how we could evolve these genetic diseases that seem to reduce our ability to survive as individuals. The authors cover a lot of strange ideas and surprising theories that researchers have produced, whether it's stories about frozen frogs, jumping jeans, stressed out rat moms, or aquatic apes... Somehow, they manage to make the book feel more like a series of really fascinating stories you might tell at a party, even though there's a good chunk of a first year biology course embedded in the stories. This is really popular science at its best, encouraging us to think in new ways and be fascinated by the world around us.

This turned out to be an utterly fascinating book! I had been thinking, from its title, that the book would be about disease. It is, however, about something else entirely - how evolution and our genetic make-up are closely intertwined. Based on the modern research (Okay, I'll admit I haven't read much about DNA since nursing school), I was astounded by recent discoveries that show how evolution is often based on genetic traits acquired not by heredity, but by environment. This book and the subject are so vast that the ideas could be overwhelming. The author takes this subject in a stride and uses an easy-going and often humorous way of presenting what could otherwise be dry material. Here is one man I'd love to have as a college professor! I must say that, although I might not later remember the technical details of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed its presentation.