可借阅:*
图书馆 | 资料类型 | 排架号 | 子计数 | 书架位置 | 状态 | 图书预约 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
正在检索... Branch | Book | 610.1 NES | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | 正在检索... 未知 | 正在检索... 不可借阅 |
正在检索... South | Book | 610.1 NESSE | 1 | Non-fiction Collection | 正在检索... 未知 | 正在检索... 不可借阅 |
链接这些题名
已订购
评论 (5)
出版社周刊评论
Nesse and Williams have written a lively discourse on the application of the principles of evolutionary biology to the dilemmas of modern medicine. Nesse, a physician and an associate professor of psychiatry, and Williams, a professor of ecology and evolution, provide a primer on Darwin's theory of natural selection. They explain that the functional design of organisms-e.g., our bodies-may suggest new ways of addressing illness. The book begins with a look at the causes of disease and their evolutionary influences. But the book mainly assesses the concept of adaptation by natural selection, and illustrates the ways Darwinian thinking can be applied to medical problems. As one example, the authors examine the use of penicillin over the past 60 years against bacterial infections. The book's quirky information may speak to a broad audience: researchers, for instance, have found that relatives of schizophrenics have an unusually high frequency of inclusion in Who's Who-which may counterbalance drawbacks of the disorder in evolutionary terms. The tendency toward child abuse, too, may be influenced, the authors say, by evolution and the passing on of genes. And there may well be an evolutionary reason to welcome morning sickness, they argue: nausea and food aversions during pregnancy apparently evolved to impose dietary restrictions on the mother so as to correspond with fetal vulnerability and, thereby, minimize fetal exposure to food toxins. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
Some surprising answers to questions about why our bodies are designed the way they are and why we get the diseases we do. Nesse, a physician (Psychiatry/Univ. of Michigan) and Williams (Ecology and Evolution/SUNY, Stony Brook) first teamed up to write an article on Darwinian medicine, which applies the concept of adaptation by natural selection to medical questions. That article, published in 1991 in The Quarterly Review of Biology, has been expanded into the present book, in which the authors look at the design characteristics of the human body that make it susceptible to disease. Their conclusions? First, sometimes it's our genes that make us vulnerable to disease. Some genetic defects arise through mutations, but more often, genes with deleterious effects are maintained through natural selection because their benefits outweigh their costs. Second, there's a mismatch between our present environment and the one that over thousands of years shaped our hunter-gatherer ancestors. There simply hasn't been time for our bodies to adapt, and we suffer the consequences. Third, disease results from design compromises. For example, the structural changes that allowed us to develop from horizontal four-footed creatures to upright two-footed ones left us vulnerable to back problems. Fourth, our evolutionary history has left us some troublesome legacies, such as the unfortunate intersection in our throats of the passages for food and air. Some of the areas Nesse and Williams apply their Darwinian approach to are infectious diseases, allergies, cancer, aging, reproduction, and mental disorders. Happily, they write with impeccable clarity, and when they are speculating (which they do freely), they are careful to say so. They also offer numerous suggestions for research studies, thoughtful proposals for reshaping medical textbooks and medical education, and a scenario dramatizing Darwinian medicine's possible clinical application. Fascinating reading for doctors and patients alike.
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Although they realize that evolution selects not for health but for reproductive success, the Darwinian physicians of Nesse and Williams' trope see the body as "a bundle of careful compromises." These Darwinians also see trouble-causing genes as those that combine good and bad features because they have not adapted completely from their Stone Age purposes to the diverse demands of today's environment and ways of living. Physicians should look for the evolutionary, not the proximate, causes of disease, Darwinians say. For example, the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia, which is most often seen in malaria-ridden areas, actually protects the individual who has it from malaria (and now, apart from in areas endangered by malaria, this gene is decreasing in frequency). When physicians look at allergy, cancer, even mental diseases, through Darwinian eyes they see and, Nesse and Williams say, will increasingly see medical problems in a new and thought-provoking light. Why We Get Sick deserves pondering by both physicians and laypersons. ~--William Beatty
Choice 评论
An evolutionary biologist and a physician discuss human diseases and illness from an evolutionary perspective. They dwell on the theme that as humans evolved, natural selection did not eliminate diseases such as cancer, schizophrenia, hypertension, and various other illnesses from the gene pool. These imperfections make all humans vulnerable to disease. The authors expound on a new concept, "Darwinian medicine," which applies the principles of evolutionary biology to the problems of medicine, i.e., an evolutionary understanding of the human being as a functioning organism. For example, pain is a desired adaptation through natural selection for survival, and, the memory of pain teaches humans to avoid future painful encounters, thus prolonging life. Also, adaptations by which one combats pathogens are discussed in detail. Numerous other examples of evolutionary thinking in medicine are provided for dealing with adaptation and natural selection. The authors contend that human health could be improved if adaptational (evolutionary) mechanisms were considered along with the medical causation of disease and illness. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. H. S. Pitkow; Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Offering new insights on the failure of evolution to eradicate disease, psychiatrist Nesse and ecologist Williams offer numerous suggestions on why certain seemingly negative traits have not been eliminated through natural selection. A brief discussion of the basics of evolution is provided, along with examples of how the theory of natural selection may relate to aging, cancer, allergies, and other diseases. One particularly intriguing chapter is devoted to the possibility of an evolutionary contribution to psychological disorders such as excessive anxiety or depression. Marc Lappe's recent Evolutionary Medicine: Rethinking the Origins of Disease (LJ 10/15/94) conveys a similar message on the increasing need to consider evolutionary principles in the treatment of disease. Both books are thought-provoking and worthy purchases, but librarians interested in a slightly less technical narrative may prefer Why We Get Sick.-Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.