Paleofantasy

Reviews / Votes

"We tend to idealize our ancestors, as if they had the perfect life and perfect diet. In highly readable style, Marlene Zuk downplays our paleo-heritage. Not only did we change culturally, we are also genetically a different animal." -- Frans de Waal, author of The Bonobo and the Atheist "Marlene Zuk's quest to understand prehistory is an elegant guide for the perplexed. Paleofantasy cuts through a confusing tangle of facts and claims to give us a trustworthy road map to the glorious problems of who we are and where we come from." -- Richard Wrangham, author of Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human "In thoroughly engaging and witty prose, Zuk (Sex on Six Legs), a biologist from the University of Minnesota, dismantles the pseudoscience behind nostalgic yearnings for our caveman days." -- Publishers Weekly "Nothing beats good hard data to debunk myths, and Zuk offers plenty." -- Kirkus Reviews "In this illuminating overview of state-of-the art evolutionary science, [Zuk] debunks this utopian ideal and demonstrates that not only have humans continued to evolve since our foraging days, but some of those adaptations have been remarkably swift." -- Carl Hays - Booklist "Ms. Zuk's nutritionally rich scientific fodder will certainly bring intellectual benefits far greater than those provided by the pseudoscientific confections with which we are so often tempted." -- Cordelia Fine - Wall Street Journal "Zuk doesn't deny that an understanding of evolution can provide important insights into human behavior and health. But as this informative book demonstrates, the work of using evolutionary logic to explain human traits is more like multi-variable calculus than simple arithmetic." -- The Daily Beast "In her witty and well-researched prose, Zuk debunks these pseudoscience-based conceptions and proves that humanity did not have "a time" like the kind depicted by these fantasies; evolution has always been and will continue to be a key player in our species' future." -- Liz Belliovskaya - Brain World Magazine "Paleofantasy is not another self-help book offering answers on how to eat, exercise, or love better in our evolving world. Instead, Zuk emphasizes that we can approach these aspects of our lives differently based on our genetic makeup." -- Catherine Woods - Science Magazine "Zuk ably presents a skeptical and light-hearted view of a long list of palaeofantasies and supposed solutions." -- John Hawks - Nature "With its healthy analysis of lifestyles and changing, evolving habits, Paleofantasy is a top recommendation not just for science holdings, but collections strong in culinary history and evolution." -- Midwest Book Review "Like the best science writers, [Zuk] finds a broader context for everyday experience and makes difficult concepts easier to understand." -- Margaret Quamme - Columbia Dispatch "Paleofantasy is a fascinating and accessible read that I had trouble putting down." -- Stratton Magazine