Forged by natural selection and honed by evolution, humans are
perfectly adapted machines ... for a world that no longer exists.
'This book is a gripping and sobering reminder of how much we are all
governed by our genetic inheritance. So much for free will.' The Mail
on Sunday
In Unfit for Purpose, biologist and broadcaster Adam Hart explores the
mismatch between our fundamental biology and the modern world we have
created. In each chapter Adam reveals the many ways in which biological
adaptations that evolved to help us survive and thrive now work against
us. For example, in the modern world stress is a killer but how did
'fight or flight' instincts turn from life-savers to life-takers?
Obesity is a disease now but is it also just a side-effect of our
evolutionary past? Whether it's the derailing of microbes in our gut,
the rise of gluten and lactose intolerance, problems of social media or
drug addiction, we always seem to have one foot in the modern world and
the other firmly in our evolutionary past.
Adam explores science, archaeology, medicine, genetics, sociology and
more, to show how, in a modern world of our own making, we find
ourselves 'unfit for purpose'. But all is not lost! In unpicking the
causes of our current woes, he unearths some secrets of evolutionarily
informed treatments that will change the way we think about ourselves
and our future.
