Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us Who We Are - Rilegato

Zuk, Marlene

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0151012253 ISBN 13: 9780151012251

Casa editrice: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2007

Riassunto

We think of disease as our enemy, something we try to eradicate; germs and infections are things we battle. But in this witty, engaging book, evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk reveals that, in fact, disease is our partner, not our foe, and is responsible for everything from how we look to how we have sex.

Since the earliest days of life on earth, disease has evolved alongside us. Drawing on the latest research and studies, Zuk explains the role of disease in answering a fascinating range of questions such as: Why do men die younger than women? Why does the average male bird not have a penis? Why do we—and lots of other animals—get STDs? How is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker? And how can parasites sometimes make us well?

Using her own work on sexual selection as well as a sampling of stories from the natural world, Zuk makes us reconsider the fearsome parasite.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

PRAISE FOR SEXUAL SELECTIONS

"Fascinating and persuasive. Zuk is not an idealogue, just an unusually clear-eyed scholar."?THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

"Zuk is a truly intelligent writer who is out to make a serious point: Humans often try to legitimize their own behavior by citing similar behavior in the animal kingdom . . . Not only rare but relevant."?THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

L'autore:

MARLENE ZUK is a professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside, where she studies parasites and behavior in a variety of animals. She is the author of Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn about Sex from Animals. She lives in Riverside, California.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0151012253
• ISBN 13: 9780151012251
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 328