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

by Marlene Zuk (Author)

We treat disease as our enemy. Germs and infections are things we battle. But what if we've been giving them a bum rap?

From the earliest days of life on earth, disease has evolved alongside us. And its presence isn't just natural but is also essential to our health. Drawing on the latest research, Zuk answers a fascinating range of questions about disease: Why do men die younger than women? Why are we attracted to our mates? Why does the average male bird not have a penis? Why do we--as well as insects, birds, pigs, cows, goats, and even plants--get STDs? Why do we have sex at all, rather than simply splitting off copies of ourselves like certain geckos? And how is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker?

In this witty, engaging book, evolutionary biologist Zuk makes us rethink our instincts as she argues that disease is our partner, not our foe. Reconsider the fearsome parasite

Front Jacket

Zuk's book makes disease scintillating, wryly amusing and even sexy. Her enthusiasm and a hundred examples propel the reader to a deeper understanding of the nature of life.--Randolph M. Nesse, author of Why We Get Sick
We treat disease as our enemy, and germs and infections as things we battle. But what if we ve been giving them a bum rap? In this witty, engaging book, evolutionary biologist Zuk makes us rethink our instincts as she argues that disease is our partner, not our foe.
From the earliest days of life on earth -- parasites spurred the creation of complex life forms -- disease has evolved alongside us, becoming not only natural but essential to our health. Drawing on the latest research and most unusual studies, Zuk explains the role of disease in answering a fascinating range of questions: Why do men die younger than women? Why are we attracted to our mates? Why does your average male bird not have a penis? Why do we--as well as insects, birds, pigs, cows, goats, and even plants--get STDs? Why do vultures have yellow heads and roosters have red wattles? Why do we have sex at all, rather than simply splitting off copies of ourselves like certain geckoes? And how is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker?
Using her own work on sexual selection as well as an amazing sampling of stories from the natural world, Zuk makes us reconsider the fearful parasite. "

Back Jacket

An NPR Best Science Book of 2007

"Fascinating."--Natalie Angier, The New York Times

Reconsider the fearful parasite!We zealously battle disease, overdose on antibiotics to kill infections, and frantically scrub away germs--but are we giving our biological neighbors (and sometimes roommates) a bum rap? From the early days of life on earth, disease has evolved alongside us. Zuk shows us that this is not only natural but essential to our health; disease and its fellows are our partners, not our foes. Drawing on the latest research, she explains how it all fits together and in the process teaches us the answers to many fascinating questions: Why do men die younger than women? Why do we--as well as insects, birds, pigs, cows, goats, and even plants--get STDs? And how is our obsession with cleanliness making us sicker? "What's eating you? . . . The answers are oddly consoling in evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk's witty 'disease appreciation' course . . . Beguiling." O, The Oprah Magazine
"Witty and erudite . . . Her book may not make you happy about the various pathogens, bacteria and diseases that thrive in our world, but Zuk will give you new appreciation of their complexity and how some of them even help us." The Seattle Times

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.

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