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Survival of the Sickest
- A Medical Maverick Discovers Why We Need Disease
- Narrated by: Eric Conger
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
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Survival of the Sickest
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Editorial reviews
Learn how wearing sun block could raise your cholesterol and diabetes could protect you from extreme cold. Mutation, genetic transmission, and survival of the fittest form the foundation of evolutionary law, and Sharon Moalem explains how certain genetic disease states might promote continued existence. Narrator Eric Conger's brisk pace keeps the facts coming and the interest level high, but he never sounds hurried or mumbles a word. He doesn't break his rhythm with annoying pauses for quoted material or struggle with the plethora of scientific terms. The combination of an excellent narrator and well-informed writers provides information that brings the inquisitive mind up to date on genetics that apply to our everyday lives.
Publisher's summary
Survival of the Sickest reveals the answers to these and many other questions as it unravels the amazing connections between evolution, disease, and human health today.
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth and, especially, what that means for us. Listen to it. You're already living it.
Critic reviews
"A lively and enthusiastic treatise." (Kirkus Reviews)
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 49
An Epidemic of Absence asks what will happen in developing countries, which, as they become more affluent, have already seen an uptick in allergic disease: Will India end up more allergic than Europe? Velasquez-Manoff also details a controversial underground movement that has coalesced around the treatment of immune-mediated disorders with parasites. Against much of his better judgment, he joins these do-it-yourselfers and reports his surprising results.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The point of view from a Veterinarian immunologist
- By rtgymnast on 11-03-17
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Evolving Ourselves
- How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth
- By: Juan Enriquez, Steve Gullans
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 204
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 178
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 181
Why are conditions like autism, asthma, obesity, and allergies exploding at unprecedented rates? Why are we living longer, getting smarter, having far fewer kids? If Darwin were alive today, how would he explain this new world?
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5 out of 5 stars
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fascinating ideas and science
- By Joel on 07-04-15
By: Juan Enriquez, and others
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Welcome to the Microbiome
- Getting to Know the Trillions of Bacteria and Other Microbes In, On, and Around You
- By: Rob DeSalle, Susan L. Perkins
- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Suddenly, research findings require a paradigm shift in our view of the microbial world. The Human Microbiome Project at the National Institutes of Health is well under way, and unprecedented scientific technology now allows the censusing of trillions of microbes inside and on our bodies as well as in the places where we live, work, and play. This intriguing, up-to-the-minute book for scientists and nonscientists alike explains what researchers are discovering about the microbe world and what the implications are for modern science and medicine.
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5 out of 5 stars
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I learned so much from this book. I am happy.
- By Jonathan Miller on 09-08-18
By: Rob DeSalle, and others
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The Cancer Chronicles
- Unlocking Medicine's Deepest Mystery
- By: George Johnson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 61
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 52
When the woman he loved was diagnosed with a metastatic cancer, science writer George Johnson embarked on a journey to learn everything he could about the disease and the people who dedicate their lives to understanding and combating it. What he discovered is a revolution under way - an explosion of new ideas about what cancer really is and where it comes from. In a provocative and intellectually vibrant exploration, he takes us on an adventure through the history and recent advances of cancer research that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the disease.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A quick read - hard to put down
- By Digital Dilema on 09-06-13
By: George Johnson
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The Story of the Human Body
- Evolution, Health, and Disease
- By: Daniel Lieberman
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 14 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,706
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,462
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,462
In this landmark book of popular science, Daniel E. Lieberman - chair of the department of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a leader in the field - gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years, even as it shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning this paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Could Have Been Good, but...
- By Trebla on 04-08-18
By: Daniel Lieberman
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10% Human
- How Your Body's Microbes Hold the Key to Health and Happiness
- By: Alanna Collen
- Narrated by: Cat Gould
- Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 77
You are just 10% human. For every one of the cells that make up the vessel that you call your body, there are nine impostor cells hitching a ride. You are not just flesh and blood, muscle and bone, brain and skin, but also bacteria and fungi. Over your lifetime, you will carry the equivalent weight of five African elephants in microbes. You are not an individual but a colony. Until recently, we had thought our microbes hardly mattered, but science is revealing a different story, one in which microbes run our bodies and becoming a healthy human is impossible without them.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must read for anyone that wants to be healthy
- By T. Kalinowski on 06-05-21
By: Alanna Collen
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This Is Your Brain on Parasites
- How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society
- By: Kathleen McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,109
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 986
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 984
A riveting investigation of the myriad ways that parasites control how other creatures - including humans - think, feel, and act. These tiny organisms can live only inside another animal, and, as McAuliffe reveals, they have many evolutionary motives for manipulating their host's behavior. Far more often than appreciated, these puppeteers orchestrate the interplay between predator and prey.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Entertaining but questionable studies
- By mdkoci on 01-02-17
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Queen of Fats
- Why Omega-3s Were Removed from the Western Diet and What We Can Do to Replace Them
- By: Susan Allport
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 48
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 44
A nutritional whodunit that takes readers from Greenland to Africa to Israel, The Queen of Fats gives a fascinating account of how we have become deficient in a nutrient that is essential for good health: the fatty acids know as omega-3s.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Eye Opener about fats, weight and health!
- By Eric on 12-22-11
By: Susan Allport
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Pandora's Seed
- The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization
- By: Spencer Wells
- Narrated by: Spencer Wells
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 168
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 68
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Story4 out of 5 stars 69
This new book by Spencer Wells, the internationally known geneticist, anthropologist, author, and director of the Genographic Project, focuses on the seminal event in human history: mankind's decision to become farmers rather than hunter-gatherers.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Short and unfocused, but often quite interesting.
- By Alan on 06-23-10
By: Spencer Wells
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The Truth About Cancer
- By: Ty M. Bollinger
- Narrated by: Ty M. Bollinger
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 316
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 274
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 273
One out of three women alive today, and one out of two men, will face a cancer diagnosis, according to the World Health Organization. Ty Bollinger takes this personally: in the course of a decade, he says, "I lost my entire family to cancer. I don't believe I had to lose them." The Truth about Cancer has been written for one simple reason: to share the knowledge we need to protect ourselves, treat ourselves, and in some cases save our lives or the lives of those we love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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save a life with this valuable information.
- By edwin matias on 12-30-16
By: Ty M. Bollinger
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The Fat Switch
- By: Richard J. Johnson MD
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 107
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 92
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Story4 out of 5 stars 90
If you've ever struggled with losing weight and keeping it off, I don't have to tell you it's a challenge. You already know. What if losing weight could be as easy as flipping a switch? I know that sounds incredible. But now there's an abundance of research telling us that may be possible. In his new book, The Fat Switch, Dr. Richard J. Johnson, presents news-breaking, science-based studies that will reverse current thinking on both the cause and treatment of obesity.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Want to understand weight gain?
- By Programming Dragon on 02-01-16
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The Language of Life
- DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine
- By: Francis S. Collins
- Narrated by: Greg Itzin
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 148
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 99
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Story4 out of 5 stars 97
A scientific and medical revolution has crept up on us, based on study after study, from hundreds of laboratories around the world. It is no longer just a theoretical shift: every one of us will be touched by it, and many of us already have been. The meaning of disease, our understanding of the human body, and crucial decisions about what we all need to know and what choices we make about our health are at stake. Welcome to the new world of personalized medicine.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The future of medicine
- By Ronald E on 04-12-10
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A Crack in Creation
- Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution
- By: Jennifer A. Doudna, Samuel H. Sternberg
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,358
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,161
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,160
Not since the atomic bomb has a technology so alarmed its inventors that they warned the world about its use. Not, that is, until the spring of 2015, when biologist Jennifer Doudna called for a worldwide moratorium on the use of the new gene-editing tool CRISPR - a revolutionary new technology that she helped create - to make heritable changes in human embryos.
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5 out of 5 stars
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In to the abyss we ascend, a scary future
- By Philomath on 06-17-17
By: Jennifer A. Doudna, and others
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Vitamin K2 and the Calcium Paradox
- How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life
- By: Kate Rhéaume-Bleue BSc ND
- Narrated by: Virginia Wolf
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 162
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 140
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Story5 out of 5 stars 138
Are you taking calcium or vitamin D? This book could save your life! Learn the secret to avoiding osteoporosis and heart disease. Millions of people take calcium and Vitamin D supplements thinking they're helping their bones. The truth is, without the addition of Vitamin K2, such a health regimen could prove dangerous. Without Vitamin K2, the body cannot direct calcium to the bones where it's needed; instead, the calcium resides in soft tissue, like the arteries, leading to a combination of osteoporosis and atherosclerosis, or the dreaded "calcium paradox".
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5 out of 5 stars
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I CANNOT APPLAUD THIS BOOK ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!
- By @THEROOTMATTERS on 03-22-19
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The Gene
- An Intimate History
- By: Siddhartha Mukherjee
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 19 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,886
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5,167
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 5,120
The extraordinary Siddhartha Mukherjee has written a biography of the gene as deft, brilliant, and illuminating as his extraordinarily successful biography of cancer. Weaving science, social history, and personal narrative to tell us the story of one of the most important conceptual breakthroughs of modern times, Mukherjee animates the quest to understand human heredity and its surprising influence on our lives, personalities, identities, fates, and choices.
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5 out of 5 stars
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It's a Wonderful Book
- By JKC on 06-02-16
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The Compatibility Gene
- How Our Bodies Fight Disease, Attract Others, and Define Our Selves
- By: Daniel M. Davis
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 52
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 42
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 42
Most of the 25,000 genes we possess are the same for all of us. Compatibility genes are those that vary most from person to person and give each of us a unique molecular signature. These genes determine both the extent to which we are susceptible to a vast range of illnesses and the different ways each of us fights disease.
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5 out of 5 stars
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If interested in medicine, got to read
- By Howard Sterling on 06-29-16
By: Daniel M. Davis
What listeners say about Survival of the Sickest
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- mdkoci
- 09-11-12
Random Musical Interludes
If you could sum up Survival of the Sickest in three words, what would they be?
Really, engaging and thought provoking book. Enjoyed it!
How did the narrator detract from the book?
The narrator didn't really detract from the book, but all the random synthesizer music certainly did. Made NO sense what so ever and some went on long enough and were in the middle of an important point that it was tough to remember what the point was.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- becca
- 01-12-16
a really great book!
fascinating, illuminating, and mind blowing! i would recomend it to anyone with an interest in genetics and medicine.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Timothy A. Seeley
- 03-24-22
Diamond in the ruff.
This is my favorite audiobook of all time. The narrator, topic and author hook you from the beginning and don't let go. I first listened to it on a weekend car trip straight thru to the end when I first listened to it on CD sometime between summer 2010 and summer 2013. I haven't done that since. Five stars and to think I originally found it at a discount used bookstore in a small local mall.......
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- CYP Writer
- 05-17-17
awesome!
This should be required reading for high school students! It brings up a lot of interesting points that allow you to appreciate the world we live in.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 10-24-23
Amazing
The content is laid out well and very informative. You don’t need to have a degree to understand what is talked about! Fantastic book!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Carlos
- 09-11-24
Amazing and entertained
Recommended by a colegue, I was hesitant but once started I could not stop listening to interesting findings and correlations on sickness, genetics and evolution in general.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Shannanb
- 03-18-07
Interesting concept--book not so good
The book hinges on very interesting concepts, at how disease is passed through generations. It could have been much shorter and the story behind it much more succint. I listened to a book in similar length in two days whereas this took me over a month.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Ar-blue
- 11-09-22
Junk science
The book sounded interesting but half way through the book it was clear that he was mostly speculating with little proof to offer.
His comedian style of writing is cringe worthy.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
- Tammy
- 03-02-07
Junk Science
Unfortunately there were no reviews on this book before I downloaded it. I wouldn't waste my money on this one. The author has many theories, and contradicts his own theories throughout the only three chapters I was able to listen to. Download Mountains Beyond Mountains, or Demon Under the Microscope. I will listen to those two books again and again.
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15 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
- Andy
- 10-26-10
Are his ideas the fittest?
The book revolves around the author's fascination with the idea that a specific genetic disease exists because it helped people survive the bubonic plague, but he offers no convincing proof of this. Then he goes off onto things that are even more speculative.
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4 people found this helpful