The Paleo Manifesto

Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health

By: John Durant

Narrated by: John Durant

Length: 11 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

In The Paleo Manifesto: Ancient Wisdom for Lifelong Health, John Durant argues for an evolutionary - and revolutionary - approach to health. All animals, human or otherwise, thrive when they mimic key elements of life in their natural habitat. From diet to movement to sleep, this evolutionary perspective sheds light on some of our most pressing health concerns. What is causing the rise of chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, and depression? Is eating red meat going to kill you? Is avoiding the sun actually the best way to avoid skin cancer?

Durant takes listeners on a thrilling ride to the Paleolithic and beyond, unlocking the health secrets of our ancient ancestors. What do obese gorillas teach us about weight loss? How can Paleolithic skulls contain beautiful sets of teeth? Why is the Bible so obsessed with hygiene? What do NASA astronauts teach us about getting a good night's sleep? And how are Silicon Valley techies hacking the human body?

Blending science and culture, anthropology and philosophy, John Durant distills the lessons from his adventures and shows how to apply them to day-to-day life, teaching people how to construct their own personal "habitat" that will enable them to thrive. The book doesn't just address what we eat, but why we eat it; not just how to exercise, but the purpose of functional movement; not just being healthy, but leading a purposeful life.

Combining the best of ancient wisdom with cutting edge science, Durant crafts a vision of health that is both fresh and futuristic.

©2013 John Durant (P)2016 John Durant

Good Info Well Presented

If you could sum up The Paleo Manifesto in three words, what would they be?

Eat better America, your life may depend on it.

What other book might you compare The Paleo Manifesto to and why?

Lift was similar, but frankly other books about diet tend to be about recipes etc., this was formatted similar to a narrative adn history book. This approach is more engaging for me as opposed to a recipe or "how to" book.

Which character – as performed by John Durant – was your favorite?

Uh may the ancient caveman that the diet is based on but I am being somewhat facetious since there is no real character in this book.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

That is not how I approach Audible.

Any additional comments?

I listen to audible books for different reasons and read different types of books for those reasons. I would say this fell into the Information category for me. I was not looking to be entertained or lose myself in a story. I have been exploring changing my nutrition and this book offered some good background information on the Paleo approach. This is not a science book but does provide solid background on why this approach may work for you. As an athlete I am always looking to maximize my performance and this book provided what I was looking for.

Interesting book, the first half

This book historical line was very interesting to understand the paleo approach and see how some changes can be made into my life. I like loved the first part. Narration was good too.

The last part however was nothing like the first and filled with personal judgments without a solid structure, opinions of the author on vegan movements and representatives. It made me feel uncomfortable and i stopped before the end.

Paleo Manifesto - Or: Paleo Propaganda

Wow, where to begin with this book.

First off, let me defend myself. I have been eating “Paleo” for 2 years now, my exercises are a combination of what my physical therapist recommends, and what I believe a hunter gatherer should have been able to do (pushups, pullups, situps, and running, and exercises that strengthen those muscles). I wholeheartedly agree with the paleolithic lifestyle philosophy, and I was kind of hoping this book would be a compilation of various paleo lifestyle suggestions – and it was.

However the longer I listened to this, it went from 5 stars… to 4 stars… to 3 stars…
An immediate docking of one star would be John Durant’s performance. Riddled with mispronunciations, sometimes forgivable, the one moment where I actually had to pause the book and look it up to see where in the world he got his pronounciation: John Durant pronounces Midwifery the same way they would have a few hundred years ago and in a few pockets of Europe. Did he really not know how to pronounce this word and had to go grab some high-on-the-shelf dictionary to find out how ‘wife’ is pronounced?

But that’s a tangent. The most egregious part of this audiobook was the slow devolution of intellectual argument presented in this book. The book starts off strong when talking about diet and history, but you can almost feel John Durant getting more desperate and less intelligent as each chapter comes up. Toward the end of the book I was only listening to hear how he defended his arguments (many of which I agreed with), with cherry picked data and anecdotes. The chapters on hunting and melanoma (“Sorry Redheads – you’re carcinogenic!”) were especially bone-headed. There goes another star or two.

I could spend another paragraph discussing the chapter where he starts talking about crossfit. My initial reaction was “Oh boy, here we go”… and then I ate my words as he presented a reasonable defense of crossfit, only to jump headlong into the cultlike behavior of crossfitters where he bashes all other forms of exercise (Dance and Yoga are for low-testosterone males who otherwise couldn’t find a mate, according to John Durant), and defends crossfit’s most obvious drawback: The high rate of injury – as a side effect of creating exercise that’s so fun it pushes a few individuals into working out too hard.
On that note, I’d like to point out that the high rate of injury among crossfitters is so high, that in some online communities, the actual discussion of an injury is banned. How do you know you might be in a cult-like fitness club? When raising concerns can actually get you thrown out of a community.

To summarize, if you were expecting a book full of logical, well researched, unbiased, and balanced arguments about the paleo lifestyle, you sure won’t find it in this manifesto. This book is nothing more than paleo propaganda.

Essential reading

I stumbled upon this book thinking it was about mostly dieting. Wrong!!! This book is loaded with profound insight. Well researched and told. Just get it. I guarantee at least one these chapters will blow your skirt all the way up.

Love this book

I absolutely love this book. So many of my questions were answered and I enjoyed the paleo facts. Great listen!!

Just what I needed to hear!

Amazing book. With all the paleo research and books I've read this has to be the best one yet I will definitely listen to it more than once.

Good info on diet, exercise and life in general

This book gives some great information on how humans are supposed to live and backs it up with good research and evidence. Sometime it's not easy to hear some of the hard truths, but it gives you a good sense of what to do.

Great grab bag of Paleo topics

A lot of Paleo books fall into the trap of being written for beginners. Durant has written a book for people who want a deeper dive into nutrition and ancestral health. My only criticism might be that each of the topics are not necessarily tied together well, but each one is EXCEPTIONALLY well done on its own. I almost got the sense that Durant could have done a full book on each topic. A real pleasure to listen to. Durant is as good a narrator as he is a researcher.h

One of my faves

What made the experience of listening to The Paleo Manifesto the most enjoyable?

The book is read by it's author in a very easy to comprehend manner. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Great Read Post Movement

The pop summary of this book of eat meat really misses the actual message.

Multiple Perspectives

The writer gave multiple perspectives to numerous lifestyle topics making it very insightful. A good mix of science and subjective experience.

Well written and intriguing

As someone with a keen interest in human nutrition, a perspective on a growing idea behind how best to nourish our bodies is well laid out by John Durant. Interesting and insightful about human history and what lessons can be learned for modern life.