A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century

By: Heather Heying

Narrated by: Bret Weinstein, Heather Heying

Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A bold, provocative exploration of the tension between our evolutionary history and our modern woes and what we can do about it.

We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet we are listless, divided and miserable. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, but our political landscape is unmoored, and rates of suicide, loneliness and chronic illness continue to skyrocket. How do we explain the gap between these truths? And how should we respond?

For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our woes is clear: the modern world is out of sync with our ancient brains and bodies. We evolved to live in clans, but today many people don't even know their neighbours' names. Survival in our earliest societies depended on living in harmony with nature, but today the food we eat, the work we do, even the light we absorb is radically different from what our minds and bodies evolved to expect.

In this book, Heying and Weinstein draw on decades of their work teaching in college classrooms and exploring earth's most biodiverse ecosystems to confront today's pressing social ills from widespread sleep deprivation and dangerous diets to damaging parenting styles and backward education practices. A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century outlines science-based worldview that will empower you to live a better, wiser life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2021 Faber & Faber (P)2021 Faber & Faber

Would Strongly Recommend

Heather has a much nicer voice than Bret but great to listen to still.
More books like this need to be popularised.

Connecting with our true selves

On beginning to eat carnivore about 18 months ago, I sensed that emulating the diet of my ancestors reflected more accurate nutrition for me - a human animal. This led to several benefits: 20 kgs of weight loss, resolution of lymphodema, and a significant reduction in anxiety.

I began to wonder about purpose and if it could link back to these ancestral roots. How men would gather on the adventure of hunting - the risk and the reward, the provision for the group and the deep appreciation of life and death. The women who would gather, create hearth and home and raise children in community.

The dramatic difference between this historical base and our lonely lives today - often isolated in single parent households, in small apartments is striking. It is little wonder that football games have become a proxy for the hunt and why so much emotion is invested in the outcome.

It is essential to recognise our roots and to begin to reintegrate elements of our past into our present. Our kids need to run bare foot on the earth and eat more meat and animal fat. They do indeed need to play, role play, explore and take risks. They need to join scouts, we need to hike and hunt and preserve and expand natural environments.

Thanks Heather and Brett.

Enlightening and thought provoking

What a wonderful read, it opened my mind and gave me new perspective on many everyday modern issues. I do weep for Evergreen - they lost educators of such quality and with such authenticity.
But it is also a call to resist and confront modern day Torquemadas who want to impose their confusion and ignorance upon everyone else.