The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease

Book Review: 4/5 Impact On Me (Book By Daniel E. Lieberman)

Read more about the book here

Overall, this book had a deep impact on me. I rate it 4 out of 5. It made me think differently about the health issues I see in myself and my family. Its ideas also align with insights I liked from Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I now understand that many of our problems today come from how quickly culture has changed (cultural evolution) — while our bodies haven’t had enough time to catch up (biological evolution).

I found it interesting that the human nose evolved not just for breathing but also to increase our ability to sweat. This helped us survive in hot and humid climates. There’s a 90-degree bend in the nasal canal, which causes air to swirl and trap more moisture. This makes the air we breathe more humid, which helps with body temperature regulation.

I was surprised to learn that many of the health issues I face are mismatches between our evolved biology and modern lifestyles. The book linked this to conditions I have seen in my family like:

• Myopia

• Plantar fasciitis

• Achilles tendinopathy

• Carpal tunnel syndrome

• Chronic lower back pain

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• PCOS

• Impacted wisdom teeth

• Type-2 Diabetes

• Auto-immune diseases

Legs

After reading this, I’m rethinking my use of orthopedic shoes. They have great arch support and cushioning, but the author suggests that relying too much on this can weaken the foot arch. Instead, I might go back to wearing regular shoes. I’m also considering barefoot walking—maybe after lunch, I’ll take a walk on the grass without shoes or just in slippers.

Food

The author also explains how eating a diet high in starch and sugar can mislead your body. You might eat a lot of calories but still feel hungry, especially if you eat a lot of refined carbs and sugar.

Another thing I found eye-opening was how fat storage varies by gender. Men usually store fat around the abdomen, while women store it around the waist and hips.

The book shared surprising numbers about fructose. Before the World Wars, the average American ate 15g of fructose daily. Now it’s about 55g, mostly from soda and processed foods. Even fruit juices and fruit-based snacks are basically junk food.

I also learned how glucose and fructose work in the body. Glucose enters liver and pancreas cells easily, but it needs insulin to enter other cells. Fructose behaves differently.

Research by Robert Lustig showed that just 150 extra sugar calories a day can increase the risk of diabetes by 1.1%, even after controlling for other factors.

I appreciated the breakdown of cholesterol too. LDL carries fat from the liver to the body. HDL carries it back to the liver. LDL can get stuck in artery walls and oxidize, which causes problems. Eating saturated fat increases how much LDL your liver makes. But some studies suggest that having low HDL is more dangerous than high LDL.

Grass-fed animals have more unsaturated fat, like wild animals. Industrially raised, corn-fed animals have more saturated fat.

Eyes

The book also talks about how activities like working on laptops or reading a lot can contribute to myopia. This happens because the eyes are constantly focused on nearby objects. There’s a statistical correlation between kids who read more books and those who have myopia—but also between reading and higher IQ or academic performance. It seems like there’s a trade-off.

Bones

The book also explained how bones work. Two types of cells constantly break down and rebuild bones. But as we age—or if estrogen levels are too high—the cells that break down bones become more active. This weakens the bones over time.

Evolution

I loved reading about the experiments with chimpanzees and apes. These helped the author explain what makes humans unique. One comparison that stuck with me was: just like a monkey doesn’t belong in a city if it escapes a zoo, humans don’t really belong in cities either. We evolved for the rainforest and grasslands.

The book also says that we’re still evolving, but more through culture than biology. Our habits can affect how our genes work over generations—this is called epigenetics.

One fascinating example was about birds on islands. Birds born in different seasons grow different beak shapes. This shows how quickly small evolutionary changes can happen based on environment.

Another example was how early humans shifted from a fruit-heavy diet to eating more low-calorie plants. This helped develop different molars and allowed us to get energy from harder-to-digest foods. Tools became essential—digging up underground storage organs like potatoes required effort and skill.

As our brains got bigger, we needed more energy. So storing fat became more important. Tools that grind, cut, and pound food made digestion easier, which also helped.

I also liked the stories about how island migration shaped animals and humans. There were tiny humans, miniature elephants, oversized rats, and Komodo dragons. These examples made evolution feel real and visible.

Archaic Homos

The book compared Homo sapiens to Neanderthals. Sapiens had smaller faces and softer features, but the real differences were cultural. Sapiens had wider social networks, traded across distances, and made tools that allowed women and children to join in hunting. This increased food availability overall. Their brains were also wired for complex language and fast speech. To achieve that, we lost the ability to keep our food and windpipes fully separate—which is why we can choke.

Agriculture

Once humans discovered agriculture, farming communities grew much faster than hunter-gatherers. While hunter-gatherers doubled every 5,000 years, farmers could have more kids by weaning earlier using animal milk and cereals. Kids also joined the workforce quickly, helping out in the fields. But farming meant destroying nearby habitats to make space for crops and herds. This change made it hard to ever return to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.

The book reminded me that Thanksgiving is a harvest festival—a cultural outcome of this shift.

Farming affected our bodies too. Starch stuck to proteins and formed plaque on our teeth. Farmers’ body weights fluctuated by season—hard work with little food, followed by harvest feasting. Farming also brought disease. Living close to animals and waste increased the spread of infections. The flu killed more people than World War II. Diseases like malaria became common, and our red blood cells evolved to resist it—but at the cost of making us more prone to anemia.

Energy Use

I disagreed with the author’s claim that industrial jobs were more energy-intensive than modern sedentary jobs. I’ve read studies suggesting that your body adjusts its energy usage. For example, if you run in the morning, you’ll naturally move less later. Or if you're sitting a lot, you may start fidgeting to burn more calories. Over the day, your body tries to keep energy use balanced.

Industrial revolution

Some historical stories stood out too. Louis Pasteur, who invented pasteurization, was hired by a wine company to stop their wine from turning into vinegar. He also helped the silk industry by protecting silkworms from disease. These stories show how business-funded research led to major discoveries.

Women’s Health

Another powerful point: the number of menstrual cycles a woman goes through can increase the risk of cancers like breast and ovarian cancer. More cycles mean more estrogen spikes, which raises risk. Having children and breastfeeding reduce this risk by limiting the number of cycles.

Assumptions

One of the book’s closing points really stayed with me. We live with so many assumptions—flying, food preservatives, chemicals in everyday life. But if you question every assumption, you’ll end up miserable. Balance is important.