Paradigm Shift Ahead
I have always been a lover of science and nature. I have a natural curiosity about the world around us and love to gain a better understanding of it when I can.
This book is nothing short of amazing. Astonishing. Astounding. It offers a radically challenging view of the world around us, presented through the lens of a microscope.
The book challenges conventional thinking about evolution, natural selection, biology, psychology, medicine, and even cultural anthropology. And weight loss.
Yes, it's that comprehensive. There were plenty of passages that were so astounding, I had to read them out loud and share them with my wife (I'm usually a solitary reader).
It offers new insights on what causes weight gain, schizophrenia, authoritarianism, collectivism, xenophobia, and more, while also providing a bewildering look at the complexity of the interaction of different species.
Evolutionary biologists are seeing things in a new light and I'm sure attentive Intelligent Design proponents will find plenty of ammunition here for dismissing some of Darwin's assumptions. Michael Behe might find plenty of support here for his theory of irreducible complexity. To be clear, McAuliffe presents none of these notions in the book. As a science writer, she hews to conventional Darwinian thinking, but can't help but show how these discoveries are sending many biologists back to the drawing board. We don't know what we thought we know about how species adapt and interact.
Anyway, it's an amazing book and should be required reading in several major scientific endeavors. I am hopeful that the lines of research presented here continue apace and bring humanity game-changing insights that will help advance health and well-being around the world.
