Book
Lieberman DE. The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease. New York: Pantheon Books; 2013. 460 p. (Paperback reprint: Vintage, 2014.)
Why we cite it
Provides the definitive evolutionary framework for understanding why modern chronic diseases exist. Lieberman's concept of "mismatch diseases" — conditions arising because our evolved biology is poorly suited to modern environments — gives the project a principled explanation for why the foods, activity levels, and lifestyles we evolved with differ so profoundly from those we now face. His concept of "dysevolution" (treating symptoms instead of causes, perpetuating the disease-causing environment) is particularly relevant to the project's argument that systemic dietary changes are more effective than individual willpower.
About the author
Daniel E. Lieberman is the Edwin M. Lerner II Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. A paleoanthropologist who earned his AB (summa cum laude), MA, and PhD from Harvard, he co-developed the endurance-running hypothesis (published in *Nature*, 2004) and is known for his 2010 *Nature* cover study on barefoot running biomechanics. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020) and Fellow of the AAAS, he has published over 150 papers in journals including *Nature*, *Science*, and *PNAS*; approximately 23,000 Google Scholar citations.
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