Marlene Zuk
Author of Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live
About the Author
Marlene Zuk is a professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior at the University of Minnesota. The author of Sex on Six Legs, she lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Works by Marlene Zuk
Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live (2013) 305 copies, 15 reviews
Sex on Six Legs: Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World (2011) 173 copies, 8 reviews
Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are (2007) 127 copies, 9 reviews
Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters (2022) 60 copies, 1 review
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us (2026) 7 copies
物競性擇：你可以從動物身上得到什麼樣的「性」啟示? 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1956-05-20
- Gender
- female
- Education
- University of Michigan (PhD ∙ Biology)
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of New Mexico - Occupations
- evolutionary biologist
Professor of Biology
behavioural ecologist - Organizations
- University of California, Riverside
University of Minnesota - Short biography
- Marlene Zuk (born 20 May 1956) is an American evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist. She worked as professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) until she transferred to the University of Minnesota in 2012. Her studies involve sexual selection and parasites.
Zuk was born in Philadelphia. She is a native to Los Angeles. She became interested in insects at a young age from living in the city. At the University of California, Santa Barbara, Zuk started majoring in English, but decided to switch to Biology. After earning her Bachelor's degree, she wrote and taught for three years. In 1982, she and W. D. Hamilton proposed a hypothesis on sexual selection known as the good genes hypothesis. Zuk went to the University of Michigan in 1986 to earn her Ph.D. She completed her postdoctoral research at the University of New Mexico. She joined the UCR faculty in 1989. In April 2012, Zuk and her husband John Rotenberry transferred to the University of Minnesota, both working in the College of Biological Sciences.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlene_... - Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- Michigan, USA
New Mexico, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
Entertaining rant (with footnotes) about how evolution is a constant, not a static thing and that a lot of the foundation of the so-called Palaeolithic diets and lifestyles are misinformed about how humans and diets work. My ancestors evolved to drink milk, others may vary.
There is sometimes more detail than I needed but overall worth a read. I'm still going to skim those palaeolithic books, they often have good gluten free choices. Yeah, my genetics dealt me an interesting hand.
Some of the show more ways she said things made me laugh "After all, nothing says natural selection like a brisk round of the plague." (p220) and "For example, sedentary living is clearly linked to poor health, but we do not have to emulate a mammoth-spearing caveman to remedy the problem. We just need to get up off the couch." (p270)
This made me think, from p 234: "Cystic fibrosis, for example, is the most common fatal inherited disorder in populations of European origin. People with the disease have thickened mucus in their respiratory and digestive tracts, leading to a variety of complications. Those with one copy of the cystic fibrosis gene, however, do not show the disease; and recent research suggests that the gene may have persisted in human populations because it also confers some degree of resistance to cholera, another often-fatal bacterial disease, spread via contaminated water." Ah, Ireland, where a great famine took down people and made them susceptible to Cholera, except those who pass CF on down the line to have a veritable epidemic on our hands... joy.
It's an interesting read, made me think but sadly several people who need to read it, won't. show less
There is sometimes more detail than I needed but overall worth a read. I'm still going to skim those palaeolithic books, they often have good gluten free choices. Yeah, my genetics dealt me an interesting hand.
Some of the show more ways she said things made me laugh "After all, nothing says natural selection like a brisk round of the plague." (p220) and "For example, sedentary living is clearly linked to poor health, but we do not have to emulate a mammoth-spearing caveman to remedy the problem. We just need to get up off the couch." (p270)
This made me think, from p 234: "Cystic fibrosis, for example, is the most common fatal inherited disorder in populations of European origin. People with the disease have thickened mucus in their respiratory and digestive tracts, leading to a variety of complications. Those with one copy of the cystic fibrosis gene, however, do not show the disease; and recent research suggests that the gene may have persisted in human populations because it also confers some degree of resistance to cholera, another often-fatal bacterial disease, spread via contaminated water." Ah, Ireland, where a great famine took down people and made them susceptible to Cholera, except those who pass CF on down the line to have a veritable epidemic on our hands... joy.
It's an interesting read, made me think but sadly several people who need to read it, won't. show less
From my Cannonball Read 5 review ...
“A simpler life with more exercise, fewer processed foods, and closer contact with our children may well be good for us. But we shouldn’t seek to live that way because we think it emulates our ancestors.” - Marlene Zuk, Paleofantasy
There are a lot of different diets out there, some couched as providing quick weight loss, others purporting to be full-on lifestyles. We’re likely all familiar with South Beach and Atkins, as well as some of the show more old-school fixes (cabbage soup, cayenne lemonade ‘cleanse’). But one that’s gotten a lot of coverage lately is the Paleo or caveman lifestyle. The basic foundation of these recent movements is that we haven’t evolved for this life (eating dairy, sitting at a desk, consuming refined grains), so we need to adjust our diet to get back to the time when we were best matched to our environment: the Paleolithic era.
I try to reserve judgment of people if they are not hurting others. If what you choose to do works – either because of placebo effect or otherwise – then yay for you! I’m not, however, a fan of people promoting certain actions for reasons that can’t be supported with facts. If I tell you that a car will go forward when you step on the gas pedal, I’m correct; if I tell you it goes forward if you step on the gas pedal because of magical fairy dust in the trunk, I’m wrong. Even if the outcome – you trusting me that pushing on the pedal will make the car go – will be the same, the supporting evidence matters to me.
That’s why I found this book to be SO fascinating. Dr. Zuk is interested in exploring the claims many people seem to be making about what evolution can tell us about how we should be living our lives. It was a bit of a challenging read, but certainly manageable if you have a basic understanding of biology. She’s great at explaining things, although there were definitely areas that I had to re-read twice.
The purpose of the book is to explore in detail the oft-cited claims that we haven’t evolved for this life we’re living. She spends time building her case by talking about evolution of other species – including a really fascinating discussion of how quickly some crickets evolved to stop chirping because the chirps attracted some deadly flies – before addressing some of the main claims those who promote a Paleo lifestyle make. She tackles the dairy argument by providing evidence of how many of us HAVE evolved to process dairy (and why!). She looks at the caveman exercise model by pointing out that while the need for activity itself is supported, the idea that it needs to mimic chasing a mammoth is unsupported. She even takes aim at the “agriculture changed everything for the worse” argument. It’s fascinating and different from what seems to be pushed on a regular basis by many people who are promoting a specific agenda.
She also examines non-diet evolutionary biology issues, some of which she sees having support (attachment parents will like that part of the book) and some she does not (people who think women evolved to be monogamous and men did not may want to skip chapter seven). Those sections are especially interesting because those arguments – especially the ones around men and women evolving to be better suited to performing certain tasks – find their ways into daily life. Even political arguments from some conservatives (who ironically often don’t believe in evolution) are often based in this misunderstanding of how we have evolved.
My biggest take-away from reading this book is that there is not ‘perfect’ time that we’re best suited for, and evolution can happen much quicker (relatively speaking) than some Paleo proponents suggest. Dr. Zuk is NOT suggesting that, for example, eating fewer processed foods, or eliminating dairy, is bad; she’s just saying that the evidence for why it might be good to eat more whole foods or be more active is not necessarily found in how we lived 15,000 years ago.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science, evidence, reason, and biology. show less
“A simpler life with more exercise, fewer processed foods, and closer contact with our children may well be good for us. But we shouldn’t seek to live that way because we think it emulates our ancestors.” - Marlene Zuk, Paleofantasy
There are a lot of different diets out there, some couched as providing quick weight loss, others purporting to be full-on lifestyles. We’re likely all familiar with South Beach and Atkins, as well as some of the show more old-school fixes (cabbage soup, cayenne lemonade ‘cleanse’). But one that’s gotten a lot of coverage lately is the Paleo or caveman lifestyle. The basic foundation of these recent movements is that we haven’t evolved for this life (eating dairy, sitting at a desk, consuming refined grains), so we need to adjust our diet to get back to the time when we were best matched to our environment: the Paleolithic era.
I try to reserve judgment of people if they are not hurting others. If what you choose to do works – either because of placebo effect or otherwise – then yay for you! I’m not, however, a fan of people promoting certain actions for reasons that can’t be supported with facts. If I tell you that a car will go forward when you step on the gas pedal, I’m correct; if I tell you it goes forward if you step on the gas pedal because of magical fairy dust in the trunk, I’m wrong. Even if the outcome – you trusting me that pushing on the pedal will make the car go – will be the same, the supporting evidence matters to me.
That’s why I found this book to be SO fascinating. Dr. Zuk is interested in exploring the claims many people seem to be making about what evolution can tell us about how we should be living our lives. It was a bit of a challenging read, but certainly manageable if you have a basic understanding of biology. She’s great at explaining things, although there were definitely areas that I had to re-read twice.
The purpose of the book is to explore in detail the oft-cited claims that we haven’t evolved for this life we’re living. She spends time building her case by talking about evolution of other species – including a really fascinating discussion of how quickly some crickets evolved to stop chirping because the chirps attracted some deadly flies – before addressing some of the main claims those who promote a Paleo lifestyle make. She tackles the dairy argument by providing evidence of how many of us HAVE evolved to process dairy (and why!). She looks at the caveman exercise model by pointing out that while the need for activity itself is supported, the idea that it needs to mimic chasing a mammoth is unsupported. She even takes aim at the “agriculture changed everything for the worse” argument. It’s fascinating and different from what seems to be pushed on a regular basis by many people who are promoting a specific agenda.
She also examines non-diet evolutionary biology issues, some of which she sees having support (attachment parents will like that part of the book) and some she does not (people who think women evolved to be monogamous and men did not may want to skip chapter seven). Those sections are especially interesting because those arguments – especially the ones around men and women evolving to be better suited to performing certain tasks – find their ways into daily life. Even political arguments from some conservatives (who ironically often don’t believe in evolution) are often based in this misunderstanding of how we have evolved.
My biggest take-away from reading this book is that there is not ‘perfect’ time that we’re best suited for, and evolution can happen much quicker (relatively speaking) than some Paleo proponents suggest. Dr. Zuk is NOT suggesting that, for example, eating fewer processed foods, or eliminating dairy, is bad; she’s just saying that the evidence for why it might be good to eat more whole foods or be more active is not necessarily found in how we lived 15,000 years ago.
I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science, evidence, reason, and biology. show less
"Paleo." We've all heard the current health and lifestyle buzzword, it's a way to get in touch with our ancestral roots and live the way we should be living, the same way our Paleolithic brothers and sisters did. Why? Because as humans we haven't evolved beyond that and everything since the dawn of the agricultural age is killing us.
At least, that's what anyone on the Paleo-bandwagon would have you believe.
Fortunately, there are people out there like Marlene Zuk, people with the science and show more the patience to actually look at the facts and say, "No, that's wrong. Everything you say regarding humans and the Paleo lifestyle is absolutely not true." And it's nice to have some researched ammunition to use the next time my friend tries to convince me to "at least try Paleo."
Zuk has taken the Paleofantasy and completely proven it is a Paleofallacy (yes, I really wanted to make that joke). I often wonder how some people can believe the alpha male inspired bull that comes along with the whole Paleo schtick, especially the way they look at sex and relationships (humans were not designed to be monogamous, and other complete tripe like that). She also shows that, regardless of what certain Paleo buffs claim, humans are still evolving and evolution is not the slow process that many of them believe (also, evolution doesn't have an endpoint. We aren't baked goods, we don't spend a certain amount of time in the Evolution Oven until we are "done." It doesn't work that way).
Thank goodness for this book. It's a serious breath of fresh air. show less
At least, that's what anyone on the Paleo-bandwagon would have you believe.
Fortunately, there are people out there like Marlene Zuk, people with the science and show more the patience to actually look at the facts and say, "No, that's wrong. Everything you say regarding humans and the Paleo lifestyle is absolutely not true." And it's nice to have some researched ammunition to use the next time my friend tries to convince me to "at least try Paleo."
Zuk has taken the Paleofantasy and completely proven it is a Paleofallacy (yes, I really wanted to make that joke). I often wonder how some people can believe the alpha male inspired bull that comes along with the whole Paleo schtick, especially the way they look at sex and relationships (humans were not designed to be monogamous, and other complete tripe like that). She also shows that, regardless of what certain Paleo buffs claim, humans are still evolving and evolution is not the slow process that many of them believe (also, evolution doesn't have an endpoint. We aren't baked goods, we don't spend a certain amount of time in the Evolution Oven until we are "done." It doesn't work that way).
Thank goodness for this book. It's a serious breath of fresh air. show less
Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are by Marlene Zuk
Riddled with Life covers the broad subject of microbial and parasitic life. More accurately, it is lovingly dedicated to these marvelous creatures, and the book details how they can keep us healthy or make us sick, and everything in between.
It is written in simple terms and is quite an easy and engaging read, and it's very informative to boot. The chapters are long but divided into smaller sections which are usually only 1-5 pages, so it gives the book that breezy convenient feeling. It's show more one of those science books that is just pleasant to read, even if it does cover subjects like animal mating choices and parasitic worms that control the minds of spiders.
The only reason I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because she goes a little bit overboard with farfetched theory, which is mostly only a problem in the latter half when she focuses on animal behavior. She even directly contradicts herself a couple times, which always seems to be the case with evolutionary biologists. You really have to take the more theoretical sections with a grain of salt.
Still, she does a good job of cautioning the reader when she is discussing things that are unproven or anecdotal, and she even mentions in her Acknowledgements the "outlandish speculation in these pages." So I forgive her. The book was a joy to read, and that's all that matters. Highly recommended. show less
It is written in simple terms and is quite an easy and engaging read, and it's very informative to boot. The chapters are long but divided into smaller sections which are usually only 1-5 pages, so it gives the book that breezy convenient feeling. It's show more one of those science books that is just pleasant to read, even if it does cover subjects like animal mating choices and parasitic worms that control the minds of spiders.
The only reason I'm giving the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because she goes a little bit overboard with farfetched theory, which is mostly only a problem in the latter half when she focuses on animal behavior. She even directly contradicts herself a couple times, which always seems to be the case with evolutionary biologists. You really have to take the more theoretical sections with a grain of salt.
Still, she does a good job of cautioning the reader when she is discussing things that are unproven or anecdotal, and she even mentions in her Acknowledgements the "outlandish speculation in these pages." So I forgive her. The book was a joy to read, and that's all that matters. Highly recommended. show less
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- Works
- 8
- Members
- 785
- Popularity
- #32,426
- Rating
- 3.7
- Reviews
- 34
- ISBNs
- 26
- Languages
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