Unfit for Purpose

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What to expect

Bloomsbury presents Unfit for Purpose written and read by Adam Hart.

A gripping and sobering reminder of how much we are all governed by our genetic inheritance. So much for free will.' The Mail on Sunday

Stress, obesity, poor mental health, drug addiction, bowel diseases, violence and fake news; a stark checklist of modern world problems and every one of them is an echo of our evolutionary past.

In Unfit for Purpose, biologist and broadcaster Adam Hart explores the mismatch between our fundamental biology and the modern world we have created. In each chapter Adam reveals the many ways in which biological adaptations that evolved to help us survive and thrive now work against us. For example, in the modern world stress is a killer but how did 'fight or flight' instincts turn from life-savers to life-takers? Obesity is a disease now but is it also just a side-effect of our evolutionary past? Whether it’s the derailing of microbes in our gut, the rise of gluten and lactose intolerance, problems of social media or drug addiction, we always seem to have one foot in the modern world and the other firmly in our evolutionary past.

Adam explores science, archaeology, medicine, genetics, sociology and more, to show how, in a modern world of our own making, we find ourselves ‘unfit for purpose’. But all is not lost! In unpicking the causes of our current woes, he unearths some secrets of evolutionarily informed treatments that will change the way we think about ourselves and our future.

Critics Review

This book is a gripping and sobering reminder of how much we are all governed by our genetic inheritance. So much for free will.
The Mail on Sunday, 5 stars
Adam Hart’s thought-provoking, if pessimistic, book asks: how do our primate origins relate to existence in today’s technological jungle? The stress response that once saved us from predators is now killing us, as we pack into our lives microstressors ranging from unsuitable foods to social media — becoming worriers rather than warriors.
Nature
Like countless others I‘ve found the stresses of modern life a little overwhelming at times. Unfit For Purpose lifts the lid on the myriad of evolutionary and environmental wrong turns that now conspire to undermine our mental and physical health. A must read for those who want to understand where we’re going wrong and whether we can ever hope to put things right again.
Matthew Wright, broadcaster
Yes, this is a forensic dissection of the mismatch between our ancient biology and the modern world; yes, it's jam-packed with scientific insights; but above all, thanks to Adam's refreshingly fluent prose, it's a really great read!
Rick Edwards, broadcaster and host of Science-ish
Adam offers a splendidly novel perspective on what it is to live a modern-day life in a stone-age body. A tour-de-force of cutting-edge evolutionary science, which debunks, debates and delights in equal measure.
Jules Howard, naturalist, science writer and author of Death on Earth
Excellent news! Thanks to Adam Hart, I can now blame my penchant for Prosecco on a genome that has failed to keep pace with the modern world! From the rise of obesity to the rise of fake news, Unfit for Purpose explores the relationship between our evolutionary heritage and the rise of modern living. Written with wit and clarity, this timely and thought-provoking book is one of the best I have read in ages.
Helen Pilcher, science writer and author of Life Changing

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