Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon

Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution Reviews

• 
  Richard Propes

  As an adult with significant disabilities, I can recall reaching this stage in my life when I became incredibly frustrated with what I perceived as the weaknesses and limitations of my physical being.
  
  It seemed like everything was going wrong and deeply lamented the loss of feeling "normal."
  
  After a while, I began a deep dive into various aspects of my disabilities. I learned about my body. I learned about spina bifida. I learned about hydrocephalus, amputation, and traumatic brain injury. I learned as much as I could about history and function and biology and the universality of my being.
  
  Over time, I began to realize and accept that my body is pretty amazing.
  
  I thought of this period of my life often while reading Cat Bohannon's remarkable "Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution," a deep dive into what the female body is, how it came to be, and how this evolution still shapes all our lives today.
  
  Bohannon picks up where "Sapiens" left off, covering the past 200 million years to tell the story of what it really means to be a woman in a way that somehow, unfathomably, both incredibly entertaining and stunningly well researched with hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of cited sources along the way. "Eve" is both incredibly satisfying yet also leaves you craving more of Bohannon's curiosity, insight, knowledge, and wit.
  
  "Eve" can be an overwhelming book. It's incredibly academic yet also remarkably accessible in language, style, and structure. Bohannon seemingly understands that to really get her points across she needs to find a way to immerse us in this information without leaving us gasping for our literary breaths. Mission accomplished.
  
  I was in awe of both the intimacy and universality of "Eve" as Bohannon explores a variety of topics in exploring, essentially, what it means to biologically be a woman and that tells the story of womanhood throughout the centuries.
  
  To call "Eve" some sort of feminist manifesto seems inadequate as it's really a manifesto for humanity that places, in ways never done before, women into the picture of medicine, neurobiology, paleoanthropology, and evolutionary biology.
  
  Bohannon writes with candor the history of breasts and vaginas and womb and love and menopause and so much more. It's honestly deliriously awesome. It's informative yet it's far beyond informative because it builds a vision of womanhood that is truly awe-inspiring.
  
  For far too long, the world has told the story of human history through the male body (though perhaps not the disabled male body). With "Eve," Bohannon passionately declares a corrective and beautifully brings to life the power and glory of the female body and how it truly has driven 200 million years of human evolution.
  
  Bohannon's writing here is both profound in its knowledge and poetic in its narrative rhythms. I learned so much throughout "Eve," yet what is equally as profound is how much I actually enjoyed that learning from beginning to end. "Eve" is a revelatory vision of the history of womanhood that celebrates that history with a sense of joy and wonder.
  
  It's not often that I reach the end of a 600-page book and think to myself "Give me more." But, oh yes, "Give me more!"
• 
  Lisa

  4.5 Stars
  
  For years my husband has complained about not being able to hear dialogue in movies against the backdrop of the score and his inability to keep up with family conversations in restaurants among the ambient noise (note that we have 2 daughters, so all female). In the past I have shrugged away my irritation and told him to clean the wax out of his ears and suggested a good ENT. Well, it turns out that men's ears don't hear higher frequencies as well as women's and that their hearing loss of the higher frequencies (the range where most women speak) begins at age 25. Apparently this difference evolved as females needed to be able to hear their babies over the sounds in the canopy when they moved about. My husband thanks you, Cat Bohannon, and I have issued my apology.
  
  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution is an evolutionary and social history through the lens of the female body. The seeds of this book were planted with Bohannon's realization that most medical research was conducted on male subjects so the differences in the female body were not taken into account. Female bodies are not just male bodies with breasts and wide hips; there are fundamental differences.
  
  Some fascinating (to me anyway) things I learned:
  
  Adipose tissue (fat) is an organ. Women's fat and men's fat are different. Each fat deposit in our body has a different function. One example is that the fat in women's hips, thighs, and buttocks is full of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids like those found in fish oil. At puberty, females begin storing these fats (which we can't obtain enough of from our daily diet) in order to nourish the brain and retinas of a fetus during a pregnancy and breastfeeding.
  
  Most of us know about the immune system benefits that come with breastfeeding. Those babies who are breastfed get an added benefit. While the milk flows out of the nipple there is an upsuck of the baby's saliva. "Depending on what happens to be in baby's spit that day, the mother's breasts will change the particular composition of her milk. Her milk will actually change to include an agent to fight a specific pathogen or to include hormones to soothe a stressed baby.
  
  Pregnant women with malaria are three to four times more likely to suffer from the most severe forms of the disease, and of those who do, 50 percent will die. . . . The entire reason the United States built the CDC [and located it in Atlanta] is that malaria was rampant throughout the American south. Malaria was finally eradicated in the United States in 1951." My footnote (not in the book): In 2023, for the first time since then, there have been 9 reported cases of locally acquired malaria in the U.S.--7 in FL, 2 in TX, and 1 in MD. Climate change?
  
  Why do women live long after they are no longer reproduce and live longer and more healthfully than men? Bohannon posits that "whatever helps female bodies live on may simply benefit male bodies less, and losing more males may not cost primate societies that much. . . . From a scientific perspective, males don't really need to live as long as females to perpetuate the species." As to the why, Bohannon suggests that "Before we could write stuff down, it was especially important to have someone in the group who could remember earlier crises. It's usually not hard to find someone who can remember a difficult thing that happened ten years ago. It's much harder to find someone who remembers a difficult thing that happened forty years ago, or how, precisely, the community managed to find a workaround." This knowledge combined with gynecological and midwifery skills were the evolutionary pressures that selected women to live longer.
  
  Where I feel Bohannon is less sure footed is in her hypothesis over the evolution of sexism. Do read her thoughts and come to your own conclusions.
  
  Bohannon is an excellent writer--clear, engaging, informative, and entertaining. There is so much more than these bits that I have shared, and all of it is fascinating. If the topic interests you, by all means take the plunge and read this book!
  
  Publication 2023
  
  
  
• 
  Jenna ❤ ❀ ❤

  tl;dr crowd:
  This is an extremely interesting book on human evolution, looking at various traits of modern humans and exploring how they -and we- came to be.
  
  For everyone else, it's time for Sacrilegious Studies. We'll be discussing the biblical creation story.
  
  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (He didn't make hell because no one had pissed him off yet.)
  
  The earth was without form, so he took it in his big hands and shaped it into a ball. This could be fun, God thought, tossing it from hand to hand. 
  
  So he created a bunch more planets, seven in fact. He also made Pluto but it was just a little dwarf, an afterthought, not really a planet at all.
  
  It was dark so God said, Let there be light!, and there was light.
  
  God called the light Day and everything dark he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
  
  God was really pleased with himself and all he'd accomplished in just 24 hours, so he went back to Heaven and poured himself a beer. 
  
  When he awoke, he looked at Earth and thought, Well, that looks funny - there's no sky! And it's all covered by water! Actually, when the earth first formed it was just a big ball of boiling plasma, but the people who wrote the Bible didn't know that.
  
  So, God said, Let there be firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters! 
  
  And with that, a blue sky formed that he called Heaven. He then pushed the water aside into one place, making way for dry land. The people who wrote the Bible liked to watch youtube conspiracy theorists and thought the earth was flat.
  
  God thought of how he'd made parts of the Earth look much older than others. 'That'll really screw with geologists some day,' he chuckled. And evening and morning were the second day.
  
  The following day, God looked at the earth and saw how boring it was. All blue and brown and bland. He pulled out some paint samples he'd gotten at Walmart. Green would be a nice addition, he thought. Let there be grass! 
  
  God really loved the grass, how pretty it was, and how nice it felt under his bare feet. He decided if a little green was good, a lot would be even better. So he created trees and moss and algae in swimming pools. And evening and morning were the third day.
  
  Remember that on the first day God created light and day and night? Well, the people who wrote the book of Genesis were Bronze Age nomads and didn't realise there couldn't be light or days and nights without a sun. So they had God create the sun and the moon on the fourth day! 
  
  
  
  He also created stars to make the night sky look pretty and for people to read their horoscopes by.
  
  The next day he made fish and birds and the day after that he made all the land animals except humans. And God saw that it was good and yada yada yada.
  
  The sixth day came along and God realized there was no one to appreciate all his hard work. Maybe the nonhuman animals were praising him but, like most English speakers, he couldn't be bothered to learn another language.
  
  So God created Man in his own image actually, it was the other way around and put him in charge of the Earth and all its inhabitants. He named him Adam and patted him on the head.
  
  Adam was a little lonely since God wasn't always around to talk to. There were a lot of nonhuman animals around, but as we already know.... English speakers. 
  
  So Adam said to God, 'Do you have any more tricks up your sleeve? How 'bout making someone I can talk to who knows how to cook and clean?'
  
  God reached inside Adam's chest and pulled out a rib. 'What the hell, God?' Adam screamed. 'That hurt!'
  
  'Well, I need something to make her with, don't I?', God replied. 'I can't just make her out of nothing like I did the Earth and moon and everything else. She's a little more complicated than that.'
  
  God set to work to turn that bone into flesh. All of a sudden, a woman walked up behind them.
  
  'I haven't seen you two guys around before,' she said. 'What'cha making there, big dude?'
  
  They jumped in surprise, gawking at this beautiful, sexy, intelligent creature. 'Wh- wh- where did you come from?', God stammered. 'I was just gonna create you!'
  
  The woman started laughing. 'I came from millions of years of evolution, from my mother and grandmothers and great-great grandmothers, all the way back to one-celled organisms. Where did you come from?'
  
  They continued staring until Adam managed to say, 'You're just what I need! You speak English and can keep me company. I hope you can also cook and clean?'
  
  With another laugh, Eve turned on her heel. 'Not for you, buddy. Not for you.'
  
  Adam looked at God and God looked at Adam. Shrugging, God poured them both a beer.
  
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  While some people believe the earth was created 6,000 years ago by a supernatural entity who made humans exactly as we are, scientists know that we descended from other creatures, just like every other animal and plant. We are as much a part of the animal kingdom as cats and dogs and woolly mammoths. 
  
  In Eve, author Cat Bohannon tells the story of humanity and how the female body drove evolution (the one with the XY chromosome, though not all women are born with it - gender is part of the brain make-up and doesn't correspond to the same sexual organs in everyone. In other words, sex and gender are two different things).
  
  This is a fascinating book. The author goes through various features and traces their lineage, features such as breasts, pregnancy, tool use, language and voice. She goes back to the earliest known "Eve" for each trait and examines how they have evolved into their current forms in modern humans. As she says, "There’s no one mother of us all. Each system in our body is effectively a different age".
  
  Eve wasn't created from Adam's rib, no more than Adam was created from a handful of dirt. 
  
  This is one of my two favorite nonfiction books this year. I made heaps of highlights and couldn't stop thinking about it even when I wasn't reading. It's very well written and witty at times. There are copious notes, which are well worth reading as you go along. 
  
  If you enjoy the story of evolution, you should find much to appreciate in this book.
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  
  And as for Adam.....
  
  After sulking for a day over his lost maid companion, he thought of something to make him feel better. 'Uh, God? You know this rib you took out of me? I was thinking.... maybe you could make it into something else.' 
  
  He glanced down, 'I'm looking a little bare, if you know what I mean.'
  
  So God created Adam's penis and the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 
• 
  Krista

  We don’t have one mother; we have many. And to each Eve, her particular Eden: We have the breasts we do because mammals evolved to make milk. We have the wombs we do because we evolved to “hatch” our eggs inside our own bodies. We have the faces we do, and our human sensory perception along with it, because primates evolved to live in trees. Our bipedal legs, our tool use, our fatty brains and chatty mouths and menopausal grandmothers — all of these traits that make us “human” came about at different times in our evolutionary past. In truth, we have billions of Edens, but just a handful of places and times that made our bodies the way they are. These particular Edens are often where we speciated: when our bodies evolved in ways that made us too different from others to be able to breed with them anymore. And if you want to understand women’s bodies, it’s largely these Eves and their Edens you need to think about.

  
  In an often recounted
  story, a journalist recalled being in an Anthropology class when her female professor held up a picture of an antler with 28 tally marks carved upon it, saying: "This is alleged to be man's first attempt at a calendar." We all looked at the bone in admiration. "Tell me," she continued, "what man needs to know when 28 days have passed? I suspect that this is woman's first attempt at a calendar." In
  Eve: How the Female Body Drove Human Evolution, author Cat Bohannon (with a Ph.D. from Columbia University in the evolution of narrative and cognition) expands on this idea of considering the needs of the female of our species when looking for the catalysts behind the great shifts in our development — from bipedal locomotion to language and tool use — and in a narrative that starts with the first tiny mammal that coexisted with the dinosaurs and traces that story up to today’s reality, Bohannon has assembled a fascinating, comprehensive, and entertaining study of what is usually left out of the story of “us” — all while making a forceful case for why focussing on the history of the female body matters for the future of all of humanity. In a quirky bit of formatting, Bohannon starts each chapter with a glimpse at the “Eve” of a new development — the Eve of lactation is a Morganucodon sweating beads of milk through her fur in an underground den during the Jurassic Period; the Eve of menopause is a grandmother using her experience to serve as an emergency midwife in early Jericho — and I found the format charming. I loved everything about this (even if it did take quite a while to read) and I would unhesitatingly recommend it to any reader. (Note: I read an ARC through NetGalley and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)
  
  

  It’s not that topflight scientists still think female bodies were made when God pulled a rib from Adam’s side, but the assumption that being sexed is simply a matter of sex organs — that somehow being female is just a minor tweak on a Platonic form — is a bit like that old Bible story. And that story is a lie. As we’ve increasingly learned, female bodies aren’t just male bodies with “extra stuff ” (fat, breasts, uteri). Nor are testicles and ovaries swappable. Being sexed permeates every major feature of our mammalian bodies and the lives we live inside them, for mouse and human alike. When scientists study only the male norm, we’re getting less than half of a complicated picture; all too often, we don’t know what we’re missing by ignoring sex differences, because we’re not asking the question.

  
  I first encountered this idea of the Platonic form (and the Homo sapien female being merely a weaker variation on the male ideal) and its persistent chauvinism affecting medical research in
  Invisible Women. Relatedly, Bohannon includes in her Introduction recent research into women’s “gluteofemoral” fat (on hips, buttocks, and upper thigh) — ie., the “stubborn” padding that a woman might turn to liposuction to remove — writing that it is composed of unique and essential lipids (accumulated since childhood) that are vital during pregnancy and breastfeeding to build a baby’s brain and eyes. But apparently no one, before the author, ever asked what the ramifications might be when a post-liposuction woman becomes pregnant. When Bohannon later introduces the genesis of breasts and placental wombs and women's heightened sensory perception — each of which development was absolutely essential to evolving our species into what it is today — it’s hard not to think that perhaps the female form is the pinnacle of human evolution, with the stripped-down male contributing some sperm now and then. Bohannon makes a strong case that the first tools were probably gynecological — we were still opportunistic scavengers long after walking upright and growing large brains made human childbirth a risky business, so the first tools were likely not hunting related since we’re here to tell the tale — and she also makes the case that human language (with grammar and syntax that differentiates it from animal communication), however it arose, was passed down, mother to child:
  
  

  The majority of scientific stories about the evolution of human language fall in line: at each turn, human innovation has been driven by groups of men solving man-problems. One popular tale holds that language happened because we became hunters, forming large parties (of men) who needed to shout complex directions at one another across wide savannas. But wolves are pretty fantastic hunters, do it in groups, come up with surprisingly complex plans for the hunt that depend on members performing diverse roles, and don’t have a lick of language…So the male narrative of the evolution of human language misses the point. Language isn’t like opposable thumbs or flat faces — traits that evolution wrote into our genes. Our capacity for learning and innovating in language is innate, but nevertheless, for the largest gains in intergenerational communication to persist over time, each generation has to pass language on to the next with careful effort, interactive learning, and guided development. Language, in other words, is something that mothers and their babies make together and is dependent on the relationship between them in those first critical three to five years of human life. A long, unbroken chain of mothers and offspring trying to communicate with each other — that’s what’s kept this language thing going from the beginning.

  
  Eve is stuffed with interesting facts — I did not know that openings in a breastfeeding woman’s areola “uptakes” her baby’s saliva to scan for infection and send specific immunity supports, or that a stress hormone is released in women when they hear a baby crying (while the top frequencies of a crying baby are cut off in the male hearing range) or that reducing the number of girls married before they are eighteen by even 10 percent can reduce a country’s maternal mortality by 70 percent — supported by pages of footnotes and citations. I trusted the research. But Bohannon’s main thesis seems to be that, despite nearly dying off a couple of times, our species has been able to thrive and populate the entire planet primarily because we mastered gynecology; learning to have the right number of babies, raised at the right time, according to the resources of their mothers’ community. And while advances in birth control and midwifery did improve maternal outcomes, it was sexism — controlling the bodies of fertile females and controlling who had access to them — that did most of the work. Now that medical advances in birth control, midwifery, and gynecology ought to guarantee maternal outcomes — and this again stresses the need for proper medical research on the female body — Bohannon suggests that it’s past time we released ourselves from the cultural constraints of sexism. (Even in America, maternal death rates are on the rise: a hot combination of racism, sexism, ableism, reduced public support for female health, and the crippling of science-based sex education has finally made it more dangerous for American women to be pregnant than it used to be.)
  
  

  Now, I’m hardly the sort of person who wants to think of women as simply baby factories. But as a species, let’s say all of us want to get smarter. That’s what it takes to cure cancer. To solve the climate crisis. How do we do that? For a start, we might want to acknowledge that human brains are something that are made primarily out of women’s bodies: first in their wombs, and then from their breast milk, and then from the quality of interactions mothers have with their children. So if you want the best possible chance to make a lot of kids with high IQs, you want healthy women who are fed well, and have been fed well, consistently, for at least two decades before they become pregnant. You want them to have had a rich and well-supported childhood education. And you want them to be well cared for throughout their reproductive lives, with readily available education about nutrition and healthy habits and newborn caretaking. You want them to have community resources available when they get sick and when their kids get sick. And, because STIs have such a proven effect on reproductive health, you want them to have ready access to prophylactics and good sex ed.

  
  So, ultimately, this isn’t simply an objective overview of the science behind “how the female body drove evolution”. But as I agree with Bohannon’s conclusions regarding the need to eliminate the atavistic drive to control female bodies (which is somehow increasing around the world?), I’m still happy to have read this. It’s scholarly and engaging and necessary. This should absolutely be read alongside popular male-focussed histories like Yuval Noah Harari’s
  Sapiens; he left out the bits about how the first cities were made possible by wet nurses.
• 
  Bri Burton

  DNF at page 54.
  
  I don’t usually log my DNFs, but this has to be said: you cannot write a 600 page book about women’s bodies and how they have uniquely evolved in distinct ways from men only to disregard that and act like sometimes men CAN do these things—like when they don’t identify as men 🤗. That’s not how human biology works, and you should know that!
• 
  Wanda Pedersen

  I have mixed feelings about this book. The main thing that appeals to me is her underlying premise that the theories about human evolution have largely been theorized by men, who assumed that “human innovation had been driven by groups of men solving man-problems.” So I appreciate her turning of the tables on those chauvinist assumptions. Unfortunately, it seems to me that she falls into the trap of thinking that natural selection has a plan, that evolution has direction or is aiming for something. It just doesn't work that way—we have certain genetics and if those tiny blueprints give us an advantage, our offspring may proliferate more than those of our neighbours (or not).
  
  I had never thought of gynecology as an asset in the human evolution game, but I think she has a point. Females helping others with the labouring process would be a distinct advantage. However behaviours don't fossilize, so it's a largely theoretical argument, as is the chapter on our unusual condition known as menopause. Sure, it's a nice bonus to have wise elders to help with memories of previous solutions to thorny problems, but it's almost certainly an evolutionary accident.
  
  I had never encountered the information on throat sacs in primates before, despite taking several primatology courses in university and volunteering as an education docent in natural history for 17 years. I was intrigued by the idea that the loss of throat sacs would have been an advantage for a primate that had made the switch to an upright posture. It made sense to me: the drainage of sinuses down the throat, resulting in more vocal sac infections, could be selected against. That the loss of vocal sacs would be a step towards the possible development of spoken language is a tempting new idea for me.
  
  Generally, when she deals with actual fossil evidence, I like her conclusions. But all the theoretical speculations, while fun, are just that, speculations. There are entertaining footnotes aplenty and copious endnotes too (where I found some sources for the fascinating throat sac material). There is also a very long bibliography, which I appreciated. As with any “explanation“ of human behaviour, take it all with a very large grain of salt.
  
• 
  Clare O'Beara

  Eve is a fantastic read for anyone interested in women's history - and by that I mean prehistory, how women evolved. From the first chapter, on a small egg-laying burrowing mammal producing liquid through adapted skin patches for her nurslings, we see how the female body arose and how one small successful step drove another one.
  
  Some chapters are not for the young or tender, but all regard physiology as part of an evolving life and situation, in which the female of the species did her best to produce healthy offspring and train them for life. We see the internal adaptations and the growing brain, the hormones of puberty, motherhood, and the change of life at menopause. Why older women are useful, why the wet nurse was responsible for explosive population growth in early farming towns. Plenty I knew, also plenty I did not know, all of which made perfect sense.
  
  Finally the author looks at how medical science has not been testing anything much on women - for good reasons of course, mostly around childbearing - and many objects were not designed with women in mind. And how today, in some parts of the world, women and girls are 'last to eat, last to be educated' to quote another book I am reading. The shortsightedness of undervaluing the mothers of the next generation is, says the author, borne out by the lack of scientific progress among such cultures. Feeding the girl today gives her the store of nutrients to provide large brains, strong bones and good physique to her sons and daughters. The girl today is the Eve of the next generation.
  
  Science papers are quoted throughout and many books are also referenced, right up to today's discoveries about disease, immunity, brown and white fats, and why women store vitamins from cod liver oil. I enjoyed Eve and hope to read more by this author.
  
  I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 
  Stephen

  thanks for the publishers and netgalley for a free copy in return for an open and honest review
  
  Very detailed and interesting book looking at female body evolution has effected human evolution and has opened my eyes on certain subjects, the author tries to make the book simple in parts so the reader doesn't need a biological or medical knowledge to fully understand.
• 
  donna backshall

  Do you have a favorite book yet for 2023? If not, let me offer you a serious contender.
  
  This book rocked my female world. I don't know what I thought I was getting when I picked up this huge book, but
  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution easily exceeded every single one of my expectations.
  
  Bohannon presents the well-researched and timely information in such an engaging manner, I felt like each chapter was another episode in a documentary series devised specifically to educate, fascinate, and astound me.
  
  Are there will be college courses based on this topic? If not, they could base them on this book, as it is vital knowledge for any human to understand who we are, what we are capable of, and why.
• 
  Ashley

  I feel like this would be interesting no matter what, but I'm basically obligated to read it now because she was my English 102 teacher.
• 
  สฤณี อาชวานันทกุล

  สนุกมาก ถ่ายทอดวิวัฒนาการของมนุษย์จากมุมมองของ "ร่างกายผู้หญิง" แต่ละบทเน้นอวัยวะหรือลักษณะหนึ่งอย่าง เช่น สมอง นม การรับรู้ (perception) เซ็กซ์ มดลูก วัยหมดประจำเดือน ฯลฯ เล่าตั้งแต่สมัยจูราสสิกไล่มา 200 ล้านปีถึงปัจจุบัน รวบรวมองค์ความรู้ล่าสุดเกี่ยวกับคำถามเช่น ทำไมผู้หญิงต้องมีเมนส์ ทำไมผู้หญิงเสี่ยงเป็นโรคอัลไซเมอร์มากกว่าผู้ชาย ฯลฯ
  
  มีหลายเรื่องที่ชอบในหนังสือเล่มนี้เพราะคนเขียนเขียนเก่งและเต็มไปด้วยอารมณ์ขัน เรื่องที่ชอบมาก เช่น ประวัติศาสตร์วิทยาศาสตร์ที่มักจะใช้ผู้ชายเป็นค่านิยม ซึ่งก็ส่งผลกระทบในด้านต่าง ๆ เช่น ประวัติศาสตร์การทดลองยาในอดีตมักไม่ทดสอบกับผู้หญิงวัยเจริญพันธ์ุ (ซึ่งเป็นช่วงอายุที่กว้างมากตั้งแต่ 12 ถึง 50) เพราะกลัวว่าจะส่งผลกระทบต่อตัวอ่อนในอนาคตถ้าตั้งครรภ์ ซึ่งก็ทำให้ยามักก่อผลข้างเคียงในผู้หญิงมากกว่าผู้ชาย และถึงแม้เราจะรับรู้ข้อจำกัดในวันนี้แล้ว ก็ไม่มีกฎหมายอะไรบังคับให้บริษัทยาต้องทำการทดลองซ้ำกับกลุ่มตัวอย่างผู้หญิงมากขึ้น ทำให้ยาในท้องตลาดส่วนใหญ่ทุกวันนี้อาจไม่ถูกทดสอบกับ "ร่างกายผู้หญิง" เลย
  
  อีกจุดที่ชอบคือ ผู้เขียนเชื่อมโยงร่างกายผู้หญิง (มนุษย์) เข้ากับ วิวัฒนาการของ "สัตว์เพศเมีย" หลายพันธุ์ในประวัติศาสตร์ เพื่อดูว่ามีอะไรบ้างที่ส่งผลต่อเราในปัจจุบันและเพราะอะไร เช่น "มอร์กี" หนูโบราณพันธ์ุ Morganucodon สัตว์ชนิดแรกที่เลี้ยงลูกแรกเกิดด้วยน้ำนม เป็นจุดเริ่มต้นจุดหนึ่งของวิวัฒนาการสัตว์ที่จะกลายมาเป็นมนุษย์ เพราะน้ำนมช่วยขยายขอบเขตการปกป้องของมารดาไปยังทารก ผู้เขียนเสนอว่าพฤติกรรมของมอร์กีสุดท้ายก็วิวัฒนาการมาเป็น "แม่นม" ในเมืองโบราณอย่างบาบิโลน ซึ่งส่งผลให้ประชากรสามารถเติบโตอย่างรวดเร็วและสุดท้ายมนุษย์ก็ครองโลกได้
  
  ข้อมูลและข้อเสนอหลายส่วนในหนังสือน่าจะก่อให้เกิดการโต้เถียงที่สนุก ๆ ตามมา เช่น ผู้เขียนเสนอว่า เนื่องจากสัตว์หลายพันธุ์มี "Bruce Effect" กลไกที่ร่างกายสัตว์บางชนิดแท้งทารก (ดูตัวอย่างใน
  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc...) โดยอัตโนมัติ แปลว่าเราควรมองว่าการแท้งในมนุษย์เป็นเรื่องธรรมชาติ และเฟมินิสต์บางคนก็อาจไม่พอใจกับการยกบางประเด็นของผู้เขียน (ซึ่งประกาศว่าเธอเป็นเฟมินิสต์เช่นกัน) เช่น บอกว่าปิตาธิปไตย (patriarchy) อาจเป็นผลลัพธ์ของวิวัฒนาการที่มีเหตุมีผล บรรพบุรุษเพศเมียของเราอาจ "ยอม" ให้เพศผู้ได้เป็นใหญ่เพราะอยากได้การปกป้องดูแลแลกกับการมีเซ็กซ์ด้วย เป็นต้น ผู้เขียนย้ำเตือนว่าอะไรที่เราไม่ชอบไม่ได้แปลว่ามันไม่จริง และวิวัฒนาการในแง่ชีววิทยาก็เป็นเพียงส่วนเสี้ยวเดียวเท่านั้นในเรื่องราวทั้งหมดของมนุษย์ เพราะมิติอื่น ๆ เช่น วิวัฒนาการของวัฒนธรรม ก็เป็นเรื่องที่สำคัญไม่แพ้กัน อะไรที่เราเคย "ยอม" ด้วยเหตุผลในอดีตไม่ได้แปลว่าเราต้องยอมไปตลอดเมื่อสถานการณ์เปลี่ยนแปลงไป
• 
  Shahin Keusch

  This book had its ups and downs. Found some chapters more interesting than others. The general topic was really interesting and mostly it was written really well and was an easy read. But occasionaly i did find myself just skimming through pages.
• 
  Betsy

  [19 Jan 2024]
  This book claims that many of the features of humans that distinguish us from other species evolved in order to meet the needs of the female body. I don't have the ability to judge the accuracy of these claims, but most of it seems to make sense to me.
  
  Bohannon is not a scientist. She's an author. And this is her first book, though she has apparently written a lot of articles for a variety of publications. Again I'm not able to judge her qualifications but she does write well. Clearly. Understandably. With humor and occasional snark. The only time I could not fully follow her arguments was in her discussion of how we changed from a matrilineal species to a patriarchy. I found that confusing, but it was a small part of the last chapter.
  
  Her arguments do seem to be supported by a lot of scientific evidence that she references often. Until the last chapter where she discusses love, sex, monogamy, and sexism. All interesting topics, but her discussion seems to be primarily opinion and speculation, and emotion, rather than based on concrete evidence. I have no problem agreeing with her conclusions, but again that's opinion and emotion on my part. And it's a little unfortunate that she stoops to that level when the rest of the book seems so solid scientifically.
  
  However, it's still a very interesting book. Worthy of discussion. And I recommend it.
• 
  Rosh (read in the A.M.)

  Thank you to the publisher for providing epub arcs when the issue of pdfs was brought to their attention.
  
  I had very high hopes for this after reading the description and for the most part they were met. It truly is an account of the evolution of the female body which succinctly explains why we have the featured that we do and how they have helped the female of the species survive for thousand of years. On this front I can say that is surpassed my expectations with the detail it provided. The writing is easy to follow even without a Biology background so if you want to pick this up you should. There are footnotes present throughout the text which should be read as you see fit when you need extra info on a particular aspect that she touches on otherwise feel free to skip them.
  
  The illustrations are excellent. The author- for the most of the book- isn't pinning the sexes against one another and declaring which is best rather she's just explaining why the differences are present so that we can all understand why our bodies are uniquely suited to do what they do.
  
  The book like most biological texts recounts the evolutionary history of cis women, trans women are occasionally acknowledged but nonbinary individuals are not adressed at all. It assumes that the person interested in and will read it is a cis woman. It is not outright stated but when you read it you understand that when she says woman she means a cis woman.
  
  I felt the quotes added nothing to the story and didn't need to be there.
  
  Althought I enjoyed this I have a few things that rubbed me off the wrong way and had me heavily side eyeing the book. If you feel that they are spoilery then read no further. These issues range from: it's not what you're saying but HOW you're saying it to this is outright offensive. 
  
  Implying that homosexual people and asexual people are only present in the population to provide free child care and curb population growth is just downright offensive. Why did we have to make this choice? We were doing so well.
  
  The way issues affecting primarily people of colour where mentioned felt icky. The inclusion of POC individuals in some anecdotes also felt icky. In those parts I felt the author's background as a white woman living in the global north came through in the wrong ways. It felt like other biology focused texts even as the author was trying to show us that they are more than just a scientist who spends all day in the lab and only talks to other scientists. That is the best way I can describe it.
  
  This is more of a personal neatpick but...did we have to include the Clintons? I know what you were going for but couldn't we choose literally anyone else?
  
  The glorification of the American military was unnecessary. Instead the book could have used female athletes who run ultra marathons ( it's aware of their existence) I personally detest everything about the American military. For someone who's brother is a journalist who covers wars it's like she has zero idea of how the military operates.
  
  I need publishers to start investing in sensetivity readers for nonfiction works as well because they need it. I would happily provide those services for a fee because you're not saying what you think you're saying if you weren't aiming to harm anyone. This is not a problem that is unique to this book I just want to put it out there.
  
  
  CW: bible verses, mention of rape.
• 
  Joy

  Thank you Netgalley and Cat Bohannon for a free eARC in exchange for my personal opinion/ review.
  
  I think to appreciate this book you must be a woman. I don't think a male would take the time. There are some really quite interesting things in this book that make you go "hmmmm"... I love the statistics and I love all of the sources being sites. I think this book was well developed. I believe that there are MANY trending current events discussed in this book that need to be discussed in such detail a this book does, like Covid, earning between sexes, sexually transmitted infections, education, etc. Great writing.
• 
  Brooke

  I enjoy books about evolution, and taking the topic from a female perspective was really interesting to me. As someone who has read other books on the topic one of my favorite parts about this book was, from the introduction I was learning new to me information, which really set this book apart from other books that I have read on the topic. I found the chapter on the evolution of the womb especially fascinating.
  
  I was disappointed in the chapter on the brain that the discussion on dyslexia was more stereotypical than an actual representation of dyslexic thinking, and also male focused. If the author were to do a simple Google search they would see that this section of their book in inaccurate, as well as learn that dyslexic thinking is a skill that would have been quite useful during human evolution. There are many articles, and studies on the topic. I read an ARC, and did not see a footnote in the book in the section of this topic, and doing a text search for dyslexia did not bring one up either.
  
  Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.
• 
  Justine S

  4.5⭐️
• 
  Lorie

  It’s really 4.5⭐️⭐️⭐️✨⚡️
• 
  Mark

  Ambitiously, Cat Bohannon sets out to redress the gender imbalance of humankind which has existed since the dawn of time…well, for the last 4-5 million years, at any rate. For my money, Ms. Bohannon succeeds wonderfully well in her ambition! She more than adequately brings “woman,” rather than the more convenient and traditional “man,” to the front-and-center of the story of human evolution.
  
  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution is nothing less than an exhaustively researched tour de force of narrative nonfiction. It avoids the classic textbook-like monotone even though it is replete with detailed, scientific explanations on everything from mammalian milk to menopause. For almost 450 pages incorporating nine chapters, Ms. Bohannon keeps up a lively pace of factual presentation from which readers will learn something new on just about every page. She injects appropriate and surprising splashes of humor throughout the book, such that as well as the obvious hard work that went into writing this book, one could easily believe the author also had fun doing it.
  
  For one thing, she doesn’t bog down readers with tongue-twisting Latin names for our ancestral Eves (yes, we had many Eves!). So, for example, 205 million years ago, there was Morganucodon, the Eve of mammalian milk, referred to by Bohannon as “Morgie”; 67-63 million years ago there was Portungulatum donnae, Eve of placental mammals with human-like wombs, referred to as “Donna”; 66-63 million years ago, there was Purgatorius, the Eve of primate perception, referred to as “Purgi,” and so on, all the way to 300,000 years ago and the arrival of Homo sapiens, the Eve of human language, human menopause, and modern love and sexism.
  
  Eve is divided into nine, single-word chapters—Milk, Womb, Perception, Legs, Tools, Brain, Menopause, and Love—each highlighting “one of our defining features,” which Bohannon traces back to its origins and also examines “current debate around how the evolution of those features shapes women’s lives today, considering the current science around each thread of the story.” And this tracing backwards is astonishingly revelatory and makes for fascinating reading! For example, even with evolution in mind, there’s a temptation to assume that women’s breasts were always breasts of one sort or another. Wrong! Eve Morgie (and probably her grandmothers) secreted a water-milk combo from glands near her pelvis containing a variety of nutrients and protective agents for her hatchlings.
  
  The “Tools” chapter reveals two critical inventions that is entirely attributable, Bohannon proposes, to the female species of Homo habilis (2.8-1.5 million years ago): gynecology and midwifery. The male species involvement in ongoing human evolution appeared to consist of finding an obliging female in order to pass on his genes. Actual childbirth through the ages was generally a lonely undertaking fraught with any number of dangers. That is until Eve Habilis evolved trusting, cooperative female societies that came to each other’s assistance “at those critical moments of vulnerability: labor, birth, and early nursing.”
  
  Gynecological practices of today are a reflection of the most primitive precursors from millions of years ago and would have included life preservation of mother and child, minimizing bleeding, and guarding against infection. “In most cultures,” says Bohannon, “both contemporary and historical, they [gynecological practices] come with a wide array of techniques, pharmacology, and devices to intervene in women’s fertility: enhancing, or preventing, female reproduction when desired.” [my italics] Thus, the survival and growth of the human race is courtesy of the female of the species.
  
  Fast forward to today’s controversy over reproductive rights. The gynecological body of knowledge has evolved massively, but it was begun by the instinct, intuition, and intellect of our Eves of millions of years ago, with males being disinterested spectators on the sideline at best. All aspects of gynecology, says Bohannon, “is essential for our species’ evolutionary fitness. Without it, it’s doubtful we would have made it this far.”
  
  I think Ms. Bohannon is being excessively generous. If our current legislators were in charge of “gynecology” and reproductive rights millions of years ago—and remember, three out of four of those legislators in both the House and the Senate are men—I doubt we would have made it from Homo habilis to Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. We’d be crawling on all fours, communicating in grunts. With the decisions those legislators continue to make in the 21st century, I’ll wager the human race will be extinct in the number of generations you can count on the fingers of one hand.
• 
  Bill

  I bought
  Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by
  Cat Bohannon last year on a bit of a whim. As usual, I was wandering around one of my local book stores while I waited for my wife to finish work and saw the book on display. I found the title interesting enough to read the synopsis and then being a 'woke' literate male (that's what I always tell myself anyway), I thought it would be an interesting book to read.
  With my poor attempt at humor aside, I found this a fascinating book. Cat Bohannon has the skill set to present this subject as she did her PhD in evolution. She presents the subject, the female perspective of mankind's evolution, logically and methodically. Each chapter, Milk, Womb, Perception, Legs, etc is related to an evolutionary creature; Morgie (she provides individual's names for each species' names) and others for each chapter. And the discussions in each chapter demonstrate humankind's and especially womankind's uniqueness from the other species on earth.
  It's a fascinating move through evolution, presented with enough scientific evidence to demonstrate her facts but also not so much as to intimidate her readers. And she relates each step on the evolutionary path to modern women and humankind.
  It's an eminently readable book with fascinating information and stories. I particularly liked the last chapter, Love, as it provided both an optimistic and pessimistic look at the future of humankind, with her look at sexism and how knowledge is the key, of course, to survival of our species. It may be self-evident but as I watch the daily news and see the efforts of right wing governors to depress education and female health care, I can recognize the importance of fighting that. She talks about sociologists ability to at social trends and then I read about Florida's current efforts to ban sociology courses in their universities. It's a never ending battle for proper education. An educated population can better understand and deal with social problems, from infrastructure to education to health care..
  And thus ends my spouting off. Read the book. It's excellent. (4.0 stars)
• 
  Toni

  So maybe we need a better narrative to describe humanity's "triumph." Our story doesn't begin with a weapon. It doesn't begin with a man. The symbols of our ultimate technological achievements shouldn't be the atom bomb, the internet, the Hoover Dam. Instead, they should be the Pill, the speculum, the diaphragm.
  
  Cat Bohannon's wildly robust (so so many interesting facts and anecdotes) accounting of key moments in evolutionary development seeks to turn many of the long-held beliefs on their ear by shifting the lens from the male to the female body as the driver of change. This was a perfect book to start the year, and not just for the sheer amount of knowledge packed within the pages, but for the overall enjoyment of the read as well. It's a scientifically righteous read! I found myself reading so many passages out loud to my other half with a little twinge of indignation in my voice, "See, this is why my body is the way it is!"
  
  Jokes aside, there really is so much in this book that just makes sense once spelled out on paper. And oh so many questions that get a pretty decent deep dive. Why are we women better at endurance than brute strength and speed? What's up with these mammary glands? Where did this monogamy thing really come from? And so much more.... all most definitely worth the read.
  
  
• 
  Hanie Noor

  “So it’s time we talk about breasts, and blood, and fat, and vaginas, and wombs—all of it”
  
  🗒️ How sexism affects human brain development, how starving women (putting on strict diet) results in low quality future offsprings, how uneducated women leads to civilisations’ decline, and etc.
  
  On exploring the roles of the female body in shaping human evolution through various aspects such as voice, menopause, love, societal structures, etc—examining how these factors influenced the course of human development. Through scientific insights and historical anecdotes, Bohannon presents a compelling exploration of the evolutionary journey through the lens of the female body.
  
  Challenges several misconceptions related to gender roles & evolutionary history. Questioning the assumption that male attributes were exclusively central to human evolution, proposing that female traits played a crucial role. By addressing these misconceptions, Bohannon encourages us to take into account & reconsider traditional as well as religious narratives relating to the roles of males & females in shaping human history.
  
  One of the most important points outlined in this book is the topic of reshaping perspectives on gender and evolution. Offering a more inclusive understanding of contributions & significance of female body biologically throughout evolutionary history that benefits readers of all genders. Not only did Bohannon shed light on taboo topics, she also debunked myths related to females. Underscores the role of females in key aspects of human development, contributing to a more balanced & nuanced view of human evolution, fostering a greater appreciation for the diverse roles that both genders have played in shaping the course of humanity.
  
  Even from Islamic point of view, scholars argue that men & women are created equal—both are encouraged to seek knowledge & contribute. Quran mentioned the concept of mutual support & cooperation between men & women with Hadiths highlighting the respect & dignity towards women—emphasising shared responsibility of both genders in fulfilling respective roles.
• 
  Ray (Raychell)

  [ hardcover ]
  
  It was an interesting read. Parts of the book felt a little “floofy” but overall it was great. (Shush, that’s a technical term ;)
  
  Very refreshing to read a physiology/ evolution science book where women weren’t just mentioned in quick passing. I didn’t know how much I needed this until I was in the midst of it.
  
  Something else that felt so refreshing and empowering was seeing trans bodies discussed unapologetically throughout most of the chapters.
  
  We all need MORE books like this.
  
  
  
  *Borrowed from the library but will need to buy my own copy soon.
• 
  Em

  4.5 stars
  
  I haven’t learned so much from a book in a while. Absolutely fascinating, while also incredibly digestible. I think this is a crucial read for one’s further exploration of feminism in biological, social, cultural and technological aspects. I absolutely want to write down and remember so much from this. And as someone that has always wanted to understand evolution better and that never thought too deeply about the aspect of the sexes in it, this was incredibly eye opening. Like this is honestly so freaking cool.
  
  I have a few gripes with the book as I’m bound to ofc, but nothing that derailed my enjoyment of this learning experience. I want more people to read this. At least the last chapter just because it’s so relevant to today.
  
  
• 
  Kristin

  This was simultaneously absolutely fascinating and completely horrifying. Though I don’t recommend this if you are currently pregnant or planning to be.. I felt like I was going to puke 75% of the time. Women’s bodies are incredible. Excellent effort in making trans women a part of the conversation too.
• 
  Matthew Levey

  The author is doubtless an academic superstar, but I abandoned this book after a few chapters.
  
  The writing style is distractingly casual. Science need not be presented in a stuffy, academic manner, but the wording and ubiquitous footnotes gave me the impression of someone who is simultaneously the most-informed person I've ever met, yet concerned that I won't grasp that if she doesn't throw every thought she's had on the subject at me. Simultaneously.
  
  As a dad and husband I am familiar with many of the female body systems she describes. Never pregnant but went - as best as a man can - through three pregnancies with my spouse. And puberty with two daughters. So despite my dislike of Bohannon's writing style, I pressed on to chapter 2, hoping to gain insights.
  
  Then, frustrated, I peeked at some of the 3-star reviews. Where I saw one reader's comments that there are fundamental mistakes about the physiology of legs in Chapter 4. Gait and hamstring muscles, apparently.
  
  I understand the scientific record is often unclear; authors speculate. Other academics may attack those speculations as wrong. But if Bohannon made errors in describing known features of our bodies, I'm not sure why I should plough through another 300 pages of prose I find unpleasing.
  
  The anti female bias in research is awful. It should be addressed more and more thoroughly. Sadly, this book is unlikely to make that happen..
  
  (I suppose the reviewer with the complaint about Chater 4 could be wrong, trying to take Bohannon down on Goodreads. If so, it's an extremely subtle plot)
• 
  Ula Tardigrade

  An important book on an important subject. As the author eloquently argues in the preface, the female body has been neglected by science and medicine for too long. And while there have been a few popular science books on the subject, this is the first I have read written from an evolutionary biology perspective. It is full of fascinating facts and surprising insights.
  
  That said, I did have some problems with this book. I got the impression that the author couldn't decide who her audience was. On the one hand, there are a lot of complicated details and terms and she really dives deep into the scientific realm; on the other hand, her style can be too conversational, she tries too hard to be accessible and funny - I found giving silly names to our ancestral species or using words like "little darlings" to describe mammalian young to be off putting.
  
  Thanks to the publisher, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.
• 
  Ctgt

  And I wish I could tell her, as I will tell my own children someday. That every power men have ever had over women is something we gave them. We just forgot. We forgot we can stop.
  
  9/10