Week 1- Paleofantasy

Marlene Zuk’s “Paleofantasy” captured my attention because of its focus on the evolution of human beings, and this stood out to me as a novel concept in comparison to learning about evolution in light of other animals and species. Zuk is an evolutionary biologist and behavioral ecologist who has also written a number of additional works. This book is laid out well with ten chapters, many of them focusing on what the “paleofantasy” in different domains such as food, exercise and family actually entails. I was fascinated by Zuk’s argument that “we are not biologically the same as our common ancestors” and that the changes that are occurring in people’s diets and lifestyles now are not necessarily a bad thing. I found it interesting that in the introduction she mentioned that it is human nature to see the past better than it actually was and raise it to a higher standard. The trend however does seem to be that with the increase in technology and advancements, we are deviating from a more natural diet and active lifestyle. I am very interested in reading this book and learning more about Zuk’s ideas about these issues, and whether she sees these trends as mere trade-offs in response to other changes. I also look forward to learning more about the idea of a paleofantasy and about how humans have evolved over time.