Eve

How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

By: Cat Bohannon

Narrated by: Cat Bohannon

Length: 15 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

2024 Royal Society Prize for Science Books, Short-listed

“A page-turning whistle-stop tour of mammalian development that begins in the Jurassic Era, Eve recasts the traditional story of evolutionary biology by placing women at its center…. The book is engaging, playful, erudite, discursive and rich with detail." —The New York Times

“A smart, funny, scientific deep-dive into the power of a woman’s body, Eve surprises, educates, and emboldens.”—Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times best-selling author of Lessons in Chemistry

An ambitious, eye-opening, myth-busting and groundbreaking history of the evolution of the female body, by a brilliant new researcher and writer

Why do women live longer than men? Why do women have menopause? Why are women more likely to get Alzheimer’s? Why do girls score better at every academic subject than boys until puberty, when suddenly their scores plummet? And does the female brain really exist?

In Eve, Cat Bohannon answers questions scientists should have been addressing for decades. With boundless curiosity and sharp wit, she covers the past 200 million years to explain the specific science behind the development of the female sex. Eve is not only a sweeping revision of human history, it’s an urgent and necessary corrective for a world that has focused primarily on the male body for far too long. Bohannon’s findings, including everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women’s pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language.

A 21st-century update of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Eve offers a true paradigm shift in our thinking about what the female body is and why it matters.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Cat Bohannon (P)2024 Random House Canada

Critic reviews

“The high-velocity, high-impact Eve, part owner’s manual for the female body . . . part sweeping saga of mammalian history; and part clapback against the tendency of much evolutionary thought to place men, and their furry mancestors, at the center of the action. . . . Bohannon has a poet’s voice and a reporter’s eye. . . . Eve makes a powerful argument for the pivotal role female Homo sapiens have played in making us ‘human.’. . . A love letter to the ancient, creaking wonder that is evolution.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A vast and revolutionary history of female evolution. . . . It is a gripping, lyrical tale of female suffering, of remarkable resilience, of the lengths we will go to to survive and to protect our young. It makes being a woman seem truly extraordinary.” —The Times

“[Cat Bohannon] talk[s] about science but it’s like beat poetry.” —Sarah Silverman, comedian and actor, on The Daily Show

Excellent

This is one of the best books about evolution I've ever read, and I've read a lot of them!