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A review by jasminegmoss
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
4.0
I did it! This book took me six months because it was dense and SO interesting to read and took me on lots of mental tangents that meant I didn’t want to whizz through it. I even read all the footnotes! It goes through an evolutionary timeline of specifically female features and how they’ve shaped both the human body and human history. An amazing concept, executed well with a charming and often funny voice.
It starts off strong - the lack of research into how liposuction will affect breastfeeding because of the fats required? Wow, mind blown, then through the chapters on Milk and Womb especially, fascinating and frequently paused to take pictures and give an early recommendation to people who would be interested. I don’t want to diminish this enjoyment with any smaller negative comments but… I struggled with the “Brain” chapter onwards at times - my own brain’s feminism struggled to agree that there are truly multiple sex differences in the brain, and she doesn’t provide any caveats of whether the research conclusions stay true cross-culturally, which she is aware of in other chapters more. She does consider trans and non gender conforming people and their influence throughout, as well as non-white/Western peoples, though it felt a little clunky/patchy at times.
Small niggles then - the format - the “Eves” could have been shown on a timeline, with an easier reference page to come back to, given she nicknames them and refers to them throughout (less in later chapters… forgotten about?). There are some parts which are already dated - framing the voice chapter around one Hillary Clinton speech! What she calls gynaecology I/others would absolutely call midwifery since it makes far more sense in the periods she’s referring to - largely antenatally, rather than eg preventative cervical swabs or hysterectomies.
I don’t want to sound too negative. This was a fascinating, captivating, groundbreaking popular science read… I think it should be read by everyone. But I would also like to read some critiques on each chapter by experts to gain more insight. An updated or collective edition perhaps. So a big recommend from me, even if it doesn’t quite hit the 5 star mark.
It starts off strong - the lack of research into how liposuction will affect breastfeeding because of the fats required? Wow, mind blown, then through the chapters on Milk and Womb especially, fascinating and frequently paused to take pictures and give an early recommendation to people who would be interested. I don’t want to diminish this enjoyment with any smaller negative comments but… I struggled with the “Brain” chapter onwards at times - my own brain’s feminism struggled to agree that there are truly multiple sex differences in the brain, and she doesn’t provide any caveats of whether the research conclusions stay true cross-culturally, which she is aware of in other chapters more. She does consider trans and non gender conforming people and their influence throughout, as well as non-white/Western peoples, though it felt a little clunky/patchy at times.
Small niggles then - the format - the “Eves” could have been shown on a timeline, with an easier reference page to come back to, given she nicknames them and refers to them throughout (less in later chapters… forgotten about?). There are some parts which are already dated - framing the voice chapter around one Hillary Clinton speech! What she calls gynaecology I/others would absolutely call midwifery since it makes far more sense in the periods she’s referring to - largely antenatally, rather than eg preventative cervical swabs or hysterectomies.
I don’t want to sound too negative. This was a fascinating, captivating, groundbreaking popular science read… I think it should be read by everyone. But I would also like to read some critiques on each chapter by experts to gain more insight. An updated or collective edition perhaps. So a big recommend from me, even if it doesn’t quite hit the 5 star mark.