In this ground-breaking work that has altered the fundamental way in which we view disease, maverick medical researcher Dr Moalem reveals how illness has helped us to survive and how the elimination of some of our deadliest diseases could someday mean the difference between the survival or extinction of humans in some distant, unimaginable future.The best medical questions about the human body almost always start with 'Why?' Why do microscopic organisms infect our bodies? Why do humans have a nose? Why can't I eat certain foods or drink certain drinks when others can ingest the same items without consequence? Why don't I have fur like a monkey or gorilla? Given all the wonderful adaptations that I've inherited from my parents why would I have the genetic propensity for debilitating conditions like diabetes?Within our three cubic feet of bone and blood we, quite literally, carry around with us a hidden history of life and the answers to some of modern life's most pressing and personal questions. If we listen and learn the subtle language the body speaks we'll come to understand that there are reasons for everything we feel - for each ache, itch and affliction. We might even be indebted to many of our diseases for our very existence. Within the diseases that torment us may lay the legacy for traits that allowed our ancestors to survive when those around them died.Using case studies of both famous individuals and of different races and ethnicities, Dr Moalem discusses such theories as the development of diabetes as a means to survive the Ice Age, why African Americans may have high pressure because of slave ships, why Asians can't drink as much as their Western counterparts, and the correlation between rabid dogs and obsessive children.Such conjecture is not only a point of interest. It is only through understanding the relationship between the evolution of disease and our continued existence that we can fully understand the perilous tight-rope we walk every day with our high-pressured urban lifestyles.

There are many simple and beneficial changes that we can implement if we learn to listen to the signals from our highly evolved bodies, tricking ourselves into being happy and healthy just through a understanding our part in the evolution of disease.