Eve

Description

“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

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.“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

“Bohannon calls on her astounding disciplinary range to tell this epic tale. Her writing ripples with references from literature, film studies, biochemistry, cognitive science and anthropology. . . . The footnotes alone, which are particularly learned, irreverent and funny, are a masterpiece.” —The Guardian
 
“Punchy and utterly compelling. . . . Rarely have I read a book in which every page brims with such astounding revelations. . . . [Bohannon] has a gift for turning complex scientific theory into clear and breezy language, framing each chapter with an engaging vignette. . . . A fast-paced yet scholarly book . . . Eve is a magnificent achievement.” —Literary Review

“Fascinating.” —Mika Brzezinski on MSNBC’s Morning Joe

“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

“Eve is a hugely ambitious piece of work, and one that doesn’t pull its punches. . . . Page turning. . . . Character and storytelling are clearly second nature to Bohannon.” —The Guardian

“Eve erases any lingering misconception about the centrality of women, giving us a detailed look at women’s biology. . . . The book brims with unexpected insights, described with a lovely mixture of scientific veracity and novelistic flair.” —Wall Street Journal

“Eve’s structure reminded me of Richard Dawkins’ The Ancestor’s Tale, but the content, with its female focus, could not be more different. Bohannon shares Dawkins’ gift for compelling science communication but has her own intimate style. . . . Her personal stories bring grit, humor and humility to those of her imagined Eves. . . . Talking to Cat Bohannon is like being struck with a tornado of ideas.” —Lucy Cooke, bestselling author of Bitch, via Nautilus

“Fascinating. . . . An impressive feat. . . . A book that is at once highly complex . . . and very readable, while avoiding the behavioral economics pop-science trap of drawing too-neat conclusions. . . . Existing as a woman in our increasingly atomized world can be isolating in ways that are hard to even identify. Beyond making me gasp aloud in wonder, Bohannon’s book was an unexpected antidote, delivering a profound sense of kinship with every other woman who’s ever existed (plus those various Eve ancestors).” —Jezebel

“Bohannon offers a refreshing and lively corrective to a story that has focused mainly on male evolution.” —Nature

“Get it, read it.” —Katie Phang, via MSBBC’s The Beat
 
“With grit and wit, Bohannon marvels at the blunders and wonders of evolution. . . . Readers, regardless of their gender, are in for an eye-opening journey with a growing appreciation for the Eves who brought them into this world.” —Columbia Magazine

“Bohannon’s coverage of the science of sex differences, male bias in research studies and the fact that not all drugs are sex ‘neutral’ make for rousing reading. . . . Eve is an enlightening examination of the evolution of the female body, an ode to its remarkable design, intricacies and capabilities.” —Booklist

“Ambitious. . . . The book is lively, comprehensive, sometimes provocative, and always thought-provoking. . . . [Eve] is a joy to read: It’s replete with beautiful language and humor. It’s also an informative, intriguing, sometimes frustrating call to view our human story through the evolution of women and the essential contributions that the female body has made toward the genesis of humanity.” —Undark

“A capacious investigation of women throughout time. . . . Bohannon . . . creates a jaunty, digressive and often whimsical tale examining the origins of some defining features of womanhood. . . . Fascinating. . . . Prodigious research informs a spirited history of humanity.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred)
 
“A rollicking, bollocking, subversive counter-history, telling at last the story of the human mainstream instead of (as other histories do) the male-edited, male-glorifying sidelines. And it does it all with forgiveness and good grace and great dollops of humour. Marvellous and downright necessary.” —Charles Foster, author of Cry of the Wind
 
“Such a rare book: scholarly, funny, accessible and very important. A truly original history of humans that explains so much of who we are today.” —Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People
 
“Utterly fascinating. This book should revolutionize our understanding of human life. It is set to become a classic.” —George Monbiot, author of Regenesis
 
“I’m obsessed with Eve by Cat Bohannon. Riveting, jaw-dropping, hilarious, exciting, enraging and deeply, deeply refreshing. Bohannon presents cutting-edge science with glittering sensory detail, awe-inspiring storytelling and a genius and often poetic turn of phrase. I will never forget her description of animals as ‘essentially lumpy donuts filled with ocean.’ I loved the real talk about giving birth to live babies and the reality of gestation and motherhood.  So clever, so necessary, so funny. Finally, Eve’s story is here and Bohannon’s remarkable and gripping telling will change the world.” —Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence

“Eve was immeasurably useful to me in my life-long quest to understand my own body.  I highly recommend it to anyone who is on the same journey.” —Hope Jahren, author of Lab Girl and Story of More

“For over a century and a half since Darwin, we have talked about the origin of man. But what about women? Marshalling considerable wit, scholarship, and cutting-edge science Cat Bohannon traces the history and importance of female biology and, in the process, gives us a refreshing new view on the origin of humanity.” —Neil Shubin, University of Chicago biologist and author of Your Inner Fish

“A smart, funny, scientific deep-dive into the power of a woman’s body, Eve surprises, educates, and emboldens. Who runs the world? Girls!” —Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

“This book is almost fantastically interesting. Every few pages there would be some fact I didn’t know or an idea that was new to me, and I would ask my wife if she knew, and she’d say, ‘What? You’re kidding! No!’ and we’d end up talking for half an hour, and it would be midnight, and I’d only read 8 pages. So this book took a LONG time to read, but for the best possible reasons. Frankly, I’m writing this while I’m still on page 387, where Cat Bohannon talks about why sex feels good. I definitely plan to finish.” —Charles C. Mann, historian and author of 1491

“[An] ambitious debut. . . . Bohannon offers a bracing corrective to male-centric evolutionary accounts . . . and she balances scientific rigor with entertaining prose. . . . [A]n illuminating and fresh take on how human evolution unfolded.” —Publishers Weekly

“Such a rare book: scholarly, funny, accessible and very important. A truly original history of humans that explains so much of who we are today.” —Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People

“Utterly fascinating. This book should revolutionise our understanding of human life. It is set to become a classic.” —George Monbiot, author of Regenesis

“I’m obsessed with Eve by Cat Bohannon. Riveting, jaw-dropping, hilarious, exciting, enraging and deeply, deeply refreshing. Bohannon presents cutting-edge science with glittering sensory detail, awe-inspiring storytelling and a genius and often poetic turn of phrase. I will never forget her description of animals as ‘essentially lumpy donuts filled with ocean.’ I loved the real talk about giving birth to live babies and the reality of gestation and motherhood.  So clever, so necessary, so funny. Finally, Eve’s story is here and Bohannon’s remarkable and gripping telling will change the world.” —Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence

“A captivating and engaging read about the evolution of the female body.” —Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction jury
CAT BOHANNON is a researcher and author with a PhD from Columbia University in the evolution of narrative and cognition. Her essays and poems have appeared in Scientific American, Mind, Science Magazine, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, The Georgia Review, The Story Collider and Poets Against the War. She lives with her family in Seattle.US

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