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Eve

How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution (Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction)

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Eve

By: Cat Bohannon
Narrated by: Cat Bohannon
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

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.

©2023 Cat Bohannon (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Biological Sciences Biology Evolution Evolution & Genetics Gender Studies Science Social Sciences Women Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

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
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)
[Cat Bohannon] is revolutionising our understanding of the human body with her female-centric history of the species. A hugely ambitious piece of work, and one that doesn’t pull its punches . . . character and storytelling are clearly second nature to Bohannon . . . It's a book that’s packed full of surprising revelations
An epic combination of science and speculation that places women at the centre of history (Observer)
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)
A vast and revolutionary history of female evolution . . . [Eve] 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 (Laura Hackett)
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 story-telling, 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 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 WILD)
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)
All stars
Most relevant
Informative, funny and eye opening. This must be read in schools to all young adults over the globe not only women looking for answers. I will rate it as high as Harari's Sapiens. It answered most of my questions about my body, mind and cultural development of our grandmothers along human evolution. Really enjoyable audio.

a must read not only for women

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Such a well put together book, interesting without being too heavy. Great style of writing and well narrated by the author - a must listen!

So interesting

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It’s not for the faint-hearted… pretty graphic biological descriptions that e.g. could make one wonder why on Earth we’d commit to pregnancy, and alot of unashamed references to our various paths of mortality and our basic biological and sociological urges - but equally empowering to all realms of humanity, not only women but all the other self-identifying genders, including men. The author’s effectively feminist and egalitarian stance is carefully backed up by evidence-based science and, IMO, successfully avoids bias on this basis. I LOVED this book, I loved the author’s humour, I loved the feelings of emboldening I got from the clarifying science that women are WAY more effective than males would sometimes have us believe.

Every therapist, scientist, politician and executive should listen to this book!

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An excellent book that everybody should read as it is a real eye-opener. It is a popular science book and, as such, it has a number of flaws. The last chapters in particular are too "personal" and quite boring as I have no interest in her family and her life (a short biography on the cover is enough). But, I guess, these are the pitfalls all writers of popular science books cannot avoid as it is very difficult for them to find a balance between "hard science" and a more conversational style. So, although I didn't enjoy some parts of the book, I do appreciate that, in its present form, it will reach a wider audience. This is crucial because the topics she discusses are fundamental to understand how we are who we are today, women and men alike, and that's why I'm giving this book 5 stars instead of 4.

Excellent book

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A must for every woman who thinks about herself and her children and making a better world for her grandchildren.

Brilliant

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