Overview

Despite the widespread belief that natural is better when it comes to sex, pregnancy, and parenting, most of us have no idea what natural"" really means the origins of our reproductive lives remain a mystery. Why are a quarter of a billion sperm cells needed to fertilize one egg? Are women really fertile for only a few days each month? How long should babies be breast-fed?In How We Do It , primatologist Robert Martin draws on forty years of research to locate the roots of everything from our sex cells to the way we care for newborns. He examines the procreative history of humans as well as that of our primate kin to reveal what's really natural when it comes to making and raising babies, and distinguish which behaviours we ought to continue,and which we should not. Although it's not realistic to raise our children like our ancestors did, Martin's investigation reveals surprising consequences of,and suggests ways to improve upon,the way we do things now. For instance, he explains why choosing a midwife rather than an obstetrician may have a greater impact than we think on our birthing experience, examines the advantages of breast-feeding for both mothers and babies, and suggests why babies may be ready for toilet training far earlier than is commonly practiced. How We Do It offers much-needed context for our reproductive and child-rearing practices, and shows that once we understand our evolutionary past, we can consider what worked, what didn't, and what it all means for the future of our species.

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How We Do It is a fascinating account of the natural history of human reproduction. As modern medicine and technology increasingly encroach on conception, childbirth, and infant care, it is eye-opening to learn about how these processes actually evolved in our species. Robert Martin has written the perfect birds-and-bees guide for curious grown-ups. --Lise Eliot, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University, and author of What's Going On In There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life <br><br> Here at last is a thought-provoking, accurate, and entertaining account of the origins and present status of human reproduction. Robert Martin, a world authority on evolutionary biology, explores how evolution has shaped the patterns of reproductive physiology and the sexual and maternal behavior that characterize modern humans. He accomplishes this task with great clarity and wit. --Alan Dixson, Professor of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, and author of Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems <br>

This fascinating, comprehensive look at human evolution raises important questions about what everything from bottle-fed babies to assisted reproduction means for the future of the species... A must-read for anyone interested in human evolution. -- Booklist <br> A fascinating treatment of a complex subject. -- Kirkus Reviews <br> Martin, an anthropologist and curator at Chicago's Field Museum, covers every aspect of human reproduction--from fertilization to infant care--in this thoughtful, well-written book.... His comparative analysis and expertise permits him to draw compelling conclusions....he also raises thought-provoking questions, such as why so many sperm--on the order of 250 billion--are released when only one can inseminate the egg. -- Publishers Weekly <br> Robert Martin is one of our leading researchers on human biology and evolution, having made a career of generating novel and game-changing conclusions about why our bodies and organs look the way they do. In How We Do It, he brings his authoritative voice to a compelling, readable, and enlightening account about human reproduction. Read Robert Martin and you will not look at human bodies the same way again. --Neil Shubin, paleontologist, The University of Chicago, and author of Your Inner Fish <br> How We Do It is a fascinating account of the natural history of human reproduction. As modern medicine and technology increasingly encroach on conception, childbirth, and infant care, it is eye-opening to learn about how these processes actually evolved in our species. Robert Martin has written the perfect birds-and-bees guide for curious grown-ups. --Lise Eliot, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University, and author of What's Going On In There?: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life <br> I have lectured for years on the topic of this book, and done research on primate reproduction. But even so, I kept coming a

Author Information

Robert Martin is the A. Watson Armour III Curator of Biological Anthropology at the Field Museum in Chicago, as well as a member of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. He was previously on the faculty of University College London, a visiting professor of anthropology at Yale, a visiting professor at the Musee de l'Homme, Paris, and the director of the Anthropological Institute in Zurich.

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