This book caught my eye mostly because of the year it was published: 1989. Thats a full decade before Ray Audette’s “Neanderthin” in 1999 and twelve years before Dr. Loren Cordain’s “The Paleo Diet” in 2001.

If you’ve read more recent stuff by Cordain, De Vany, or others on the Paleo diet there isn’t much new in this book on the diet & fitness side of things but its pretty neat to see what the authors were on to without the wealth of paleo resources available today. The first few chapters are a rehash of basic paleo principles and there is probably better material out there if that is what you’re after. But I expected that when I picked up the book.

Some of the information is outdated such as the emphasis on endurance running and the recommendation of oat bran. But other than that the authors hit the nail on the head by saying that the power of looking at paleo life is that we can now take the best ideas learned from looking at life as a hunter gatherer and combine them with some advances of modern society that are worth keeping and can live incredibly healthy and fulfilling lives. There is quite a bit of original thinking scattered through the book to be appreciated if you can overlook some of the expired advice.

Explained as the discordance hypothesis, a name is given to the idea that there is a disconnect between the environment we have created for ourselves versus the environment our genes (which we are stuck with) evolved in, and there are consequences to this disconnect. Understanding this is key to understanding your body and your pyschology. This “mind/body is inseparable” argument gives me the sense that this book may have influenced De Vany’s Evolutionary Fitness ideas. It is more than is found in some of the newer literature that focuses on diet. Considerable time is spent on narratives describing what life might have been like for paleolithic man.

In the “Natural Child” chapter, the point is made that peer groups for children in hunter gatherer societies would be remarkably different than is typical in post-agricultural ones. There may be a few children the same age, but likely only a few at the most (a tribe band would likely consist of only 5-10 females of reproductive age- and so peer groups would mostly consist of multi-aged play groups. Large same-age peer groups may not be a very natural environment for children. While not discussed in the book, it is interesting to think that this may have an obvious impact on kids today along the lines of forcing them into a same-age social hierarchy and the discouragement this entails for those who at one point or another find themselves on the lower rungs of development (socially or physically).

To reiterate, if this is your first/only foray into the subject matter, you’re better off picking up something more recent. But I’d say its worth a read if you are already up to speed on your “paleo reading” and want a curious look back at one of the first paleo diet/psychology books. Don’t pay too much for it though, as you should be able to find a used copy if you search around.

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Tags: Boyd Eaton, Paleo, paleo diet, paleolithic, paleolithic prescription