On Fertile Ground: A Natural History of Human Reproduction

About the Book

Reproduction is among the most basic of human biological functions, both for our distant ancestors and for ourselves, whether we live on the plains of Africa or in North American suburbs. Our reproductive biology unites us as a species, but it has also been an important engine of our evolution. In the way our bodies function today we can see both the imprint of our formative past and implications for our future. It is the infinitely subtle and endlessly dramatic story of human reproduction and its evolutionary context that Peter T. Ellison tells in On Fertile Ground.

Ranging from the latest achievements of modern fertility clinics to the lives of subsistence farmers in the rain forests of Africa, this book offers both a remarkably broad and a minutely detailed exploration of human reproduction. Ellison, a leading pioneer in the field, combines the perspectives of anthropology, stressing the range and variation of human experience; ecology, sensitive to the two-way interactions between humans and their environments; and evolutionary biology, emphasizing a functional understanding of human reproductive biology and its role in our evolutionary history.

Whether contrasting female athletes missing their periods and male athletes using anabolic steroids with Polish farm women and hunter-gatherers in Paraguay, or exploring the intricate choreography of an implanting embryo or of a nursing mother and her child, On Fertile Ground advances a rich and deeply satisfying explanation of the mechanisms by which we reproduce and the evolutionary forces behind their design.

Table of Contents:
Two Births Surviving the First Cut A Time to Be Born The Elixir of Life Why Grow Up? Balancing Act The Arc of Life The Body Builders The Journey and the Procession Notes Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Index

About the Author :
Peter T. Ellison is John Cowles Professor of Anthropology and Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University.

Review :
Ellison gives a clear, beautifully written account of human reproductive physiology in relation to human evolution and ecology. His very readable narrative--including his stands on some still controversial questions--will enlighten anyone interested in reproduction, population, and people's place on the planet. On Fertile Ground is a fine overview of the role of hormones in human reproduction, and of the way hormones and behavior interact. Authoritative and lively, it is the best place to start. A splendid synthesis by one of the pioneers in the study of the evolution of the human reproductive system. Ellison provides a readable, marvelously informative account of the physiology of reproduction as it relates to women's lives. Because of the many subfields it covers, not to mention the contradictory claims made by its practitioners, human reproduction has been a difficult topic for non-specialists to master. Peter Ellison has now turned a fearsome set of data-rich puzzles into a single elegant story. On Fertile Ground shows readers where the intellectual problems lie, what's wrong with past solutions, and why his views are right. On Fertile Ground is a riveting tale of adaptation and a major contribution to mammalian evolutionary ecology. It shows science at its best. On Fertile Ground provides the finest available integration of detailed information on human reproductive physiology with evolutionary explanations; it can serve as a model for other areas of human biology...A novel synthesis of a fast-growing field, On Fertile Ground will interest specialists and nonspecialists alike and can be used as an undergraduate text as well. It is an excellent read that significantly advances our understanding of human reproduction. Peter Ellison grips your attention from his opening contrast between a difficult birth in central Africa that ended in the death of the baby and a successful delivery in the U.S. that mobilised up-to-date medical facilities. He isn't sensationalist. Fascination comes from following the progress from conception to maturity in minute detail...On Fertile Ground is enjoyable and Ellison has an individual voice. [This book] is truly extraordinary, state-of-the-art book on a topic that concerns all human beings as individuals and a host of others professionally. So many superlatives may seem inappropriate, but they are not. Ellison is a cutting-edge scientist: a leading researcher in the field of human reproductive physiology. He brings to bear an unparalleled perspective--derived from both anthropology and biology--that makes a diverse and conflicting field of research suddenly comprehensible by demanding that human reproduction be viewed as the product of evolution, responsive to ecological conditions, with its own unique evolutionary history. Given Peter Ellison's major contributions to reproductive ecology, it should come as no surprise that he has written a unique, readable book on what determines and influences reproductive success in humans...One of the hallmarks of this book is that, in his efforts to understand why human reproduction has evolved its own particular pattern, Ellison repeatedly asks questions that would never cross the minds of many of us, and in so doing stimulates new ways of thinking about old topics...This is an excellent and thoughtful discussion of the many interesting theories surrounding human reproductive physiology and its constraints. Written in accessible language, it should appeal to a non-academic audience as well as the specialist. It could also be assigned as a graduate and/or undergraduate supplementary text in courses on human reproductive ecology/behavioral biology or reproductive physiology. I can thoroughly recommend it to any and all of these readers! This is an splendid book that is so clearly written and yet so rigorously detailed that it can be recommended to teenage daughters and sons as well as specialists in reproductive ecology and life history theory. The book covers everything about the female reproductive system in intricate detail from conception and early fetal development through childhood, the onset of sexual maturation, female ovulatory cycling, pregnancy, birth and lactation and finally through menopause and the post reproductive lifespan. It also includes a fascinating chapter on male reproductive physiology that clearly explains how the sexes are similar and how and why males are different...Peter Ellison has been an outstanding leader of the field of reproductive ecology for more than 20 years. This book is the distillation of his ideas over that time period and a sparklingly transparent presentation of what sometimes seems to be a muddy pond of complicated details...It will undoubtedly be on the forefront of a new era in human reproductive studies, helping to lead those who study human reproductive patterns back down a pathway where questions and hypothesis about functional design are central, and firmly grounded in the realization that the whole system evolved by natural selection. Ellison describes the evolution of human reproduction clearly and concisely, beginning with the forces that shaped the process of conception and proceeding to the reproductive process, birth, and the subsequent six months of development...Sure to delight anyone interested in the external forces that helped create humanity. In clean, elegant prose, Ellison has crafted a synthesis of current knowledge in a range of disciplines...his exposition offers a superb overview.