Nesse and Williams have written a lively discourse on the application of the principles of evolutionary biology to the dilemmas of modern medicine. Nesse, a physician and an associate professor of psychiatry, and Williams, a professor of ecology and evolution, provide a primer on Darwin's theory of natural selection. They explain that the functional design of organisms-e.g., our bodies-may suggest new ways of addressing illness. The book begins with a look at the causes of disease and their evolutionary influences. But the book mainly assesses the concept of adaptation by natural selection, and illustrates the ways Darwinian thinking can be applied to medical problems. As one example, the authors examine the use of penicillin over the past 60 years against bacterial infections. The book's quirky information may speak to a broad audience: researchers, for instance, have found that relatives of schizophrenics have an unusually high frequency of inclusion in Who's Who-which may counterbalance drawbacks of the disorder in evolutionary terms. The tendency toward child abuse, too, may be influenced, the authors say, by evolution and the passing on of genes. And there may well be an evolutionary reason to welcome morning sickness, they argue: nausea and food aversions during pregnancy apparently evolved to impose dietary restrictions on the mother so as to correspond with fetal vulnerability and, thereby, minimize fetal exposure to food toxins.

R.M.尼斯，密锡根大學醫學院精神病學教授，曾任該校教育及學術事務副主任。他組建瞭人類行為和進化學會，並曾任主席，在進化心理學和達爾文醫學研究領域享有盛名。

G.C.威廉斯，紐約州州立大學生態學和進化論榮休教授，美國科學院院士，曾任進化研究學會主席。他以對群體選擇論的有力批判而聞名，在性彆進化研究領域也有傑齣成就。1999年他獲得瞭有生物科學界“諾貝爾奬”之稱的剋拉福德奬。