This Mortal Coil
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This Mortal Coil
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Narrated by:
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Barnaby Edwards
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By:
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Andrew Doig
About this listen
Dementia, heart failure and cancer are now the leading causes of death in industrialised nations, where life expectancy is mostly above 80. A century ago, life expectancy was about 50 and people died mainly from infectious diseases. In the Middle Ages, death was mostly caused by famine, plague, childbirth and war. In the Palaeolithic period, where our species spent 95 percent of its time, we frequently died from violence and accidents.
Causes of death have changed irrevocably across time. In the course of a few centuries we have gone from a world where disease or violence were likely to strike anyone at any age and where famine could be just one bad harvest away, to one where excess food is more of a problem than a lack of it. Why is this? Why don't we die from plague, scurvy or smallpox anymore? And why are heart attacks, Alzheimer's and cancer so prevalent today?
This Mortal Coil explains why we died in the past, the reasons we die now and how causes of death are about to profoundly change. University of Manchester Professor Andrew Doig provides an eye-opening, global portrait of death throughout time, looking at particular causes of death - from infectious disease to genetic disease, violence to diet - who they affected, and the people who made it possible to overcome them.
©2022 Andrew Doig (P)2022 W F HowesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about This Mortal Coil
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sigrin
- 16-10-24
Outstanding
Never has death been so interesting.
The facts figures and fascinating information over the milenia is addictive and I lost 5 hours in the first day as I dog walked and did mundane jobs in the house whilst listening.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Mr. M. Baigrie
- 03-03-24
very informative
book is very informative but it'll take a couple of listens to appreciate everything that's gone into it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucy Moss
- 26-05-24
Fascinating
So interesting and educational. Almost made me believe that humanity might not destroy themselves.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 02-05-24
Fascinating!
A really well Written and read book. Goes into depth on the backgrounds of the origins of so much yet doesn’t get bogged down.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Barbara Z.
- 06-05-24
Interesting book
Not so much about death, but generally sickness understood quite broad, with a lot of rumbling. But still everything was interesting, so I didn’t mind
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 24-12-22
Decent outline but not what I expected
A good outline of the various ways in which humans have and continue to day. But the book did not talk at all about the philosopical sides of death: how we have understood it throughtout ages. That is what I hoped to learn when I bought the book. Should have read the description better.
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