A page-turning whistle-stop tour of mammalian development that begins in the Jurassic Era, Eve recasts the traditional story of evolutionary biology by placing women at its center….

That the loss of vocal sacs would be a step towards the possible development of spoken language is a tempting new idea for me.Bohannon’s findings, including everything from the way C-sections in the industrialized world are rearranging women’s pelvic shape to the surprising similarities between pus and breast milk, will completely change what you think you know about evolution and why Homo sapiens have become such a successful and dominant species, from tool use to city building to the development of language. But Bohannon uses everything from the brain’s patterns of learning to mothers’ ability to speak in infant-friendly tones to make the case that language was invented between baby and caretaker. The title is a nod to the biblical first woman, but it’s what followed her that motivates Bohannon’s work—the entire span of human evolution and how it has led to women being very different, and in many underappreciated ways, from men. If you like non-fiction that focuses on evolution, physiology, biology, anthropology and lots of other aspects then this is one for you. A jaunty, digressive, and often whimsical tale examining the origins of some defining features of womanhood .

Bohannon presents nothing less than a new history of the species by examining human evolution through the lens of womankind.There’s a huge amount of every “ology” you can think of – except maybe Scientology - with diagrams and drawings along the way.

It’s not that topflight scientists still think female bodies were made when God pulled a rib from Adam’s side, but the assumption that being sexed is simply a matter of sex organs — that somehow being female is just a minor tweak on a Platonic form — is a bit like that old Bible story. To read Eve as a factual record of the deep past would be misleading and, frankly, misses the point of Bohannon’s achievement.This is an extremely interesting book on human evolution, looking at various traits of modern humans and exploring how they -and we- came to be. Moments from death, one of them presses something into Beatrice’s hands: a bewitching book whose pages have a dangerous life of their own. I read Meg Clothier's The Book of Eve in a quick burst, enchanted by the plot, the mysterious manuscript, and the unfolding relationships between characters.