The Serengeti Rules cover art

The Serengeti Rules

The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters

 Preview

Audible Standard 30-day free trial

Try Standard free
Select 1 audiobook a month from our entire collection.
Listen to your selected audiobooks as long as you're a member.
Get unlimited access to bingeable podcasts.
Standard auto renews for £5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Serengeti Rules

By: Sean B. Carroll
Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
Try Standard free

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £13.22

Buy Now for £13.22

About this listen

How does life work? How does nature produce the right numbers of zebras and lions on the African savanna, or fish in the ocean? How do our bodies produce the right numbers of cells in our organs and bloodstream? In The Serengeti Rules, award-winning biologist and author Sean B. Carroll tells the stories of the pioneering scientists who sought the answers to such simple yet profoundly important questions, and shows how their discoveries matter for our health and the health of the planet we depend upon. One of the most important revelations about the natural world is that everything is regulated - there are rules that regulate the amount of every molecule in our bodies and rules that govern the numbers of every animal and plant in the wild. And the most surprising revelation about the rules that regulate life at such different scales is that they are remarkably similar - there is a common underlying logic of life. Carroll recounts how our deep knowledge of the rules and logic of the human body has spurred the advent of revolutionary life-saving medicines, and makes the compelling case that it is now time to use the Serengeti Rules to heal our ailing planet.

©2016 Sean B. Carroll (P)2017 Tantor Biological Sciences Biology Ecology Evolution Evolution & Genetics Nature & Ecology Science Health Africa Solar System Medicine

Critic reviews

"A thought-provoking challenge to complacency." ( Kirkus)
All stars
Most relevant
If you’re British, you may (like me) dislike the more…excitable… American narration. The book was nevertheless, very interesting.

Interesting book, narrator not great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book is extremely poorly researched. Though it does contain some interesting bits, like how different organisms are dependent on each other for survival, I cannot help to notice its flaws.

In one chapter the author tells the story of cholesterol and its role in heart disease. Never does he mention the research fraud of Ancel Keys who is largely responsible for the idea that cholesterol is involved in heart disease. But the thing is, it isn't. The idea that cholesterol cause heart disease is a "guilt by association" mistake. It is similar to blaming fires on fire fighters because there is a correlation between fires and the presence of firefighters. A rather stupid mistake really.

Statin drugs are given as an example of drugs that saves lives. But it doesn't. Statins are very likely the biggest medical scam in history. It has been shown in published articles that statins prolong life by 0,75 days per year of use. That's 18 hours! Per year! So a person needs to take statins for about 40 years to live about a month longer. And statins comes with a long list of possible rather severe side effects too. In my opinion, not one person should be on a statin.

He also tells the story of cancer as a genetic disease. Here too the author betrays his poor research. Cancer is NOT a genetic disease. It is a disease of damaged mitochondria. Genetic defects comes later. This was discovered in the 1920:ies by Otto Warburg, a discovery he got the Noble Prize for.

I cannot recommend this book. In fact, I strongly recommend against it.

Very poorly researched

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.