I've just managed to finish reading "Survival of the fittest: understanding health and peak physical performance" by Mike Stroud. Although very easy reading book, it took me ages given my current lack of spare time and general tiredness.

The book proposes to explain the human adaptation capability from an evolutionary perspective. Mike relies on his own globe-trotter experience to illustrate how humans are actually far more able to run long distances and cope with very hot or cold weather than most people would commonly imagine. Striking examples include his 0.2mmoles/L blood glucose level during his cross-Antarctica with Ran Fiennes when normal values range between 4 and 10, the 9-day survival of Mauro Prosperi lost in the desert without water during the Marathon des Sables, and the completion of the Eco-Challenge by of his 70 years old dad, involving several days of virtually non-stop running, hiking, cycling, climbing and canoeing.

A teleologic approach is often employed to reach this goal: assuming that we haven't evolved much physically in the last 10,000 years, we should still be able perform as our ancestor used to. Whilst I came to a number of similar conclusions myself in the last couple of years, such as that nearly everyone under the age of 70 can potentially run a marathon if they're dedicated enough, and that our body will happily deal with all kinds of junk food as long as we exercise enough to maintain a high food throughput, it was really pleasant to read a doctor formulating clearly these opinions.

Ultra feel-good book.