Book description
Women who become pregnant today are bombarded with urgent messages
about the food they eat, the chemicals theyâ re exposed to, the stress
they feelâ and how such prenatal influences will affect their future
children. When Annie Murphy Paul first encountered the intense anxiety
and overwhelming responsibility that now accompany pregnancy, she was
shocked, then baffled, then curious. And when she become pregnant a
second time, she decided to investigate. Over the course of nine months,
Paul explores how fetuses are shaped in utero, separating the evidence
from the hype and filling in the historical and cultural context. As a
science writer, she goes deep into the exciting new field of fetal
origins, examining its claims that many of our individual
characteristicsâ from susceptibility to disease, to appetite and
metabolism, to intelligence and even personality and temperamentâ begin
in the womb. And as a pregnant woman, she probes the cultural mania that
surrounds pregnancy today, bringing to bear her own intimately observed
experience. Filled with startling insights and eye-opening perspectives,
Origins will change the way you think about yourself, your children, and
human nature itself.
