Middle Age – A Natural History

David Bainbridge is a popular science writer, vet and reproductive biologist. His books include Making Babies – The science of pregnancy, The X in Sex – How the X chromosome controls our lives, Beyond the Zonules of Zinn – A fantastic journey through your brain, and Teenagers: A Natural History. His fifth book, Middle Age: A Natural History was published in March 2012.

Middle Age: A Natural History concerns Bainbridge’s particular interest in evolutionary zoology - and he has just turned forty. As well as the usual concerns about greying hair, failing eyesight and goldfish levels of forgetfulness, he finds himself pondering some bigger questions: have I come to the end of my productive life as a human being? And what I am now for? By looking afresh at the latest research from the fields of anthropology, neuroscience, psychology, and reproductive biology, it seems that the answers are surprisingly, reassuringly encouraging. In clear, engaging and amiable prose, Bainbridge explains the science behind the physical, mental and emotional changes men and women experience between the ages of 40 and 60, and reveals the evolutionary - and personal - benefits of middle age, which is unique to human beings and helps to explain the extraordinary success of our species. Middle Age will change the way you think about mid-life, and help turn the 'crisis' into a cause for celebration.

At present David Bainbridge is the Clinical Veterinary Anatomist at the University of Cambridge and Admissions Tutor in the Arts and Humanities at St Catharine’s College. After gaining zoology and veterinary degrees from Cambridge he studied at London’s Institute of Zoology and Royal Veterinary College, and Oxford University, as well as working at Cornell and Sydney Universities. His main field of research has been the interactions between fetus and mother in humans and animals.

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