Reading Guide – Introduction, Ironing it Out
Introduction
1.
Why did the author decide to study this topic and eventually write this book?
2. Describe the four main points (preconceptions you need to discard) regarding this
book/evolution.
a.
b.
c.
d.
For each point you described above, provide an example to support that point.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Ironing it Out
3. What is hemochromatosis?
4. If you are of Western European descent, what are the odds that you carry the hemochromatosis
gene?
5. Give two reasons why humans need iron.
6. Describe the correlation between iron and the biodiversity (the diversity of living things in one
area) of the oceans.
7. Which organisms can grow uncontrollably in the presence of iron?
8. Where in our bodies are the “iron no fly zones?”
9. What is one of the first responses to illness, with regard to iron?
10. Why were many women, children, and elderly saved from death by the bubonic plague in
Europe?
11. Which cells in the body phagocytize (active transport, cellular eating) bacteria?
12. In a non-hemocromatic individual, how do the Yersinia bacteria ultimately destroy the lymph
nodes? Describe in three steps.
13. Describe how people with hemochromatosis “fight off” the plague bacteria.
14. How is the barbershop pole a symbol for bloodletting?
15. Who can benefit from bloodletting?
16. Provide one example of how administering iron to a group of people had fatal effects.
17. So…why are hemochromatosis and cystic fibrosis most common in people of European descent?