Here Comes the Sun: How it feeds us, kills us, heals us and makes us what we are

Description

In HERE COMES THE SUN, Steve Jones explores the dependency of all life and systems on Earth - ecological, biological and physical - on our nearest star. It is a book about connections between those systems, and also about the connections between the various disciplines that study them - from astronomy to cancer prevention, from microbiology to the study of sleep. The book will also be a form of scientific autobiography as Steve charts his own work and interests over fifty years against developments in a wide range of fields, showing how what was once seen as a narrow specialism has become a subject of vast scientific, social and political significance: it is his most personal book to date.

Steve Jones is a Senior Research Fellow at University College, London and has worked at universities in the USA, Australia and Africa. He gave the Reith Lectures in 1991 and presented a BBC TV series on human genetics and evolution in 1996. He appears frequently on radio and television.

With wry wit and real clarity, geneticist Steve Jones examines the Sun and our relationship to it. It's a nimble narrative, from the physics of the "hydrogen bomb in the sky" to its impact on the biosphere, water cycle, food chain, human health and climate change. Jones braids in gripping storylines - on conditions linked to lack of sunlight (such as the bone disease rickets) and the interplay between night, day and sleep - and many throwaway gems, from primates urinating on themselves to stay cool, to the boiling-porridge turbulence of convection on the solar surface * Nature * A richly readable guide to all things solar . . . one of the country's best writers of popular science. His wit, insight and ability to home in on a subject's most memorable facts enliven Here Comes The Sun from the start * Daily Mail * A must read for everyone and anyone who cares about life on Earth -- Barry Sheerman MP * The House magazine * Every Steve Jones book is a masterclass in clear and captivating writing with tantalising detours into beguiling anecdotes. Here Comes the Sun is dense with ideas and stories and, like all his books, it will change the way you see the world around you -- Robin Ince From solar storms to Spanish snails, scented cakes to sleep science, this book shimmers with fascinating facts. Illuminating, warm, fascinating and funny - Steve Jones' writing is as brightly illuminating as the sunlight he writes about. A shimmering tale of sun, snails and science -- Professor Alice Roberts