The Secret Body: How the New Science of the Human Body Is Changing the Way We Live

Description

One of our most lauded scientist-writers shows how scientific breakthroughs are revealing astonishing new capabilities and possibilities for the human body 'Thrilling' BILL BRYSON 'Brilliant' TIM SPECTOR 'Extraordinary' ALICE ROBERTS Welcome to a revolution in the science of you - this is the landmark new book from award-winning scientist Daniel M. Davis. Imagine taking drugs to help you acquire new skills, or knowing years in advance the precise likelihood of developing specific cancers, or following a diet and health regime tailored to your microbiome, or even having continuous monitoring of your body's workings and well-being. Written by an award-winning scientist, this landmark book shows how these radical and disconcerting possibilities have been made real. It is at once a gripping drama of scientific ingenuity, discovery and collaboration, and a vision of the human body of dizzying complexity and wonder. 'The startling new discoveries...are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds' BRIAN COX 'A big-picture forecast of how medicine stands on the threshold of a revolution that will radically change all of our lives' The Times

Daniel M. Davis is Professor of Immunology at the University of Manchester and author of two previous books- The Beautiful Cure, shortlisted for the 2018 Royal Society Science Book Prize and a book of the year in The Times, Telegraph and New Scientist, and The Compatibility Gene, longlisted for the 2014 Royal Society Science Book Prize and shortlisted for the Society of Biology Book Prize. His research, using super-resolution microscopy to study the immune system, was listed in Discover magazine as one of the top 100 breakthroughs of the year. He is also the author of over 140 academic papers, collectively cited over 13,000 times, including articles in Nature, Science and Scientific American.

A brilliant deep-dive into the latest discoveries of human health. An inspiration! -- Tim Spector, No.1 bestselling author of Spoon-Fed A big-picture forecast of how medicine stands on the threshold of a revolution that will radically change all of our lives ... Davis is a polar opposite of the typecast propeller-hatted futurologist. He is beguilingly informal and affably humorous * The Times * An elegantly written and splendidly concise Cook's Tour of the frontiers of medical biology. It is also an engrossing account of the progress of science * Wall Street Journal * A perfect blend of cutting-edge science and compelling storytelling. Daniel Davis has a rare knack for making complex science comprehensible and thrilling -- BILL BRYSON An extraordinary journey that reveals the magnificence, intricacy and beauty of the human body, fundamentally changing the way we see ourselves. Masterful -- ALICE ROBERTS A beautifully rendered picture of the startling new discoveries in human biology which are radically altering our understanding of how we function and what our future holds -- BRIAN COX What we now know about the human body would seem magical to people just a hundred years ago... It often reads like a detective story and anyone interested in biology will learn much from this enjoyable book -- VENKI RAMAKRISHNAN, Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry and author of Gene Machine With this stunning book Daniel M. Davis joins the pantheon of truly great science communicators. It will change the way you think about your self and the people around you. Everyone who has a body will love it -- CHRIS VAN TULLEKEN