"Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. As compulsively readable as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for everybody. Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body--how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately)...

"We humans like to think of ourselves as highly evolved creatures. But if we are supposedly evolution's greatest creation, why do we have such bad knees? Why do we catch head colds so often--two hundred times more often than a dog? How come our wrists have so many useless bones? Why is the vast majority of our genetic code pointless? And are we really supposed to swallow and breathe through the same narrow tube? Surely there's been some kind of mistake....

"A guide to human physiology that combines Japanese-style manga cartoons with educational content. Topics include the circulatory system, respiratory organs, digestive system, and the brain and nervous system, as well as concepts like genes, reproduction, and the endocrine system"--

"The ageing of the world's population is one of the most important issues facing humanity in the 21st century. Sometime before 2020, the number of people over 65 worldwide will, for the first time, be greater than the number of 0-4 year olds, and this will keep on rising. The strain this is causing on society are already evident as health and social services everywhere struggle to cope with the care needs of the elderly. But why do we age, and how?...

"Have you wondered why some 60-year olds look and feel like 40-year-olds and why some 40-year-olds look and feel like 60-year-olds? While many factors contribute to aging and illness, Nobel Prize-winning Doctor Elizabeth Blackburn discovered biological markers, called telomerase, the enzyme that replenishes telomeres, which protect our DNA Dr. Blackburn discovered that the length and health of one's telomeres provides a biological basis for the long...

In this book, Kristin Lawless argues that, because of the degradation of our diet, our bodies are literally changing from the inside out. The billion-dollar food industry is reshaping our food preferences, altering our brains, changing the composition of our microbiota, and even affecting the expression of our genes. Lawless chronicles how this is happening and what it means for our bodies, health, and survival, going beyond nutrition to issues of...

"This enlightening and irresistible book explains how you were made--not with the standard euphemisms told to us as children, but with vivid, exacting prose that unveils all the complex processes we never knew produced human life. With a brilliant talent for thoughtful, charming science writing, Katharina Vestre takes us from cell to human and shares surprising facts along the way--such as that sperm have a sense of smell and that hiccups were likely...

"That the average adult spends 50 to 70 percent of their day sitting is no surprise to anyone who works in an office environment. But few realize the health consequences they are suffering as a result of modernity's increasingly sedentary lifestyle, or the effects it has had on society at large. In Get Up! , health expert James A. Levine's original scientific research shows that today's chair-based world, where we no longer use our bodies as they...