The Human Body - Softcover

"... short and witty... rich and artful..." - The Lancet "Descriptions of DNA, the cell, embryology, and the heart are curiously interspersed with the ancient humours, the odd numerology of bodily proportions, and eastern systems of chakras and kundalini. Betts fosters a sense of overall connectedness despite chasms of scale and religion. I felt I was reading a distillation of ancient alchemical tomes, a 19th-century Matt Ridley, or perhaps even Paracelsus for Dummies, and while the text is beguilingly simple, it is neither dumbed down nor stripped of scientific vocabulary" - Noah Raizman in The Lancet"

Our bodies are the only things we ever truly own, yet most of of us haven't got a clue what they are made of and how they manage to grow, thrive and survive everything we chuck at them. In this delightful little book, the smallest of its kind ever produced, Dr Betts tells the incredible story of the human body, and how it got to where it is today. With useful appendices and a glossary. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "...short and witty ...beautiful woodcuts ...a distillation of ancient alchemical tomes ...rich and artful ..." - THE LANCET. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.