The Wisdom of the Body

From the author of the acclaimed, bestselling, National Book Award -- winning How We Die, an inspiring search -- within the interior life of our bodies -- for the biologically elusive quality of life that defines us.

We care for our bodies, yet in myriad ways they also care for themselves. They function, simply and miraculously, to maintain the momentum of life. Dr. Sherwin Nuland offers a mesmerizing portrait of the tumultuous universe within us: the turbulence of chemistry, the seeming chaos of tissue, the volatile responsiveness of cells. And he shows how, amazingly, the stability of health rides on these tempests.

But the real secret of our species' endurance lies in how we have transcended mere survival, how we have made use of our unique biology to travel the long road from the creature Homo to the human being. This journey is the central story of The Wisdom of the Body: how we have developed the singular quality that makes each of us unique -- the human spirit.