Imagine knowing years in advance whether you are likely to get cancer or having a personalized understanding of your individual genes, organs, and cells. Imagine being able to monitor your body’s well-being, or have a diet tailored to your microbiome. The Secret Body reveals how these and other stunning breakthroughs and technologies are transforming our understanding of how the human body works, what it is capable of, how to protect it from disease, and how we might manipulate it in the future.
Taking readers to the cutting edge of research, Daniel Davis shows how radical new possibilities are becoming realities thanks to the visionary efforts of scientists who are revealing the invisible and secret universe within each of us. Focusing on six important frontiers, Davis describes what we are learning about cells, the development of the fetus, the body’s immune system, the brain, the microbiome, and the genome—areas of human biology that are usually understood in isolation. Bringing them together here for the first time, Davis offers a new vision
of the human body as a biological wonder of dizzying complexity and possibility.
Written by an award-winning scientist at the forefront of this adventure, The Secret Body is a gripping drama of discovery and a landmark account of the dawning revolution in human health.
What We Are Reading Today: The Secret Body by Daniel M. Davis
https://arab.news/2dpze
What We Are Reading Today: The Secret Body by Daniel M. Davis
What We Are Reading Today: Indonesia: Environment and Development
Author: World Bank Group
Indonesia has achieved remarkable success over the years in stimulating rapid economic growth and reducing widespread poverty. The pace and pattern of development, however, have given rise to increasing concern about the sustainable use of natural resources and the social and economic costs of urban and industrial pollution.
It says that growth and development over the medium term will depend increasingly on Indonesia’s key natural resources and ecosystems, and the care and efficiency with which they are managed, according to a review on goodreads.com.
The book claims that the growing volume of urban and industrial pollution in the country poses a serious threat both to the improvements in health and human welfare that are central to the long-term goals of development.
A result of increasing competition for scarce natural resources and growing levels of pollution, environment-related issues of equity and burden sharing will become increasingly important in the years ahead.
What We Are Reading Today: Fool by Peter K. Andersson
In some portraits of Henry VIII there appears another, striking figure — a gaunt and morose-looking man with a shaved head and, in one case, a monkey on his shoulder. This is William or “Will” Somer, the king’s fool, a celebrated wit who reportedly could raise Henry’s spirits and spent many hours with him, often alone.
Was Somer an “artificial fool,” a cunning comic who could speak freely in front of the king, or a “natural fool,” someone with intellectual disabilities, like many other members of the profession?
And what role did he play in the tumultuous and violent Tudor era? Fool is the first biography of Somer — and perhaps the first of a Renaissance fool.
After his death, Somer disappeared behind his legend, and historians struggled to separate myth from reality.
Unearthing as many facts as possible, Peter K. Andersson pieces together the fullest picture yet of an enigmatic and unusual man with a very strange job. Somer’s story provides new insights into how fools lived.
What We Are Reading Today: The Loom of Time
Author: Robert D. Kaplan
Robert D. Kaplan’s The Loom of Time is a stunning exploration of the Greater Middle East, where lasting stability has often seemed just out of reach but may hold the key to the shifting world order of the twenty-first century.
The Greater Middle East, which Kaplan defines as the vast region between the Mediterranean and China, encompasses much of the Arab world, parts of northern Africa, and Asia, existed for millennia as the crossroads of empires.
The Loom of Time is a challenging, clear-eyed book that promises to reframe our vision of the global twenty-first century.
What We Are Reading Today: Reading It Wrong
Author: Abigail Williams
Reading It Wrong is a new history of 18th-century English literature that explores what has been everywhere evident but rarely talked about: the misunderstanding, muddle and confusion of readers of the past when they first met the uniquely elusive writings of the period.
Abigail Williams uses the marginal marks and jottings of these readers to show that flawed interpretation has its own history in understanding how, why and what we read.
Reading It Wrong tells how a combination of changing readerships and fantastically tricky literature created the perfect grounds for puzzlement and partial comprehension.
What We Are Reading Today: Love is a Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski
The poetry collection, “Love is a Dog From Hell” by Charles Bukowski, published in 1977, explores love, relationships, loneliness, and the dark side of human existence.
Bukowski examines the ups and downs of romantic relationships, often presenting a bleak and disillusioned perspective. He delves into topics such as heartbreak, longing, desire, and the pain that can arise from love.
The title reflects Bukowski’s view that love as a force can both uplift and destroy, much like a wild and unruly dog.
Bukowski reflects on his own experiences and observations of the human condition. He draws from personal encounters with the seedy underbelly of society, and moments of introspection, to craft his poetic narratives.
Two of his most captivating lines are: “There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock. People so tired mutilated either by love or no love.”
Bukowski was an American poet and writer known for his raw, gritty, brutally honest and cynical depictions of life.
He was born in Germany and moved to the US with his family when he was a child.
After completing high school, he attended Los Angeles City College for two years and took courses in art, journalism and literature.
Throughout his life, Bukowski continued to educate himself through extensive reading, exploring a wide range of literary works from both classic and contemporary authors.
He immersed himself in the works of writers including Fyodor Dostoevsky, Ernest Hemingway, John Fante and Louis-Ferdinand Celine.
As reflected in his works, Bukowski had a difficult childhood and adolescence, marked by poverty, abuse and alienation.
