Body Book - Softcover

Sara Stein is a science writer with a special gift: to "explain things in ways that kids can relate to and turn science into an adventure" ("Los Angeles Times"). Crammed with facts, statistics, connections, and explanations, "The Body Book" is the fascinating and dramatic story of who we are, from the perilous journey of sperm to egg-the only human cell visible to the naked eye-to the human brain, product of more than 3 billion years of evolution that began with a bacteria's ability to judge between sweet and sour. Explaining the digestive system as a molecular disassembly line and the liver as the body's primary environmental protection agency, the book details how all ingredients for life are recycled, how vaccines work, how tears actually "wash away" sadness, why injured areas become warm, and why crash diets fail (they actually hone the body's fat-storing skills). Throughout the book are amazing figures: the 2,000 square feet of surface area from mouth to sphincter, the 500 million cells that fall off our skin daily, and the mere gram of pigment difference between "black" and "white." Complementing the prose are over 300 detailed illustrations and 150 black-and-white photographs. Suitable for ages 11-14. 37,000 copies in print.

A JOURNEY DEEP INTO THE MIND. AND THE STOMACH, THE KIDNEYS, THE MUSCLES, THE HEART . . .

You walk, you breathe, you talk, you think. You are the most complex and intelligent organism on the planet. But how does this organism work? And how did you arise from one unique cell? Sara Stein is an award-winning science writer whose research is impeccable and whose writing is gifted. In THE BODY BOOK-crammed with facts, statistics, explanations, and connections-she tells the incredible story of your body.

YOUR BODY INSIDE

· DNA, chromosomes, and genes.

· How one sandwich can feed 40 trillion cells.

· The biggest brain in the world (and thoughts that travel 250 miles per hour).

· Your body's defenses.

· Tonsils, the appendix, and the remnants of a tail.

· How the little bits of iron that color your blood red also flowed through the veins of the dinosaurs.

AND OUT

· How you see, hear, taste, touch, smell.

· The sixth sense

· Your gorilla-hairy body

· Sweat, oil, milk, and tears (which actually "wash away" sadness).

· The skin: the body's largest organ.

· Tans, burns, freckles, and the one gram of pigment difference between blacks and whites

· How you grow into your face

"Sara Stein explains things in ways that kids can relate to and turns science into an adventure," writes the Los Angeles Times. Author of the highly acclaimed The Science Book and award-winning Evolution Book, Sara Stein is the mother of four sons and lives with her husband in New York.