One of two new titles in Thames & Hudson’s ‘Big Idea’ series, this lucid analysis lays out the debate surrounding the escalating costs, both financial and ethical, of medicine in the modern world.

‘A brilliant cultural history … Scull’s book fills a gap in the literature and deserves to be widely read … outstanding’ The Times

Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018. Our understanding of the ‘tree of life’, with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed.