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

A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis," the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D.

"The experience of being ill can be like waking up in a foreign country. Life, as you formerly knew it, is on hold while you travel through this other world as unknown as it is unexpected. When I see patients in the hospit...

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.