Our bodies are an extraordinary vessel for keeping us alive — describing it as “machinery” doesn’t even begin to do it justice — and also a mysterious, microbial playground that will inexplicably kill us, even when dying is the ultimate thing it doesn’t want to do. At time (which is to say over the last 75 years) when we look to the stars and wonder what’s next on the celestial horizon, there is much left to learn when we look inward.

Book Review: The Body: A Guide for Occupants