The SECRET FAMILY: TWENTY-FOUR HOURS INSIDE THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF OUR MINDS AND BODIES

The SECRET FAMILY: TWENTY-FOUR HOURS INSIDE THE MYSTERIOUS WORLD OF OUR MINDS AND BODIES

An extraordinary look at the ordinary world

Ever wonder what makes the icing on your danish so white? (Hint: the same thing that makes the paint on your walls so white.) Pondering the mysterious force of romantic attraction? (Often, we are drawn to those similar to us in looks, opinions, and even number of siblings.) Do you sometimes feel as if your home is too crowded? (You will be shocked at the number of microscopic houseguests who share our dwellings.)

Following a typical family on a typical weekend day, The Secret Family examines what is happening inside family members as they eat, talk, get dressed, walk, and drive to the local mall -- as well as how they interact with the dust mites, bacteria, tapeworms and innumerous other microbes with whom they share their lives. Full of brilliant, state-of-the-art photography, astonishing facts, and real-life science, this book exposes the worlds and histories behind our everyday routines and surroundings. David Bodanis is our lively tour guide on this adventure and ensures that the familiar will never look quite the same again.David Bodanis, author of The Secret House and The Secret Garden, applies his wit and curiosity to another invisible realm: the insides of our bodies. Bodanis wraps his thought-provoking investigation of the natural world in the story of a family's typical day. We follow the baby's explorations of the house, go out with the family to the mall, and experience the daughter's first kiss. Of course, your mind still might be reeling from breakfast and the orange juice--"a liquid which contains embalming fluid, varnish solvent, vinegar, and nail polish remover ... and a certain amount of real orange juice, too."

All that microscopic reality--the benign bacteria feasting on our faces, the widening of the pupils as Baby's gaze meets Mom's or Dad's ("the tiny muscles controlling the pupils in the dad's eyes suddenly tug wider. Males who don't have children rarely show this universal sign of interest.")--triggers a host of facts, both fascinating and appalling; that aforementioned parental gaze segues into an explanation of the ingredients of baby food ("boiled and skimmed pigs' feet extract is often used, though in a pinch the scooped inner pith of discarded fruit can be added, too. Chalk is often added next"). And that's the least of it...

Bodanis's scrutiny is fortified with more than two dozen color photographs from the Science Photo Library that show the world we live in but, thankfully, never see. It's amusing, disturbing, and cheerful in the face of "Ugh!" and "Ah!"--the perfect book to trigger lively conversations. One thing's for certain: you'll never again complain that your ordinary day is just too ordinary.









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