Once Upon a Time, There Was Blood: A Treasure Trove of Information About Our Heredity and Health

"Blood: You Haven't Heard This Yet" - if this phrase weren't so cliché, it would suit the title of this book, as it fully reveals the authors' intention. Blood is life within us. It speaks of our heredity, health, lifestyle, and of us as a biological species. It is the social network through which organs communicate. This fluid is imbued with various meanings, it is used in rituals, in visual arts, and in cooking. It is associated with diseases and scandals. Discover your own inner sea. The authors, specialists in hematology, talk about blood, providing both data from the latest research and stories from medical practice.
"This book is not confined by strict boundaries and is written in an accessible language; well-known facts intertwine with stories from the everyday lives of doctors—some cases occurred at the microscope in the laboratory, others during night shifts in the clinic, but all of them create the history of blood, which is written simultaneously with the history of humanity. (...) Blood is a world. A vast, constantly renewing world within us, where the new is born and the old dies; it has its own filters—sort of graveyards of cells, production mechanisms—nurseries of tissues, as well as conduits for signals transmitted sometimes over very long distances: hormones, DNA, specialized cells, etc. In this world, full of fantasies, myths, legends, and symbols, the authors are well-acquainted and introduce us to it." Philippe Charlier, French Paleopathologist