Jo Marchant, PhD, is an award-winning science journalist, bestselling author and speaker. She writes on topics including the mind-body connection and what science can reveal about the mysteries of our past. Click here for more.
COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2020…
THE HUMAN COSMOS: CIVILIZATION AND THE STARS
A journey through the history of science, and humanity’s relationship with the night sky and the cosmos beyond.
For most of human history we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are – our religious beliefs, power structures, scientific advances and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. And that disconnect comes at a cost.
In The Human Cosmos, Jo Marchant takes us on a tour through the history of humanity’s relationship with the heavens. We travel to the Hall of the Bulls in Lascaux and witness the summer solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange. We visit Medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extra-terrestrial life. And we discover why star-gazing can be really, really good for us.
It is time for us to rediscover the full potential of the universe we inhabit, its wonder, its effect on our health, and its potential for inspiration and revelation.
*** The Human Cosmos will be published in the US by Dutton and in the UK by Canongate. ***
CURE: A JOURNEY INTO THE SCIENCE OF MIND OVER BODY
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A New York Post Best Book of 2016
A New York Magazine Best Science Book of 2016
A Mindful.org Top 10 Mindful Book of 2016
A Spirituality & Health Mind/Body Book of 2016
A Sunday Times Book of the Year
An Economist Book of the Year
Finalist for the 2016 Royal Society Insight Investment Science Books Prize
Have you ever felt a surge of adrenaline after narrowly avoiding an accident? Salivated at the sight (or thought) of a sour lemon? Felt turned on just from hearing your partner’s voice? If so, then you’ve experienced how dramatically the workings of your mind can affect your body.
While we know mind and body are entwined, the idea of “healing” thoughts and beliefs is seen as flaky in the extreme. Recently, however, serious scientists from a range of fields have been uncovering evidence that the mind plays a crucial role in health. Our thoughts, emotions and beliefs, it seems, can ease pain, heal wounds, fend off infection and heart disease and even slow the progression of AIDS and some cancers.
So what is the potential of the mind to heal – and what are its limits? In Cure, I travelled the world to meet the physicians, patients and researchers on the cutting edge of this new world of medicine.