A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2024A Library Journal Selection for Best Nonfiction of 2024A Next Big Idea Book Club Must-Read for April“Aarathi Prasad’s Silk: A World History is a love song to this protean material. . . . Beautiful [and] fascinating.” —Wall Street Journal"Aarathi Prasad spins a masterpiece of a story, as luminous, supp...

WINNER OF BEST POPULAR MEDICINE BOOK AT THE BMA MEDICAL BOOK AWARDSLONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 JHALAK PRIZEThe story of medicine in India is rich and complex: uniting cutting-edge technological developments with ancient cultural traditions.Aarathi Prasad investigates how Indian medicine came to be the way it is. Her travels will take her to bonesetter clinics in Jaipur and Hyderabad and the waiting-rooms of Bollywood's best plastic surge...

Most cultures tell the tale of a maiden who gives birth untouched by a man, and in the wild there are plenty of creatures – turkeys, Komodo ‘dragons’, and the ‘Jesus Christ’ lizard (which even walks on water) – that take various approaches to making babies without having sex. Soon, humans will have that option, too.In Like a Virgin, biologist and science writer Aarathi Prasad examines inconceivable ideas about conception, from a Renaissance recipe for creating a child (bur...

A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2024A Library Journal Selection for Best Nonfiction of 2024A Next Big Idea Book Club Must-Read for April“Aarathi Prasad’s Silk: A World History is a love song to this protean material. . . . Beautiful [and] fascinating.” —Wall Street Journal""Aarathi Prasad spins a masterpiece of a story, as luminous, sup...