Book excerpt: This concise, illuminating guide takes us on a comprehensive tour of our bodies, explaining how they work and why they work that way, from the basic unit of the cell, through the tissues and organs that make up the body's systems, to how these systems work together to form a complete human being, from evolution, genetics, and conception through to disease, death, and how technology will transform the body of the future. The Human Body in Minutes covers the features and functions of all the major body systems including the skeletal, muscular, digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular, immune, reproductive, nervous, and hormonal systems, as well as human evolution, inheritance and genetics, human behavior, and illness and medicine. With 200 cutting-edge anatomical images, cross-sections, and closeups that detail and explain the brain, eye, heart, skin, skeleton, lung, kidney, ear, blood liver, stomach, muscles, veins, arteries, DNA, chromosomes, and all of the key features of our bodies, this is the perfect, easy reference to the anatomy, physiology, and science of the human body.