Popular Science

July 2022 244 x 170 mm 204pp 978-1-00-920549-8 Paperback £15.99 / US$19.99

BLOOD

Iosifina Foskolou

University of Cambridge Martin Jones

University of Cambridge

Blood is life, its complex composition is finely attuned to our vital needs and functions. Blood can also signify death, while ‘bloody’ is a curse. Arising from the 2021 Darwin College Lectures, this volume invites leading thinkers on the subject to explore the many meanings of blood across a diverse range of disciplines. Through the eyes of artist Marc Quinn, the paradoxical nature of blood plays with the notion of self. Through those of geneticist Walter Bodmer, it becomes a scientific reality: bloodlines and diaspora capture our notions of community. The transfer of blood between bodies, as Rose George relates, can save lives, or as we learn from Claire Roddie can cure cancer. Tim Pedley and Stuart Egginton explore the extraordinary complexity of blood as a critical biological fluid. Sarah Read examines the intimate connection between blood and womanhood, as Carol Senf does in her consideration of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula.

KEY FEATURES

• Invites the reader to explore different aspects of identity through the theme of blood • Provides a unique history of the medical profession’s changing engagement with blood • Explores many facets of the diverse relations between blood and womanhood CONTENTS

Notes on Contributors; Introduction; 1. Battle Blood; 2. Transitional Bleeding in Early Modern England; 3. Blood in Motion, or The Physics of Blood Flow; 4. ‘Dracula’, Blood, and the New Woman: Stoker’s Reflections on the Zeitgeist; 5. Blood Lines of the British People; 6. Heroes and Villains of Blood; 7. Cold Blood: Some Ways by which Animals Cope with Low Temperatures; 8. Blood Sculptures; Index.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Level: General readers, academic researchers Series: Darwin College Lectures