Trust doctor gets under our skin

A junior doctor working in Acute General Medicine at Oxford University Hospitals has written a popular science book that has now been shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize.

Dr Monty Lyman's, 'The Remarkable Life of the Skin', published on 14 July 2019 by Penguin Random House, looks at our most overlooked organ in all its physical, social and psychological glory.

Our skin - weighing in at 9 kg and covering two square metres - is our protection from the outside world. We see skin all the time, both on ourselves and on others, and yet this vital organ is often overlooked.

Monty says: "At medical school I, like many others, initially didn't pay much attention to our largest and most visible organ. But the more I looked, the more I realised that skin is the most diverse organ in the body. It is a vital barrier to the outside world but also, through the sophistication of its nerve endings, a bridge into our very being.

"I wanted to write a book using skin as a prism to look at science, medicine, psychology, sociology, and indeed what it means to be human."

The book has been described by the Sunday Times as a 'Must Read' and one of their 'Best Books of 2019 so far: an exciting introduction to a little-known microscopic universe and to a talented new writer.'

It has also been called 'A seriously entertaining book' by Melanie Reid of The Times, and 'An absorbing, fact-packed study' by Nature.

The book was adapted for BBC Radio 4's 'Book of the Week' in July 2019, read by Gunnar Cauthery.

For more details about the book, visit the Penguin website