Italian court culture of the fifteenth century was a golden age, gleaming with dazzling princes, splendid surfaces, and luminous images that separated the lords from the (literally) lackluster masses. In Brilliant Bodies, Timothy McCall describes and interprets the Renaissance glitterati—gorgeously dressed and adorned men—to reveal how charismatic bodies, in the palazzo and the piazza, seduced audiences and materialized power. Fifteenth-century Italian courts put men on display. Here, men were peacocks, attracting attention with scintillating brocades, shining armor, sparkling jewels, and glistening swords, spurs, and sequins. McCall’s investigation of these spectacular masculinities challenges widely held assumptions about appropriate male display and adornment. Interpreting surviving objects, visual representations in a wide range of media, and a diverse array of primary textual sources, McCall argues that Renaissance masculine dress was a political phenomenon that fashioned power and patriarchal authority. Brilliant Bodies describes and recontextualizes the technical construction and cultural meanings of attire, casts a critical eye toward the complex and entangled relations between bodies and clothing, and explores the negotiations among makers, wearers, and materials. This groundbreaking study of masculinity makes an important intervention in the history of male ornamentation and fashion by examining a period when the public display of splendid men not only supported but also constituted authority. It will appeal to specialists in art history and fashion history as well as scholars working at the intersections of gender and politics in quattrocento Italy.

Bodies do all sorts of amazing things, like move around, grow bigger and heal themselves. Bodies also come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and we need to take care of them so that they stay healthy and strong. If we listen to our bodies they tell us exactly what they need. The colorful illustrations in this unique picture book will encourage children to love their bodies from an early age. By learning about all the wonderful things bodies can do, and how each body is different and unique, children will be inspired to take good care of their bodies throughout their lives. Promoting respect for body diversity among children will also encourage kindness and help prevent bullying. The new edition also has changes made to the illustrations and text to widen the scope of diversity presented in the book (to include gender fluidity and physical disabilities). This updated book is ideal for children aged 4 and upwards to read at home or school, either alone or with a parent, family member, teacher or other caring professional.

A full head of human hair is strong enough to support up to 12 tons in weight. Microglia are brain cells that trim/eat long synapses of material that no longer functions throughout the brain. Scientists have used the video game Pac-Man to explain Odd Science: Brilliant Bodies is filled with weird and wacky facts that you’ve never heard before. Read about how ice cream gives you brain freeze, wonder at how much information your brain can process and tell your friends that a whole tonne of air is always pressing down on you. There are facts about breathing underwater, facts about pineapple ‘eating’ you (while you eat it) and facts about how music makes you feel good. James Olstein beautifully illustrates these odd facts in a retro-inspired, quirky style. His designs aren’t meant to be taken literally, but you’ll laugh-out-load when you see a fish swimming in a brain and an elephant on someone’s head! Prepare to laugh, marvel and learn.

“[A] powerful account of the sexism cooked into medical care ... will motivate readers to advocate for themselves.”—Publishers Weekly STARRED Review A groundbreaking and feminist work of investigative reporting: Explains why women experience healthcare differently than men Shares the author’s journey of fighting for an endometriosis diagnosis In Pain and Prejudice, acclaimed investigative reporter Gabrielle Jackson takes readers behind the scenes of doctor’s offices, pharmaceutical companies, and research labs to show that—at nearly every level of healthcare—men’s health claims are treated as default, whereas women’s are often viewed as a-typical, exaggerated, and even completely fabricated. The impacts of this bias? Women are losing time, money, and their lives trying to navigate a healthcare system designed for men. Almost all medical research today is performed on men or male mice, making most treatments tailored to male bodies only. Even conditions that are overwhelmingly more common in women, such as chronic pain, are researched on mostly male bodies. Doctors and researchers who do specialize in women’s healthcare are penalized financially, as procedures performed on men pay higher. Meanwhile, women are reporting feeling ignored and dismissed at their doctor’s offices on a regular basis. Jackson interweaves these and more stunning revelations in the book with her own story of suffering from endometriosis, a condition that affects up to 20% of American women but is poorly understood and frequently misdiagnosed. She also includes an up-to-the-minute epilogue on the ways that Covid-19 are impacting women in different and sometimes more long-lasting ways than men. A rich combination of journalism and personal narrative, Pain and Prejudice reveals a dangerously flawed system and offers solutions for a safer, more equitable future.

In First Facts and Flaps: Brilliant Body preschoolers discover the wonders of the human body through over thirty flaps, a turn-and-learn wheel and a giant fold-out ending. With colourful scenes by Naray Yoon and rhymes to introduce each topic, this fun novelty book encourages young children to learn as they play.All facts are age-appropriate, picture-led and fact-checked by Kristina Routh, a medical doctor and experienced medical writer, editor and consultant.Discover more titles in the First Facts and Flaps series with Amazing Animals, Giant Dinosaurs and Super Space.

In My Body Is a Book of Rules, Elissa Washuta corrals the synaptic gymnastics of her teeming bipolar brain, interweaving pop culture with neurobiology and memories of sexual trauma to tell the story of her fight to calm her aching mind and slip beyond the tormenting cycles of memory.

Want to know the key to eliminating chronic pain from your life? It’s not more rigorous exercise, medical interventions, or expensive therapies. It turns out you have had the key all along—your body and its natural brilliant design! For years we have been overlooking a crucial element of the body—fascia—that holds the key to allowing you to live pain-free. Many of us think of the human body as a static, mechanical system of muscles attached to a skeleton. What is missing from this picture is the tissue that unites all the parts: the fascia, a seamless web of dynamic connective tissue that surrounds all muscles, bones, organs, and even cells. When one part of the fluid fascial web moves, the rest of the body responds. When we learn how to connect to this system through subtle movements, we open up a world of understanding of how our bodies are designed to work with us, not against us, to support an easy and pain-free life. This book will teach you how to feel and embody this new anatomy by connecting to your dynamic center of gravity, or the Core Hug, and to a vertical line of muscles and fascia that runs deep through the body: the Vertical Core. When you connect to the Core Hug and the deep Vertical Core using movement, your body is able to suspend itself and sustain that suspension over time. Your body is already brilliantly designed to support you. The architecture is within you. The key is to access that brilliant design and work with it. Through stunning imagery and simple movement techniques, this book teaches you how to use the natural architecture of your body (bones, fascia, and movement) to align, balance, and support you so that you can move with ease and live without pain.

Take your communication skills to a whole new level and understand what people really think and feel. What is said is often not what is meant, yet most of us don’t know how to ‘read between the lines’. Something like an astounding 70% of communication is non-verbal! If you want to be persuasive, build rapport, create a positive impression – be an all-round brilliant and effective communicator – Brilliant Body Language is essential reading. Written by a psychologist with extensive experience helping people hone their interpersonal skills, this book will show you how to read and understand the intricacies of body language and teach you how to use your own body language to get the best out of all your relationships – in life and at work. You will gain: A thorough background in body language – how to read it, how to use it. The ability to know how to establish rapport instantly. The ability to influence and persuade others with ease. An understanding what people really think and feel.

A journey into the alien depths of the sea, and into our possible future, from a marine biologist known for “nature writing at its most engaging” (Sunday Express). A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway as revolutionary studies rewrite the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet, its topography even more varied and extreme than its landmass counterpart. Teeming with unsuspected life, an extraordinary, interconnected ecosystem deep below the waves has a huge effect on our daily lives, influencing climate and weather systems, with the potential for much more—good or bad, depending on how it is exploited. Currently, the fantastic creatures that live in the deep—many of them incandescent in a world without light—and its formations capture and trap vast quantities of carbon that would otherwise poison our atmosphere, and novel bacteria as yet undiscovered hold the promise of potent new medicines. Yet the deep also holds huge mineral riches lusted after by nations and corporations; mining them could ultimately devastate the planet, compounded by the deepening impacts of ubiquitous pollutants and rampant overfishing. Eloquently and passionately, the author of Spirals in Time and Eye of the Shoal brings to life the majesty and mystery of an alien realm that nonetheless sustains us, while urgently making clear the price we could pay if it is further disrupted. The Brilliant Abyss is at once a revelation and a clarion call to preserve this vast unseen world.