WINNER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INSIGHT INVESTMENT SCIENCE BOOK PRIZE 2020

How proteins, machine learning and molecular chemistry can teach us about the complexities of human behaviour and the world around us

How do we understand the people around us? How do we recognise people's motivations, their behaviour, or even their facial expressions? And, when do we learn the social cues that dictate human behaviour?

Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, Camilla Pang struggled to understand the world around her and the way people worked. Desperate for a solution, Camilla asked her mother if there was an instruction manual for humans that she could consult. But, without the blueprint to life she was hoping for, Camilla began to create her own. Now armed with a PhD in biochemistry, Camilla dismantles our obscure social customs and identifies what it really means to be human using her unique expertise and a language she knows best: science.

Through a set of scientific principles, this book examines life's everyday interactions including:

- Decisions and the route we take to make them;
- Conflict and how we can avoid it;
- Relationships and how we establish them;
- Etiquette and how we conform to it.

Explaining Humans is an original and incisive exploration of human nature and the strangeness of social norms, written from the outside looking in. Camilla's unique perspective of the world, in turn, tells us so much about ourselves - about who we are and why we do it - and is a fascinating guide on how to lead a more connected, happier life.

FIND YOUR FEET. DISCOVER YOUR QUIRKS. GROW UP PERFECTLY WEIRD, PERFECTLY YOU.

Did you know that ...

* Finding your confidence is a lot like programming a computer?
* Understanding photosynthesis can teach you about following your passions?
* Peer pressure and Isaac Newton have more in common than you might think?

Well, welcome to Dr Camilla Pang's scientific survival guide to growing up!

As a child Camilla loved patterns and putting things in order. She was obsessed with Stephen Hawking. And the only language she really understood was science. Diagnosed with autism age 8, Camilla saw the world very differently.

But with science as her sidekick, she was able to translate ideas she could understand (like gravity, photosynthesis and algorithms) onto things she couldn't (like peer pressure, emotions and finding your voice).

Today, Camilla is a scientist and an award-winning author, and she is here to share her scientific survival guide with you - so you can grow up with the courage to be yourself, no matter how different you feel or how tricky you might find it to connect. Because the hard part of growing up isn't dealing with other people (their opinions, their popularity or their exam results). No, the hard part is you: learning who you are and what makes you tick. And the really hard part is accepting that it's completely normal to be perfectly weird. In fact, it's essential to growing up happy.