Intensely personal and brilliantly scientific, Faith, Madness, and Spontaneous Human Combustion reveals the startling ways in which science—especially immunology and pathology—shapes our destinies, and how something as intimate as our own identities can be connected to the intricate workings of the machines known as our bodies.
 
“Each of the dozen essays in this far-ranging collection could be expanded into a book...Analogizing to striking effect, Callahan conveys both science and sympathy. It is hard to think of a type of reader who wouldn’t be intrigued by this fascinating book.”—Booklist 
 
“Callahan is a Carl Sagan, an Isaac Asimov of our times.”—Albuquerque Journal