The Painful Truth

A Royal Society Science Prize shortlisted author'A talented new writer' Sunday Times__________A philosophical and medical journey through the experience of pain, used as a prism to marvel at biology, psychology and what it means to be human. We know pain when we feel it. We fear it and try to avoid it. But do we know what it really is?We're currently experiencing a Renaissance in pain science. In recent years our understanding of pain has altered so radically it's fair to say that everything we thought we knew about pain is wrong. As Dr Monty Lyman reveals, we misunderstand pain - with harmful consequences. Exploring cutting-edge research and encompassing phantom aches to persistent pain, and interviews with survivors of torture as well as those who have never felt pain, Dr Lyman not only provides hope for reducing and managing pain but takes us to a deeper understanding of what it means to be human.This is the untold story of pain - our most inexplicable feeling. von Lyman, Monty