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SKIN is arguably the body’s largest organ (arguably because some purists will try to tell you the lining of the gut has a greater surface area), yet it gets much less attention than, say, the liver or heart. Skin is, as Jablonsky ably illustrates, a marvel of engineering: tough, stretchable, impermeable, pliable, a bacterial and UV shield and sensitive to heat, cold, deformation and the slightest of touches. The book explores the social nooks and biological crannies of this complex set of tissues, from colour to artificial skin and the role of sweat in our evolutionary history.