A book about your favorite subject: You!

PLEASED TO MEET ME:
The Hidden Forces Shaping Who We Are and What We Do
by Bill Sullivan, Ph.D.
National Geographic, Fall 2019

We all know our genes dictate many physical attributes, but recently scientists have learned a great deal more about how our genes and the genes on the microbiota living inside us affect our personality and behavior. PLEASED TO MEET ME synthesizes vast amounts of cutting-edge research from genetics, epigenetics, microbiology, and neurology that reveals who we really are. Sullivan teaches us how genes influence everything from how much you eat to the type of person you love, and that there are even genes that influence when you lose your virginity or whether you’re liberal or conservative. Sullivan looks at how epigenetics reveals why you fear the things you do, and how experiences that haunted your grandparents echo down through your DNA to impinge on your behavior today. And then there are the latest discoveries about the many ways the bacteria in your gut mess with your mind… and may be responsible for why we get cranky as we get older. Ultimately the secrets revealed in these pages will lead us to how we might become our best selves.

William “Bill” Sullivan, Jr., PhD, is a professor and research scientist at the Indiana University School of Medicine. He has been researching and teaching about infectious disease for more than twenty years and has published nearly 70 papers. He obtained his doctorate in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania, is a popular speaker, and has been interviewed by CNN Health, The Scientist, The Guardian, and others. His articles have appeared in Scientific American and Salon, and he is a founder of and regular contributor to THE ’SCOPE, a popular science blog.