Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us Book

Death becomes you, and it's just another fact of life explored in Cause of Death, a revealing abundance of startling data, false perceptions, bizarre fallacies, and some totally unexpected statistics about how, why, when, and where we all bite the dust, check out, buy the farm, kick the bucket, and all those other euphemisms for perishing after falling out of bed (roughly 1,800 fitful sleepers a year). It also answers questions most people never even consider (but should):

Do crocodiles kill more people than alligators?

Are we more prone to commit suicide or murder?

How many still die from leprosy?

Does salmonella have anything to do with salmon?

Can the condition of your toenails predict your mortality?

What's the connection between kitty litter and brain damage?

Has irony ever killed anyone?*

Disease, accidents, occupational hazards, poisons, plagues, infections, murder, fauna and fungi, insect bites, war, and even bison. What's the most popular killer of the decade? The rarest? How many deaths per year by age? Gender? Location? Time of day? Stupidity? All this and more in a book you really shouldn't be living without.

• Yes! While experimenting with the safe preservation of food in snow, Sir Francis Bacon caught a cold and died.