Part 1. The science of health -- 1. The origins of health -- 2. Current patterns of death and disease -- 3. Twelve millennia of changing human habits and habitats -- 4. Biomedicine and common causes of mortality and morbidity -- Part 2. The harm of medicine -- 5. Medical harm: what is it and what is the extent? -- 6. Sources of harm: prescription drugs, surgery, and infections -- 7. The commercial culture of medicine -- 8. Big pharma entanglement with biomedical science -- 9. The charms and harms of personalized medicine -- Part 3. Achieving optimal health sustainably -- 10. Healing practices and evidence-based medicine -- 11. Placebo and the therapeutic process -- 12. Prevention and control of disease -- 13. Associated prevention concepts and models -- 14. Optimal healthcare: risk factor reduction and adjunctive biomedical intervention -- 15. Mental health.