Inflammation is the body’s ancestral response to its greatest threats: injury and foreign microbes. But as the threats we face have evolved, new science reveals simmering inflammation underneath the surface of everything from heart disease and cancer to mysterious autoimmune conditions.

In A Silent Fire, gastroenterologist Shilpa Ravella takes us on a lyrical quest across time, around the world and into the body to reveal hidden inflammation at the root of modern disease—and how we can control it. We meet an eccentric Russian zoologist, the passionate yet flawed inventor of Kellogg’s Cornflakes, and dedicated researchers working on the frontiers of medical and nutritional science today. With fascinating case studies, Ravella debunks common myths about “anti-inflammatory” lifestyles—adding or eliminating any one food, for example, is not a cure-all—and unmasks the links between food, the microbiome and inflammation. A paradigm-shifting understanding of human health, A Silent Fire shows us how to live not only long, but well.