The astonishing secrets of touch - and how to harness them to change your personal and professional life

Touch is the sense that makes us human.

If you are born blind or deaf, your body and brain will mostly develop normally and you can live a rich and fruitful life. But depriving a baby of social touch has dramatic consequences. If they are not regularly touched and cared for, they will develop higher lifelong levels of stress, their personality will be more fearful, and they will be less likely to explore the world.

From why brushing fingers with a waiter will make you leave a larger tip, to why choosing a hot drink in a job interview improves your chances, this is a mesmerising journey into our senses. Blending surprising stories and cutting-edge research on pleasure and pain, acclaimed neuroscientist David Linden shows how touch defines our experiences, shapes our sense of self, and bonds us together.

Touch is full of astonishing discoveries - which you'll harness to improve your personal and professional life.

David Linden is professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, USA, and the award-winning author of The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams, and God which was a New York Times bestseller. Since 2008 he has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurophysiology, a role at the centre of the neuroscience research community. He lives in Baltimore.