Hemophobes beware: There are five quarts of blood in the human body, and Hayes (Sleep Demons: An Insomniac’s Memoir) pours all of them into this book. A gay man living in San Francisco with an HIV-positive partner, Hayes uses his own encounters with blood’s ability to save and destroy lives as a launching point for anecdotes in the larger story of blood. His personal history runs like a river through this book, picking up the flotsam and jetsam of blood lore. He launches into an account of the discovery of blood’s components and its function in the body, and he meanders through cultural perceptions of blood, from the sacred (the Eucharist) to the profane (Dracula). Hayes ranges far beyond red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, taking readers inside a modern blood bank and to the bedside of a woman with hemophilia; his keen perceptions show how the ancient view of blood as the essence of a person’s soul still pervades our modern vocabulary and views on the vital fluid. His sometimes irreverent commentary on misconceptions about blood doesn’t shy away from the gruesome, particularly a cringe-inducing description of early blood transfusion techniques. With his strong writing and a unique approach, Hayes satisfyingly addresses this life force. Praise for Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood “Bill Hayes is on his way to becoming on of those rare authors who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did…[Five Quarts is] a breezy ride of a book that…equips even a casual reader with the knowledge to gain new insights into life.” —San Francisco Chronicle