A recommended read.

First book of 2024! "The Machinery of Life" It's a book that explains the incredible collection of molecules that are keeping you alive right now so you can read this. The illustrations showing the complex structure of the proteins, lipids, and other building blocks of each cell are beautiful and convey the intricacy of the interconnected processes of life.

The book does not replace a high school biology textbook, but it's more engaging than one, and it leaves you with a deep appreciation for your own existence. It also gives you an intuition for things that high school biology textbooks often miss, like how frequently any two free-floating proteins in a typical cell are likely to bump into another.