<P>Powerfully involving narrative and incisive detail, clarity and inherent drama: <EM>Blood</EM> offers in abundance the qualities that define the best popular science writing. Here is the sweeping story of a substance that has been feared, revered, mythologized, and used in magic and medicine from earliest times--a substance that has become the center of a huge, secretive, and often dangerous worldwide commerce.</P><P>Winner of the <EM>Los Angeles Times Book</EM> Prize, <EM>Blood</EM> was described by judges as "a gripping page-turner, a significant contribution to the history of medicine and technology and a cautionary tale. Meticulously reported and exhaustively documented."</P>