Introduction: My brain in a dish -- Chapter 1. Pieces of life : Cells past and present -- Chapter 2. What love has to do with it : Growing humans the old-fashioned way -- First Interlude. The human superorganism : How cells became communities -- Chapter 3. Immortal flesh : How tissues were grown outside the body -- Second Interlude. Heroes and villains : The microbiome, immunity and cancer -- Chapter 4. Twisting fate : How to reprogramme a cell -- Chapter 5. The spare parts factory : Making tissues and organs from reprogrammed cells -- Chapter 6. Flesh of my flesh : Questioning the future of sex and reproduction -- Chapter 7. Hideous progeny? The futures of growing humans -- Third Interlude. Philosophy of the lonely mind : Can a brain exist in a dish? -- Chapter 8. Return of the meatware : Coming to terms with our fleshy selves.