(Tara, Sylvia) Sylvia Tara holds a PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She was a consultant with McKinsey & Company and has worked at the world’s largest biotechnology companies. Her book, The Secret Life of Fat: The Science Behind the Body’s Least Understood Organ and What It Means for You (W.W. Norton and Company) reveals that fat is much smarter than we think. Fat is an obsession, a dirty word, a subject of national handwringing―and, according to biochemist Sylvia Tara, the least-understood part of our body. You may not love your fat, but your body certainly does. In fact, your body is actually endowed with many self-defense measures to hold on to fat. Tara explains how your fat influences your appetite and willpower, how it defends itself when attacked, and why it grows back so quickly. The Secret Life of Fat brings cutting-edge research together with historical perspectives to reveal fat’s true identity: an endocrine organ that, in the right amount, is critical to our health.