QD1 Publishing · Nonfiction · Pre-order now

The Bookof Being Human

What we need to know about body, mind, love, meaning and death.

One thesis carries the whole book: the inner follows the outer. Tend to how you live — and give peace, health and character the conditions to grow.

Pre-order See the 26 chapters

Out November 2026 — pre-order today.

byDr. Michael W. Driesch

Planned edition Paperback · 5 × 8 in · approx. 176 pages $16.99 · eBook $7.99 Original English edition Release: 9 November 2026 Specs and price may still change before release.
Cover of The Book of Being Human by Dr. Michael W. Driesch In preparation

“One of very few books that I rate as ‘must read.’” — Reedsy Discovery

The idea in one line

You don't think your way to a better life.
You act your way there.

Not a guide that tells you who to be — but an approach older and more reliable than today's culture of endless self-examination: change the conditions, repeat them, and the inner life follows. Understand first, then decide for yourself.

Before you begin

A field manual. Not a rulebook.

This is the conversation the seven-minute appointment never has time for. So you know what you're getting into:

What it is

  • A field manual for being human — from the outside in.
  • Understanding before instruction: 26 chapters, each stands on its own.
  • Honest about science — and about where it goes quiet.
  • The part that never comes up at the doctor's.

What it isn't

  • No ten golden rules for the fridge door.
  • No woo against medicine — and no “healing by thinking”.
  • No moral verdict: being ill is not a failure.
  • No one gets turned into someone else here. Not even you.
Contents

Twenty-six chapters.
One movement — from the body to death.

A scaffold and its parts: each line says in one sentence what the chapter does. The voice in the book does everything else.

Pro­logue

Who, not how

The person behind the book — and the attempt to hand on what no lab could ever certify.

BodyChapters 1–7
01The Body Is the Vehicle, Not the DriverThe body is the vehicle you were given — not the one at the wheel.
02You Change from the Outside InYou don't think your way to a better life. You act your way there — the inner follows.
03The Night Is Built During the DaySleep doesn't start at bedtime, but in the morning, with the light your eyes catch.
04Food Is Information, Not Just FuelEvery meal is a set of instructions to the body, not just a number of calories.
05The Sun Is Not Your EnemySunlight is closer to a nutrient than a poison — the dose decides.
06Movement Is the Closest Thing to a Cure-AllNo pill matches what regular movement does. Stairs over the elevator counts.
07Stress Isn't the Problem — Recovery IsThe body handles load. What wears you down is pressure that never lets up.
MindChapters 8–12
08You Become Your Habits, Not Your IntentionsYou are what you repeat — not what you intend.
09Attention Is the One Currency You Can't Get BackYour attention is your life. Where it goes, you go.
10Money Buys Freedom, Then StopsMoney buys freedom — up to a point. “Enough” is the number no one teaches.
11Most of What You Own, You Bought for StrangersMost of it you buy to impress people you don't even like.
12Your Ego Is Not YouThe part that needs to be right and seen isn't you. Letting go is freedom.
LoveChapters 13–16
13You Were Built to BelongConnection isn't a luxury but a need — loneliness a signal like hunger.
14Love Is a Practice, Not a FeelingLove isn't something that happens to you, but something you do, daily.
15Boundaries Are How You Stay in the RoomA boundary isn't a wall, but what lets you stay close without vanishing.
16Giving Is the Most Selfish Thing You Can DoGiving is one of the best-documented routes to your own wellbeing — the giver gets more.
MeaningChapters 17–24
17Pain Is a Messenger You Can't Afford to ShootPain is a warning system. Numbing the messenger unheard turns small problems large.
18Illness Often Has Something to SayNo illness is a moral verdict — yet it can interrupt a life and rearrange it.
19Forgiveness Is Something You Do for YourselfForgiving isn't a gift to the other; it's how you set down a weight only you carried.
20You Need Something Worth the CostA life built only on comfort shrinks. Meaning asks for something you'll actually pay for.
21Freedom Comes with a Bill Called ResponsibilityEvery freedom hands you a matching responsibility — and that's the freest move there is.
22The Mind Can Reach the Body in Ways We Can't Fully ExplainThe underrated power of expectation over the body — without tipping into “medicine optional”.
23“God” May Be the Name for What We Can't Hold“God” not as doctrine, but the word we reach for at the edge of the explainable.
24There Is More Here Than You're Letting InPresence as the antidote to a life spent wanting. The richest hour is the one you're in.
DeathChapters 25–26
25Letting Go Is a Skill You Practice EarlyLetting go is a muscle — best trained long before the final test.
26Death Is Not the EndNot a proof but a conviction: lose the fear of dying, and you live braver, not less.
Closing

A Compass, Not a Map

Not ten rules, but a single orientation — to carry, not to obey.

The author

“I have found my way to a deep contentment. This book is the compass that can show you yours, too.”

It came the long way — through university, business, art, and eventually science: learning what science can do, and then, slowly, where it goes quiet. The things that steadied me most weren't always the ones a laboratory could stamp and approve. They were what experience kept handing me — mine, and other people's — until I could no longer pretend I hadn't seen it.

I'm sixty-two as I write this — calmer, happier, healthier than I had any right to expect. The peace I'd gone looking for inward, for years, never surfaced while I dug for it. It arrived sideways, and late, almost as a byproduct of how I'd changed the way I lived. That's the whole reason this book exists — I'm simply not able to keep it to myself.

— Dr. Michael W. DrieschMore about the author → docmiguel.com

Out November 2026

Pre-order the book.

The Book of Being Human is available to pre-order now, ahead of its release in November 2026.

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In closing

Not everything can be explained. But much of it can be lived.

You don't have to understand it all before you begin. Begin — the rest follows along the way.

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