I wouldn't have thought that an entire book about prion diseases-diseases caused by incorrectly folding proteins- could be that interesting, but this book surprisingly was. It starts in Italy, with a family with hereditary fatal insomnia, and moves around to cannibalism in Papua New Guinea and mad cow disease in Britain and America. It's also got some personality sketches on the scientists who work on prion diseases. I thought these went on too long and in a bit too much detail and some of the science was lost in them.
I didn't feel that I learned that much about the mechanism behind these diseases, but maybe there really isn't that much to know. An interesting book.