More people die in the first week of the year than any other. The older you get, the more likely it is that your birthday will prove fatal. And you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork or a vending machine than a shark. With quirky illustrations and plenty of wit, this compendium mixes these stark statistics with accounts of the author who swallowed a lethal toothpick, the pioneering epidemiologist who died of Yellow Fever to prove his point, and a hijacker undone by a homemade parachute.