The Body: A Guide for Occupants

Such an enjoyable + informative read!

A book you read many times because it is jam packed with information. The body is a marvelous, intricate thing and it made me realize how unappreciated it goes with all that goes involved with keeping us alive.

There was very little in here that was new to me as I regularly read science books but it was a very entertaining and therefore a quick read. I think it would be good for young adults (post sex-ed).

Again a book that I put down when covid got too much but now just finished it before the year ended. It’s an enjoyable read about this vessel we live in called the human body. The main things I took away from it were in fact how little we do know and how much is left to understand about ourselves and how we work. Some interesting info was shared though - fun facts, health and biology throughout history. As is usual with Bryson he writes in a digestible, amusing and unassuming way. I didn’t love it as much as “a short history of nearly everything” however this is probably because I have more awe at the universe.

As a fan of science (and humans) this was a fun audiobook book for me, made even more so being read by the author himself. Bill Bryson has such a knack for words. This is a subject that could be quite dull and weighty if written by someone else but Bryson has composed a delightfully funny and interesting account of the “long and interesting accident” that is the human body. That said, it does contain a lot of detail and can be quite intense and eye-opening at times so is not a completely light read. Like his well-known travel guides, Bryson takes the reader on a tour of the human body, visiting a different part in detail for each chapter. If you are squeamish (or, like me, weirded-out by the discussion of pumping hearts and breathing) you may want to skip over some of the more detailed sections. Also, as a woman, I found the anecdotes of historical mastectomies to be rather uncomfortable. It’s really amazing how far science has come (and thank God for anesthesia!) The chapters on penicillin and antibiotics were very interesting - I had not heard about the magical "golden cantaloupe mold" before. The story about Brunel and the coin in his throat was also quite incredible. The paragraphs on blood types were fascinating - I had not heard the story of the confusion between the two babies before and how blood typing helped to resolve it (can you imagine?!) The chapters on hormones were very informative. I really had no idea how complex our bodies are, and how much we still don’t understand. The final chapter covers death which, although an apt way to finish the book, I suppose, was rather depressing. I am reading this with one of my book clubs and I anticipate mixed reviews. I think we're due for some light-hearted fiction after this one!