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s4llym4nder's review against another edition
4.0
Learned SO MANY weird and interesting things. Surprisingly helpful with my senior thesis, too!
bentleyc's review against another edition
2.0
Unfortunately, this book attempted to cover an overly broad topic and was not able to accomplish a fully cohesive narrative of how people may have thought about their bodies in the Middle Ages. It also felt a bit contrived to call the book an exploration of the Middle Ages as most of the narrative seemed to focus on documents available from the 14th or 15th centuries. While other centuries may have been incorporated, it was too much of a stretch for me.
hannah_hethmon's review against another edition
5.0
A gorgeous book. A treat for all the senses. This book, which leads you through Medieval perceptions of the body, one part at a time (from hair to anus) is at once both readable (and often hilarious) for the general reader and satisfyingly thorough for the medievalist/academic.
There's a beautiful full color image at least once every few pages, illustrating the incredible range of texts and objects the author references in his survey. Examples range from the Icelandic sagas to Moroccan travel memoirs. The ability of the author to cover such a wide territory (literally) and depth of subject matter without getting to jargony or dense is incredible.
If you only read one book about the Middle Ages, this should be it. If you have read many books about the Middle Ages, you won't want to miss this one.
There's a beautiful full color image at least once every few pages, illustrating the incredible range of texts and objects the author references in his survey. Examples range from the Icelandic sagas to Moroccan travel memoirs. The ability of the author to cover such a wide territory (literally) and depth of subject matter without getting to jargony or dense is incredible.
If you only read one book about the Middle Ages, this should be it. If you have read many books about the Middle Ages, you won't want to miss this one.
seventhswan's review against another edition
4.0
This was a beautiful book and a great introduction to the medieval body! I don't know much about the medieval period so can't comment as much as other reviewers about how accurate everything is, but I definitely enjoyed reading.
ronanmcd's review
5.0
This is a really interesting idea for a book and just as strongly pulled off. Medieval ideas about bodies, or more particularly body parts, are surveyed through the arts. But scientific and medical theories and ideas from the time are also examined. In the absence of firm knowledge these turn out to be lyrical also.
The book's production is exemplary. Stunning.
The book's production is exemplary. Stunning.