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anetq's review against another edition
4.0
Almost a travel book of the human body - and that is a fascinating landscape to watch in deed! As we travel from head to toe Dr Francis also gives us bits of literature, art, myths and traditional beliefs about the limb or organ, as well as a look into medical history especially around Edinburgh University.
The book is as the title says an adventurous journey through the human body, and it is both an entertaining and educational trip: From electro chok therapy actually doing good these days for the severely depressed, over life and death dispersed through the body and organs, to the feet that carry us around: who knew Da Vinci dissected a bears foot, when he couldn't get his paws on a human foot? (Bears can walk upright like humans, and have the same stride of heel to front foot, so he was as always being clever!
Sometimes the literary windings get a bit long, I for one would have preferred a little more insight into the muscle complex of the hip over the differnet Jewish interpretations and translational disputes about Jacob's hip injury from fighting with an angel. But apart from that a great read!
The book is as the title says an adventurous journey through the human body, and it is both an entertaining and educational trip: From electro chok therapy actually doing good these days for the severely depressed, over life and death dispersed through the body and organs, to the feet that carry us around: who knew Da Vinci dissected a bears foot, when he couldn't get his paws on a human foot? (Bears can walk upright like humans, and have the same stride of heel to front foot, so he was as always being clever!
Sometimes the literary windings get a bit long, I for one would have preferred a little more insight into the muscle complex of the hip over the differnet Jewish interpretations and translational disputes about Jacob's hip injury from fighting with an angel. But apart from that a great read!
katkeyes's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this might be more scientific than prosaic. It is technical and goes into a lot of scientific detail. However, the author uses literature and vivid imagery you're familiar with to tie you to what he's saying about a part of the body. I'm generally not squeamish, but because he described things in a connectable way there were a few hard parts in this for me. Really enjoyable and fascinating overall.
jcm196's review against another edition
2.0
This book was incredibly disjointed. Often times there were no conclusions whatsoever to patient accounts. Additionally it always felt like each chapter never actually had a common theme. Yes, each chapter is based on the region of a body, but it just never felt coherent or relevant. I liked the cultural analysis of the regions of the body, I just don't think the science end of things tied together well with the cultural analysis.
theojabion's review against another edition
3.0
This is a non-medical friendly book that integrates the science and art of medicine to the perspective of the author's reflection. My favorite chapter is the Liver.
annkolomenskaya's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Loved it. In sci-pop books there are a lot of same topics about the same main organs (which is not bad in any way), I just found Gavin Francis' way of talking about the body very entertaining. He chose to write about the parts of bodies and organs that are not that much talked about.