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alongapath 's review for:
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
by Bill Bryson
This is what Bryson does best - putting scientific concepts into terms that normal folk can relate to and understand. With occasional sarcasm and his famous dry wit, he takes us on a trip through our bodies, explaining normal bodily functions and some anomalies which we may or may not be familiar.
Each chapter delves into one body system - the brain, the gut, the central nervous system, the 'nether regions', etc. He discusses the organs, enzymes, systems involved and often tells the significant historical points which have led to our current understanding. He introduces the key players in the discoveries along the way as well as correcting misconceptions and old wives' tales.
Instead of a 'guide for occupants' (which is a delightful title), this is more of a history of human medical science. I enjoyed the storytelling techniques that Bryson used - often honing in on one funny account or outlandish claim to make that body system memorable.
But, towards the last third, I felt overwhelmed by the numbers, percentages and fractions that he used to illustrate his points. After hearing seemingly endless comparisons of countries breast cancer survival rates, the numbers blurred together and became meaningless. I simply couldn't keep it all straight and started to care less. I was not aware of this in the earlier chapters. I did enjoy hearing how the UK and the US stacked up against other developed countries in regards to health care costs, infant mortality rates and pharmaceutical involvement. Stunning indeed!
I listened to Bryson's own narration of this book but I look forward to getting my hands of a copy so that I can better absorb the numbers and percentages he speaks of in the final chapters.
My favourite quote by far (especially the final 5 words):
Each chapter delves into one body system - the brain, the gut, the central nervous system, the 'nether regions', etc. He discusses the organs, enzymes, systems involved and often tells the significant historical points which have led to our current understanding. He introduces the key players in the discoveries along the way as well as correcting misconceptions and old wives' tales.
Instead of a 'guide for occupants' (which is a delightful title), this is more of a history of human medical science. I enjoyed the storytelling techniques that Bryson used - often honing in on one funny account or outlandish claim to make that body system memorable.
But, towards the last third, I felt overwhelmed by the numbers, percentages and fractions that he used to illustrate his points. After hearing seemingly endless comparisons of countries breast cancer survival rates, the numbers blurred together and became meaningless. I simply couldn't keep it all straight and started to care less. I was not aware of this in the earlier chapters. I did enjoy hearing how the UK and the US stacked up against other developed countries in regards to health care costs, infant mortality rates and pharmaceutical involvement. Stunning indeed!
I listened to Bryson's own narration of this book but I look forward to getting my hands of a copy so that I can better absorb the numbers and percentages he speaks of in the final chapters.
My favourite quote by far (especially the final 5 words):
How do we celebrate the glory of our existence? Well, for most of us, by exercising minimally and eating maximally. Think of all the junk you throw down your throat and how much of your life is spent sprawled in a near-vegetative state in front of a glowing screen. Yet in some kind and miraculous way, our bodies look after us, extract nutrients from the miscellaneous foodstuffs we push into our faces and somehow hold us together, generally at a pretty high level, for decades. Suicide by lifestyle takes ages.