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toddlleopold 's review for:
The Body: A Guide for Occupants
by Bill Bryson
There's a famous line by the screenwriter William Goldman about Hollywood: "Nobody knows anything."
Goldman's phrase seems even more apropos to Bill Bryson's most recent book, "The Body: A Guide for Occupants."
Over and over again, despite talking with leading experts and immersing himself in who knows how many books, Bryson has to revert to uncertainty. "We are not quite sure how solid that advice is," he writes about the proper amount of fat in a diet. "Today [asthma] is common and still not understood," he says about the respiratory ailment. "Meaningful definition [of pain] is impossible," he offers.
And, of course, "The field of sex studies has a long history of providing dubious statistics," Bryson says after reeling off some of the more improbable ("Men think of sex every seven seconds," "The average amount of time kissing in a lifetime is 20,160 minutes [336 hours].") That may express a lack of trust about sex, but at least a lack of trust about sex isn't surprising. (Just think of all the jokes about penis size: "What are the three sizes of condom? Small, medium and liar.")
None of this is bad, or even off-putting. But it is surprising, especially from a guy who wrote "A Short History of Nearly Everything," a book about astronomy and cosmology that, for me at least, provided some real answers -- or, at least, pretty well-supported theories -- about earth and space. Heck, "Nearly Everything" even got into quantum physics, practically the definition of "uncertainty." (Just ask Schrodinger.)
Now, I love Bill Bryson. I particularly love "Nearly Everything," because it has a wide-eyed curiosity about a subject that, by its nature, invites awe -- a nice combination. But for "The Body," you get the feeling that the author, who's probably more famous for his books about language ("The Mother Tongue") and traveling ("I'm a Stranger Here Myself," "A Walk in the Woods," "In a Sunburned Country"), decided to turn inward to biology and anatomy and was met with more confusion and frustration than he got from quantum physicists.
Still, "The Body" makes for a typically entertaining read, with Bryson's love of knowledge and tidbits forever breaking through the "We're not sure" shrugs.
For example, did you know that Theodor Escherich, who examined our excrement and found a number of microorganisms, including the one now known as E. (for Escherichia) coli, called it Bacteria coli commune? Or that apes don't have an Achilles tendon? Or that Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian medical instructor, helped eliminate what was called childbed fever simply by recommending doctors wash their hands before doing examinations? Semmelweis, who sounds at least as important as Joseph Lister, was a prophet without honor in his lifetime, losing his job, committed to an asylum, and beaten to death by his guards. And that was just a little more than 150 years ago.
Medicine has come a long way since then -- even if we human beings remain notoriously unpredictable on an individual level. "The Body" came out at the end of last year, so there is no mention of Covid-19, but the reaction of our bodies to that disease is another one for the books, literally: some people asymptomatic, others violently ill, too many dead. It would likely have been a whole chapter in a later edition, but it's provided no reason to laugh, which is one reason "The Body" makes for a good read.
I wouldn't say the book is among Bryson's best. There's just too much aggravation on the part of the author, who must have wondered what he got into. (It was probably more fun to write about black holes or weird Australian insects.) Moreover, some of the material has already been ably chronicled by Mary Roach.
But Bryson is always a welcome guide, so if you're looking for a breezy tour that takes you from head to toe, "The Body" is a winner. And if you're still unsure? You know what they say: Ask your doctor.
Goldman's phrase seems even more apropos to Bill Bryson's most recent book, "The Body: A Guide for Occupants."
Over and over again, despite talking with leading experts and immersing himself in who knows how many books, Bryson has to revert to uncertainty. "We are not quite sure how solid that advice is," he writes about the proper amount of fat in a diet. "Today [asthma] is common and still not understood," he says about the respiratory ailment. "Meaningful definition [of pain] is impossible," he offers.
And, of course, "The field of sex studies has a long history of providing dubious statistics," Bryson says after reeling off some of the more improbable ("Men think of sex every seven seconds," "The average amount of time kissing in a lifetime is 20,160 minutes [336 hours].") That may express a lack of trust about sex, but at least a lack of trust about sex isn't surprising. (Just think of all the jokes about penis size: "What are the three sizes of condom? Small, medium and liar.")
None of this is bad, or even off-putting. But it is surprising, especially from a guy who wrote "A Short History of Nearly Everything," a book about astronomy and cosmology that, for me at least, provided some real answers -- or, at least, pretty well-supported theories -- about earth and space. Heck, "Nearly Everything" even got into quantum physics, practically the definition of "uncertainty." (Just ask Schrodinger.)
Now, I love Bill Bryson. I particularly love "Nearly Everything," because it has a wide-eyed curiosity about a subject that, by its nature, invites awe -- a nice combination. But for "The Body," you get the feeling that the author, who's probably more famous for his books about language ("The Mother Tongue") and traveling ("I'm a Stranger Here Myself," "A Walk in the Woods," "In a Sunburned Country"), decided to turn inward to biology and anatomy and was met with more confusion and frustration than he got from quantum physicists.
Still, "The Body" makes for a typically entertaining read, with Bryson's love of knowledge and tidbits forever breaking through the "We're not sure" shrugs.
For example, did you know that Theodor Escherich, who examined our excrement and found a number of microorganisms, including the one now known as E. (for Escherichia) coli, called it Bacteria coli commune? Or that apes don't have an Achilles tendon? Or that Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian medical instructor, helped eliminate what was called childbed fever simply by recommending doctors wash their hands before doing examinations? Semmelweis, who sounds at least as important as Joseph Lister, was a prophet without honor in his lifetime, losing his job, committed to an asylum, and beaten to death by his guards. And that was just a little more than 150 years ago.
Medicine has come a long way since then -- even if we human beings remain notoriously unpredictable on an individual level. "The Body" came out at the end of last year, so there is no mention of Covid-19, but the reaction of our bodies to that disease is another one for the books, literally: some people asymptomatic, others violently ill, too many dead. It would likely have been a whole chapter in a later edition, but it's provided no reason to laugh, which is one reason "The Body" makes for a good read.
I wouldn't say the book is among Bryson's best. There's just too much aggravation on the part of the author, who must have wondered what he got into. (It was probably more fun to write about black holes or weird Australian insects.) Moreover, some of the material has already been ably chronicled by Mary Roach.
But Bryson is always a welcome guide, so if you're looking for a breezy tour that takes you from head to toe, "The Body" is a winner. And if you're still unsure? You know what they say: Ask your doctor.