Will I love The Body?

Bill Bryson is, to me, one of the greatest all-time nonfiction authors, and it’s just wonderful that he wrote this book about the human body. It is inspiring, surprising, and laugh-out-loud funny.

There’s even a short bit in this book about him visiting my own University research lab! 

The body is a wonderfully complex thing. Each cell is a teeming cauldron of chemicals and biochemicals. If we are honest, we don’t even know what we don’t know about the body, we are a long way off even discovering the unknown unknowns.

And yet, Bill Bryson manages to capture our current state of knowledge, those thin slivers of hard earned scientific wisdom. That he does this in a way that is amusing and laced with memorable anecdotes makes this a brilliant guide to our very selves.

I’ve read many of Bill Bryson’s books and always come away feeling I’ve learned something about the trials, humor, and joys behind travel. This book was different, as it took me on a journey through the entire human body and all of its systems and wonders. It was fascinating to dive deep into the interworkings of our organs, glands, appendages, and the brain that controls all of them.

A great example of the insight is: “Your lungs, smoothed out, would cover a tennis court, and the airways within them would stretch nearly from coast to coast.” This is just one… show more.

Bryson guides us on an intriguing journey throughout the body and through our history of learning about its mysteries.

An impeccable researcher, Bryson succeeds in creating a work that is anything but boring. He unearths many anecdotes from the historical record that really did happen as implausible as they seem. I was intrigued by some of the bizarre experiments that doctors of yore performed on themselves or other willing subjects in their quest to understand the inner workings of the body.

And the humor! Bryson infuses virtually every page with his humorous and quirky style. You will find yourself wanting… show more.

I had a terrible accident a few years ago, a close call, and I began to take better care of my body as a result.

Bryson’s wonderful guide helped me understand my amazing personal machine and how it functions, from skin to bones and everything in between. I came away from this book astounded and inspired by the intricate inner workings of the human body. Equally inspiring were the many stories of the medical scientists who figured out all that stuff.  

Now turning to the human body, Bryson continues his long tradition of combining loads of engaging, thoroughly researched information with ironic humor.

He dissects his subject system by system, starting with the normal structure and function of the skin and eventually moving to the “nether regions.” He follows with chapters on what can go wrong and what can go very wrong. Whereas other books focus on single systems, e.g., skeleton or gut, The Body is broader in its scope but understandably not so thorough.

For a single book to heighten a reader’s marvel and understanding of the human workings, this… show more.

Bill Bryson is a national treasure and all of his books make seemingly mundane things incredibly interesting.

In The Body he takes us into ourselves in ways that made me appreciate how complex and fragile and robust our bodies are and gave me a new appreciation for the skin we call home. It’s funny, it’s unexpected, and it is powerful in some of its simplest observations.

One of those observations that shook me and will stay with me forever is how incredibly miraculous it is that any one of us exists because we are the result of a chain of… show more.

Bill Bryson, in his imitable humor-filled style, takes us on a journey of the human body, exploring how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. The book covers various organ systems and then proceeds with a short history of the immune system, disease, and medicines. Medical heroes, mavericks, and villains feature—from Karl Landsteiner who described blood groups, Frederick Banting who discovered insulin, Henry Gray the anatomist, and Nazi medical doctors who performed unthinkably cruel experiments. One fact that stood out in the book for me is, in general, poorer people have worse health outcomes. No surprise here, except… show more.