The Body

Reviews

"Glorious. . .Having described the physical nature of our world and beyond, from the atomic to the intergalactic, in The Body [Bryson] now turns inward to explain—in his lucid, amusing style—what we’re made of. . .Astonishing . .Draws on dozens of experts and a couple hundred books to carry the reader from outside to inside, from up to down and from miraculous operational efficiencies to malignant mayhem when things go awry. . .You will marvel at the brilliance and vast weirdness of your design." —The Washington Post 

"Delightful. . .Reveals the thousands of rarely acknowledged tasks our body takes care of as we go about our day. . .Informative, entertaining and often gross (kissing, according to one study, transfers up to one billion bacteria from one mouth to another, along with 0.2 micrograms of food bits). . . Bryson, who gives off a Cronkite-like trustworthy vibe, is good at allaying fears and busting myths.” —A.J. Jacobs, The New York Times Book Review 

"Mr. Bryson’s latest book is a Baedeker of the human body, a fact-studded survey of our physiques, inside and out. Many authors have produced such guides in recent years, and some of them are very good. But none have done it quite so well as Mr. Bryson, who writes better, is more amusing and has greater mastery of his material than anyone else. . .[He] is a master explainer, with a gift for the pithy simile and all-encompassing metaphor. . .[His] love of language is often on display, and he can’t resist occasional indulgences on the origins of terms medical and anatomical. . .Mr. Bryson’s account is enlivened by his excellent command of the history of medicine. . .Brisk, provocative and entertaining throughout." —The Wall Street Journal 

"Fascinating." —NPR

"Bryson launches himself into the wilderness of the human anatomy armed with his characteristic thoroughness and wit. He ably dissects the knowns and unknowns of how we live and die and all the idiosyncrasies of our shared infrastructure. . .This book is full of such arresting factoids and, like a douser hunting water, Bryson is adept at finding the bizarre and the arcane in his subject matter. . .Amazing." —USA Today 

"A witty, informative immersion. . .The Body—a delightful, anecdote-propelled read—proves one of his most ambitious yet, as he leads us on a head-to-toe tour of a physique that’s terra incognita to many of us. . .Playful, lucid. . .[Bryson] cover[s] a remarkably large swathe of human corporeal and cerebral experience." —The Boston Globe

"A directory of wonders. . .Extraordinary. . . A tour of the minuscule; it aims to do for the human body what his A Short History of Nearly Everything did for science. . .The prose motors gleefully along, a finely tuned engine running on jokes, factoids and biographical interludes. . .Wry, companionable, avuncular and always lucid . . .[The Body] could stand as an ultimate prescription for life." —The Guardian

"A delightful tour guide. . .Bryson's stroll through human anatomy, physiology, evolution, and illness (diabetes, cancer, infections) is instructive, accessible, and entertaining."  —Booklist, starred review 

"Amusingly informative." —Forbes 

"A pleasing, entertaining sojourn into the realm of what makes us tick." —Kirkus Reviews 

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