If Our Bodies Could Talk

Reviews

“This book answers all the questions you ever had about your health—plus a whole lot of questions that never occurred to you but should have. Even if you don’t care about your health you should read it, because Hamblin is such a delightfully amusing writer.”
—Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Innovators and Steve Jobs

"Reading James Hamblin’s book is like taking a journey through the vast and uncharted landscape of 'health science.'  Fad Diets. The science of vaccines. The truth (and lies) behind coffee. The rumblings of the stomach. If you want to understand the strange workings of the human body, and the future of medicine, you must read this illuminating, engaging book."
—Siddhartha Mukherjee, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Gene and The Emperor of All Maladies

“Jim is the friendly pocket doctor I've always longed to carry around with me, chirping helpful medical advice into my ear like ‘You can't stop touching your face’ and alerting me to the dangers of ‘catching a wild cow and convincing it to let itself be milked.’ Without him, I might not have a body at all.”
—Mallory Ortberg, author of Texts From Jane Eyre

“[Hamblin] writes with sarcasm, humor, and a sense of astonishment…. He does a stellar job with nutrition, covering supplements, multivitamins, energy drinks, and gluten.  He calls out medical misinformation and marketing myths…. Educational, entertaining, and a bit eccentric.”
—Booklist 

“Fascinating... Challenging what one interviewee calls the ‘scientific misinformation and marketing-based “facts”’ we are bombarded with daily, this book will be a useful tool for helping people get in touch with their own bodies.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Charming, engrossing, occasionally heartbreaking, and at times political… If Our Bodies Could Talk does not set out to be comprehensive, and yet it feels holistically so—a testament to Hamblin’s intelligence and humor.”
—Elle

“Underneath the curiosity factor and his nerdy charm, Hamblin conveys useful information. That’s a win-win for everyone.”
—Success.com 

“If Our Bodies Could Talk, they’d want James Hamblin taking dictation.”
—Sloane Crosley, Vanity Fair

"Witty"
—The New Yorker

"The book reads sort of like an FAQ section of a how-to manual for the human body, but it’s much more funny and engaging than any manual.” 
—The Daily Beast

"A humorous, highly narrative, plainly written manual to the body that covers everything from why we scratch itches to how our hearts know to beat." 
—Missoula Independent Expand reviews