Bill Bryson Uk Book

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Aug 3, 2024, 5:38:08 PM8/3/24

to hairiacerli

One of the pleasures of his latest book is the delighted astonishment he conveys at the workings of the human body. Bryson reports, thrilled, that we are each made up of seven billion billion billion atoms, and that it would cost more than 96,000 to buy the ingredients for a human body on the open market. The average person sheds half a kilogram of skin flakes in a year, and if their DNA was laid out end to end, it would stretch to ten billion miles, beyond the orbit of Pluto.

I've long been a big fan of Bill Bryson. I first read A Walk in the Woods in college and was so smitten by his account of traveling the Appalachian trail that I proceeded to read every book he'd written and was always first in line for his new books when they came out. A few more of my favorites have been:

The book is structured as a tour through the body, body-part by body-part, with chapters devoted to the Brain, the Head, the Heart and Blood, the Guts and more. There are also chapters tackling Sleep, the Immune System, Nerves and Pain, and our Skin and Hair. Additionally, Bryson also covers the history and development of medicines and surgery, and spotlights some lesser known pioneers in medicine.

But what makes The Body a brilliant book is that it doesn't read like a medical textbook and it's definitely not boring! With the wry humor that made him famous, Bryson tells the story of the human body in the most entertaining way possible.

Bryson shares compelling anecdotes (like how Marcel Proust treated his asthma condition), fascinating facts (did you know that kissing transfers up to one billion bacteria from mouth to mouth, along with .2 micrograms of food bits?), and trustworthy science (there is absolutely no science indicating that there are any negative effects from consuming normal amounts of MSG, nor is there any science that says that coconut oil is healthier than any other oil). The combination is a fantastic page turning book that is both informative and fun.

Not only does he tackle Cancer and Diseases, but he also takes a good look at the global battle with infectious diseases and overuse of antibiotics. The section on antibiotic resistant superbugs and the dystopian future they could easily make come to pass is a chapter that's going to keep me up at night for some time yet.

It could also be an excellent entry point for further study of anatomy, physiology, and medicine. I could see this book getting even teens more interested in the subject. High-school science teachers should take notes!