(Throwback review) If you are in quarantine due to Covid-19 and if you want to read just one book, this is the one you should pick. Chapter 20 (When things go wrong) in this book is a must-read one as it is perfectly explaining the current scenario we are facing. This book will help us know more about our body, which might enable us to appreciate its uniqueness even when challenged it is to the extreme by a virus.I read this book amid all the pandemonium I had to face as a Doctor and, more impor...

Well, if the dude can't get the difference between a feeding tube and a breathing tube coming out of someone's nose, I'm not sure how accurate his guide is going to be. Add in problems explaining kidney failure, gram staining and smallpox vaccines, and I think this is a solid 'miss.' Most telling phrase from the review: "Recommended 'Not for the science, which can be found in a more detailed and accurate form elsewhere, but for the view, a sweep of landscape with endless little tragicomedies pla...

I went into this book with the attitude of "of course, Bill Bryson can make anything interesting", but I was still a little unsure if this was the right book for me. There are definitely interesting aspects of the body, but I'm more of a "fun fact here, quirky tidbit there" kinda person. I wasn't sure I wanted to read a whole book full of words I can't pronounce. But, no, Bill Bryson really can make anything interesting.His usual charismatic, undemanding style is all over this book. He begins wi...

This was actually really good! Highly recommend it if the topic interested you, the audiobook was also great!

The definition of a “well” person?Someone who hasn’t been examined yet(loosely quoted from the book)This book is two things:- Really interesting trivia about the human body- TerrifyingI love trivia, and this book had tons of it. This was not a deeply scientific analysis of the human body. It is just snippets and brief anecdotes from various regions of the body as Bryson takes you on a journey through our innerspace. If you are not into big fancy words and meandering analysis, then you need not w...

To know that one does not know how not just even a tiny part of the body works is the first step to getting interested in exploring each fascinating, inner landscape. From up to down, inside to outside, young to old, organ to nerve and so on goes the journey trough our miraculous wonder of nature whose amazing eyes are just sending this information to the brain of the reader.Many myths about the body are shown and design flaws described, but after billion years of evolution, that´s no wonder. We...

How to make a human body: Blend together the right amount of each of 59 elements, at a cost of US$151,578.46 according to the Royal Society of Chemistry.  ~Or~If you don't have that kind of money lying about, you can also do it the old-fashioned way that involves heterosexual sex. I'm not here to judge your methods; make a human whichever way you please.  What I am here to do is tell you that Bill Bryson has done it again!  He has written yet another brilliant and vastly interesting book, thi

I like Bryson, his books are often amusing and informative. He has a good eye for details that will keep the reader engaged or outraged or just smile. This is a tour of the human body, but it includes stories and asides about people associated with the discovery of various diseases or a cure or a system in the body. Some books on this topic can get a bit carried away with long names for parts that involve endless Latin or Greek. A nice thing he does here when he does give these is to say what th...

I read this off and on for over a week, I think reading it straight through would not have left me time to ponder the information and possibly would have been a case of too much at one time. Our bodies, many systems and other developments of which I knew little all in one book. I actually own a copy because this is another that I feel deserves more than read. Or at least to have as a reference. There is a huge amount of research that went into this book. Bryson is good and picking out informatio...

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson is a well-researched user’s manual for anyone interested in how our bodies function. And, of course, we also have the opportunity to enjoy the Bryson wit. This is a field trip through the human body and I was astounded at the level of research needed to write such a book. And I admit there was so much I did not know about the body and how it is built to repair itself. This is an informative guide as well as a source of humour, now and again. Read it...

Until now, I only knew Bill Bryson for his snarky travelogues. My buddy-reader, however, informed me that his non-fiction book was very good indeed. Besides, many biology books suffer from the fact that their authors are great scientists but horrible writers. So I wanted to read something that had the potential to be entertaining as well as educational.The book is divided into these chapters:And yes, we did get a little bit of humour, but that wasn't because Bryson made fun of certain things, bu...

For all of you other cyborgs and pure artificial intelligences out there, I should mention that this is a rather interesting primer on regular meat-sacks. It even has the distinction of not being science fiction at all.But as the title suggests, outright occupancy usually comes with a rental charge. The bill always comes due.I've read a few Brysons before... and my favorite has got to be A Short History of Nearly Everything. This one, from a regular knowledge-gathering stand, comes in as a tight...

Bryson is a wonderful travel guide, and this time around he takes us through an enjoyable tour of the human body. The book is surprisingly detailed, for a popular-science book. Bryson exhibits his usual knack for the extraordinary and unusual, but despite veering close to it at times, he avoids the pitfall of making this book just a tour of the oddities of the human body. Bryson takes just enough such detours to keep us amused, but just like a good tour guide ensures that we are adequately educa...

This book was given to me as a Christmas present, and it was a great gift. As a fan of Bryson, I was surprised that I had not even heard of his new work of popular science. I am glad that it came to my attention, then, since this was my favorite Bryson book since A Short History of Nearly Everything. Structured as a tour of the human body, the book made me feel right at home. No matter what the subject, Bryson’s style is consistent: snappy prose, engaging anecdotes, and fun facts, all tied toget...