An entirely unsurprising book, this pop science book is to the human body what Bill Bryson’s earlier book A Short History of Nearly Everything is to scientific discovery. Thoroughly researched, charmingly narrated (both in terms of the prose style and sense of levity the book is written in but also in terms of the audiobook edition that Bryson himself narrates in his confusing and fetching mixed accent).
So the book works it’s way through the various parts of the human body discussing form, function, analogies to the animal world, scientific discovery, genetic history and course of diseases of every major part. He begins with the skin, which allows him to discuss among other things the phenomenon of race — being related to the most outer layers of skin and proximity to the equator — but also the hair we do and don’t have on the human body. A really interesting part of this section is the discussion of how sweat and sweat glands has allowed for the evolution of the human brain (which at least according to theory was able to grow and develop–gobbling up more and more resources–because the complex process of temperature management is so efficient with sweat glands). He discusses the brain, the head (with senses, facial features,), the heart, the blood, blood vessels, and working his way through every other major system.
It’s dry information, charmingly told, and I am glad for it because he’s good at talking about both how complex but also reliable our systems are. The only real complaint is that if each of the chapters were twice the size and went into further depth, we’d be generously rewarded. This easily could have been two or more volumes, and been just as good and interesting.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Body-Guide-Occupants-Bill-Bryson/dp/0385539304/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=bill+bryson&qid=1572609159&sr=8-2)