Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Bill Bryson wants you to stand in amazement at what you’ve been closest to your whole life—your own body. That is the tone he sets in this fascinating look at what we know from science about human anatomy. It’s important for readers to know that the book takes a modern scientific and not a creator based approach to humanity. While amazed by the feats of engineering evolution has accomplished over the eons, Bryson also points out design flaws or parts that any intelligent engineer would have done better. The style is not didactic, however, but typical of a Bill Bryson book—wry, frequently going off on tangents about a particular disease or an anecdote about an eccentric scientist. The book covers so much ground that it too is somewhat anecdotal. It really is less a comprehensive guide to the body and more a combination of anatomy 101 with many tales from past and present scientific endeavors. In short, if you need a complete guide to human physiology this is probably not a thorough enough source. But if you simply want to expand your knowledge of anatomy with an engaging read you can’t go wrong. I wouldn’t call the book a classic because so much is still unknown about human physiology that it will have to be thoroughly rewritten in ten years. But it does have some of the markings of a good work of literature—like an imagined world in a novel, one gets the sense that Bryson has a much deeper understanding of the human body than he sets down on the page. In other words, he could’ve written a one thousand page book if he had wanted to. A rare combination of lively writing with an interesting and important subject. It’s hard to think of personal leisure time devoted to something more useful and enjoyable than in reading this book. Highly recommended.