KC Dyer's fave of 2020

Jeopardy can do many shows on numerous answer-and-question trivia under science/biology/human-body topics. There are 23 chapters and the final two, "Medicine Good and Bad" and "The End", are also thought provoking with social insights.

Note: of the many photographs of medical pioneers, only one is a woman - Nettie Stevens, who, while studying the reproductive organs of mealworms in Pennsylvania in 1905, discovered the Y chromosome.

This is typical Bill Bryson. If you are the type to read a book full of facts then you are sure to like this. Each chapter focuses on a different section or system of the body and Bryson gives you more factual and fun tidbits than you will ever remember. It was really interesting and very readable and I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy this type of thing.

A compelling look at the human body and how it works (and sometimes doesn't). Bryson fills each page with eye-opening revelations, approaching his subject with reverent curiosity. Yet a light-heartedness sparks up, here and there. Frequent asides into the lives of scientists and key figures shed light on history's unsung heroes and curiosities.

Lovely book, informative and funny. For me, was a fast read as I loved biology and anatomy in college. But anyone can benefit from diving into it. You'll love your skin, your thymus, and even your feet even more than you do now.

Informative and super readable. There is a lot of content about diseases, which makes now a fascinating time to be reading it!

A broad and quite basic overview. Easy and quick read, slightly entertaining and well researched - but not mind blowing. Those who are more than a little interested in health or general biology are unlikely to learn anything new here. It barely touches the surface on most topics. A few things are taken out of context... which I suppose is to be expected when the approach is so basic and mostly based on trivia. A good primer for adults who may have never taken biology and/or are new to health awareness.

Somewhere between "At Home" and "A Short History of Nearly Everything" this book dives deeply and effortlessly when warranted. Other time it moves along quickly. Bryson does not come across as a curmudgeon like he did in his last book (Little Dibbling). I have requested the audio for The Body from the library and look forward to listening to it on long runs this spring and summer.

Here is a narrative about how our bodies work, how we got to know what we know, and how much we don't know. The essence of Bill Bryson's writing is to make his topics entertaining and interesting and, by the end of a book, to leave the reader both a bit more knowledgeable and a lot more curious to learn more. The Body is a success on all counts.

Book Club - October 2020 @ Chris E