The Body: A Guide for Occupants

Powell's Picks of the Month

Hot new releases and under-the-radar gems for adults and kids.

Bill Bryson takes the reader through fascinating facts of the human body (the kidneys process over 3 pounds of salt a day!); best guesses as to why we exist the way we do (is the uvula a "mudflap for the mouth"?); and the often questionable medical experiments and characters that have helped illuminate how the body works. The Body is a surprisingly cheerful journey through both the ways in which we seem to be perfectly designed, and the ways in which it's a wonder that we work at all — bolstered by cheerful side stories about the humans who contributed to our understanding of the human body, whether through years of focused study or completely by accident. Recommended By Michelle C., Powells.com

Bill Bryson, bestselling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body — with a new afterword for the Vintage paperback.

Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body — how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Brysonesque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular.

As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted." The Body will cure that indifference with generous doses of wondrous, compulsively readable facts and information. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for every body.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR:

THE WASHINGTON POST — FINANCIAL TIMES — THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS — BOOKPAGE — BOSTON.COM

"A delightful tour guide....Bryson's stroll through human anatomy, physiology, evolution, and illness (diabetes, cancer, infections) is instructive, accessible, and entertaining." Booklist (Starred Review)

"Bryson’s tone is both informative and inviting, encouraging the reader, throughout this exemplary work, to share the sense of wonder he expresses at how the body is constituted and what it is capable of." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

"Glorious....[Bryson] now turns inward to explain — in his lucid, amusing style — what we're made of....Astonishing." The Washington Post

"Delightful...reveals the thousands of rarely acknowledged tasks our body takes care of as we go about our day....Informative, entertaining." The New York Times Book Review

"Mr. Bryson's account is enlivened by his excellent command of the history of medicine....Brisk, provocative and entertaining throughout." The Wall Street Journal

"Fascinating." NPR

"This book is full of such arresting factoids and, like a douser hunting water, Bryson is adept at finding the bizarre and the arcane in his subject matter....Amazing." USA Today

"A witty, informative immersion....a delightful, anecdote-propelled read....[Bryson] cover[s] a remarkably large swathe of human corporeal and cerebral experience." The Boston Globe

"A directory of wonders....Extraordinary....Wry, companionable, avuncular and always lucid....[ The Body] could stand as an ultimate prescription for life." The Guardian

"Amusingly informative." Forbes

"A pleasing, entertaining sojourn into the realm of what makes us tick." Kirkus Reviews

Bill Bryson's bestselling books include A Walk in the Woods, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, and A Short History of Nearly Everything (which won the Aventis Prize in Britain and the Descartes Prize, the European Union's highest literary award). He was chancellor of Durham University, England's third oldest university, from 2005 to 2011, and is an honorary fellow of Britain's Royal Society.