Book Review: The Body

If you've never read Bill Bryson, you must remedy that! He is a delightful and funny writer. His breadth of knowledge on various subjects is astounding. I first discovered his books when a CBLI speaker mentioned his book, I'm a Stranger Here Myself (about being an American returning to live in the States after years spent living in England). Then, I chuckled my way through A Walk in the Woods, while waiting for Bryce to compete in YuGiOh tournaments back when we lived in Illinois, laughing out loud by myself in the car. This new book, The Body: A Guide for Occupants, is in the same vein as his entertaining book, At Home (reviewed here).

The back cover declares, "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. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for everyone." However, I don't believe this book is for "everyone." In my humble opinion, if you wish to read outstanding books about the phenomenal nature of the body, I would recommend Dr. Paul Brand and Philip Yancey's books, Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, and In His Image. The biggest hang-up for me with this book was that Bryson presents all of this knowledge from a perspective I cannot embrace (evolution and random design). How can anyone digest all this intricate information about the body and maintain that we evolved from chimps to stand upright now and that it was all a meaningless venture that happened out of thin air? Blinded eyes admit the grand design but refuse to acknowledge the grand designer.

However, although I could not embrace Bryson's world-view or his lens, I enjoyed learning so many facts about the body. I attempted to share some unusual discoveries with my sons: cacosmia is a disorder of the sense of smell where, for the afflicted individual, everything smells like feces. Or how about this tidbit: "you can remove two-thirds of a liver and it will grow back to its original size in just a few weeks.... We don't know how a liver knows to grow back to just the right size and then stop growing, but it is lucky for some of us that it does." Or how about the power of flatus "tragically demonstrated in Nancy, France, in 1978 when surgeons stuck an electrically heated wire up the rectum of a sixty-nine-year-old man to cauterize a polyp and caused an explosion that literally tore the patient apart." I wriggled with discomfort reading about Samuel Pepys and his 1658 lithotomy - yikes, couldn't even read that one to the boys because it was beyond the scope!

I still highly recommend Bill Bryson as an entertaining and knowledgeable writer. Everyone should experience his wry wit and his extensive compendium of facts. How I would love to meet the man! Although, I dare say, I'd be greatly tempted to share the gospel with him in the hope he might catch a glimpse of the Creator behind the amazing creation.