The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For all of you other cyborgs and pure artificial intelligences out there, I should mention that this is a rather interesting primer on regular meat-sacks. It even has the distinction of not being science fiction at all.

But as the title suggests, outright occupancy usually comes with a rental charge. The bill always comes due.


I've read a few Brysons before... and my favorite has got to be A Short History of Nearly Everything. This one, from a regular knowledge-gathering stand, comes in as a tight second. The travelogues are fun and often funny, but Short History is pretty comprehensive and rather more funny. This one, however, was not very funny at all.

That's okay. Very little about our bodies, aside from sex and farts, is funny.

Bryson DOES, however, accomplish a lot, go over a LOT of ground. Pretty cool, in fact.

Do I recommend reading this? Absolutely. Everyone ought to have a primer on themselves. The benefit here is much more than meets the eye, though. So many new discoveries and outright debunking of myths have made it in this text. Recent ones, too.

You know that leaky faucet and the clog in the pipes? Yep. We really need to talk to the landlord.

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