The Body: A Guide for Occupants
The Body: A Guide for OccupantsBill Bryson
Buy on Amazon

The Body: A Guide for Occupants (2019)

Bill Bryson

Others: Neutral

Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable com- panion 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 an- ecdotes, 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 read- able facts and information. As oddictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-read owner's manual for every body.

ISBN:
9780804172721
Length:
464 pages

Lists: …

Similar books

1 of 6
  • A Walk in the Woods

    Bill Bryson

    1997 · 304 pages · 1 review

    Others: Positive

    Bill Bryson describes his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail with his friend "Stephen Katz". The book is written in a humorous style, interspersed with more serious discussions of matters relating to the trail's history, and the surrounding sociology, ecology, trees, plants, animals and people.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Similar descriptions
    100%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • The Big Book of Knowledge

    DK

    2019 · 1 review

    Others: Positive

    Packed full of facts, this is the perfect encyclopedia for any information-hungry kid who wants to boost their general knowledge. Ever wondered how the roots of a plan can grow through solid rock? Or what life is like on the surface of Venus? Maybe you want to know how long it takes a drop of blood to travel around your body or how a solar power plant works? No matter the question, the Big Book of Knowledge has the answer. Packed with incredible images that show you what others only tell you, this children's book is the perfect resource for curious kids of all ages. When you have this much information at your fingertips, homework will be a breeze!

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Similar descriptions
    100%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Unseen Jungle

    Eleanor Spicer Rice

    2023 · 161 pages · 1 review

    Others: Positive

    This lively peek into the amazing world of microbes, replete with a kid-pleasing “ick” factor, is chock-full of facts, humor, and fun illustrations. Microbes are outside, indoors, on your body, in your body. In fact, only about half of our bodies' cells are human cells—the rest are microbes. Whether helping people digest their food or using mind-control techniques to lure mice into the path of hungry cats (no, really), microbes form an unseen jungle all around us. Through zany facts, hilarious and sometimes disgusting illustrations, and interviews with experts in their fields, aspiring young scientists (or kids who just want to be grossed out) will discover a hidden world in which your health depends on a myriad of microbes, houseflies get zombified by fungi, and termites are saving the planet one fart at a time. With such extras as sidebars, limericks, and even a lesson on how to draw E. coli , this “ eww ”-worthy treasure trove for kids is an engrossing romp into the microbe drama unfolding where you might least expect it.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    Similar descriptions
    100%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • The Water Dancer

    Ta-Nehisi Coates

    2019 · 416 pages · 3 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    "Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage -- and lost his mother and all memory of her when he was a child -- but he is also gifted with a mysterious power. Hiram almost drowns when he crashes a carriage into a river, but is saved from the depths by a force he doesn't understand, a blue light that lifts him up and lands him a mile away. This strange brush with death forces a new urgency on Hiram's private rebellion. Spurred on by his improvised plantation family, Thena, his chosen mother, a woman of few words and many secrets, and Sophia, a young woman fighting her own war even as she and Hiram fall in love, he becomes determined to escape the only home he's ever known. So begins an unexpected journey into the covert war on slavery that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North. Even as he's enlisted in the underground war between slavers and the enslaved, all Hiram wants is to return to the Walker Plantation to free the family he left behind -- but to do so, he must first master his magical gift and reconstruct the story of his greatest loss."--

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    A creator reacted alike
    71%
    Similar descriptions
    29%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

    Ocean Vuong

    2019 · 256 pages · 10 reviews

    Others: Mostly positive

    On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard. With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    A creator reacted alike
    75%
    Similar descriptions
    25%
    Personalize your recommendations
  • Flights

    Olga Tokarczuk

    2007 · 416 pages · 1 review

    Others: Mixed

    A seventeenth-century Dutch anatomist discovers the Achilles tendon by dissecting his own amputated leg. Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time. Where are you from? Where are you coming in from? Where are you going? we call to the traveler. Enchanting, unsettling, and wholly original, Flights is a master storyteller's answer.

    Why?

    What made the match, strongest first

    A creator reacted alike
    79%
    Similar descriptions
    21%
    Personalize your recommendations

Reviews1