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  • The Body

  • A Guide for Occupants
  • Written by: Bill Bryson
  • Narrated by: Bill Bryson
  • Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (559 ratings)

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The Body

Written by: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: Bill Bryson
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Publisher's Summary

An instant New York Times best seller

Named a best book of the year by The Washington Post 

Longlisted for the Pen E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

"Glorious...You will marvel at the brilliance and vast weirdness of your design." (The Washington Post)

Bill Bryson, best-selling 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-listen owner's manual for everybody.

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 Bryson-esque 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 listenable facts and information. 

©2019 Bill Bryson (P)2019 Random House Audio

What the critics say

"Bill Bryson is not so much a discoverer of new lands as a charismatic cartographer of existing ones, smartly mapping points of entry into territory that might otherwise remain impenetrable to curious travelers. With light footed prose, The Body winds its way through the dense terrain of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry....The result is an absorbing catalog of the human body in all its firmness and fatality....The colossal roster of facts on display is dazzling.... Bryson's distinctive voice will likely delight readers eager to go sightseeing around the world they embody." (The American Scholar)

"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)

 Amusingly informative." (Forbes)

What listeners say about The Body

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    5 out of 5 stars

Required reading for the self-aware

We share as humans the fact that we all have the same basic working parts, and just like with machines and objects these parts wear down, get sick and ultimately fail us. This very long but fascinating work will introduce you in detail to every part making up the human body. The last chapters on disease and how we die are awesome and have led me to think a lot more about the miracle of the human body and how it still hides countless mysteries from us.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, excellent narration

I really enjoy Bill Bryson’s writing and I was sceptical to see his name as the narrator, but wow he does an excellent work of it. I’ve listened to this one twice and really enjoyed it. A couple of sections are not fully explored, but overall it is excellent and I highly recommend it. I’m a stickler for detail and when I’ve checked some of his facts he was mostly right on.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great stories just like Brysons other books

If you like Bryson, you'll like this.
The book seems to endlessly cover just about everything related to the human body. It is at times whimsical, other times quite gory and cringe-worthy, but in a good way. The book kept me captivated and I found so many different interesting topics that made me want to check out in more detail later.
On top of the stories within the book, I find Brysons voice very soothing.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Educational and entertaining

This was the perfect educational book for a layman. Very entertaining all throughout and interesting facts I've never heard of

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great book to learn

So much fascinating information, and a great performance of the reading. So many aspects of the body are discussed, there’s a lot you can learn. Will be reading through a second time to catch things I missed, and will look for other titles by this author

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very interesting

so many great nuggets of information. I love the story lines that go off on s tangent.

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Interesting and engagingly written

Enjoyed it very much - it seems an excellent guide to how your body works, and it's filled with interesting anecdotes about the scientists, doctors and patients who've pushed scientific and medical knowledge forward. It also contains warnings about current and future perils including North Americans' high risk lifestyles and our overuse of antibiotics. Some of his detailed descriptions of medical procedures past and present can be a bit cringe- inducing for those of us with good imaginations. All in all, though this is one of the best Audible investments I've made.

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  • Jmh
  • 2020-01-07

Bryson Takes on the Human Body

An excellent study of the history of the human body broken up into thematic sections. He does an excellent job of exploring the limitations of what we know, as well as how much there is still to do in medicine (his section on how the female body has been represented in medicine is excellent). His performance is pure Bryson, and I learned so much. Highly recommended.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A LOT of information!

So much information that I was getting brain overload!! To get around it, I decided to use the book for fun facts/ trivia. That made it easier on my poor head and I'm enjoying it a lot more.

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Informative

Struggled to finish, especially last two chapters, a little too morbid. A little too close to home.

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