The Body!

I am a huge fan of the writer, Bill Bryson, having read all the books he has written. You might know of Bryson from one of his earlier and arguably one of his most popular books, “A Walk in the Woods,” which was made into a major movie staring Robert Redford. It is a fun account of Bryson’s attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail.

In the earlier stages of his career, Bryson’s books were sort of personal travel accounts where he blended the information relevant to his travels with creative quips and stories to punctuate his tales. As his following broadened, so did his writing and Bryson began to take basic topics like homes, or science, or history, and wove his mastery of language, amazing research prowess, and considerable wit, to make these topics dynamic.

Years ago, in the earlier stages of his career, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture he did in Pittsburgh at our Carnegie Music Hall. It was a fascinating evening where Bryson talked about the genesis of his works and how he approaches his craft. I was thoroughly engaged.

Now he is out with a new work titled, “The Body,” where he takes the reader on a tour of the human body offering intriguing facts to compliment the topic. Here is just one of his musings - “Our bodies are a universe of 37.2 trillion cells operating in more or less perfect concert more or less all the time. An ache, a twinge of indigestion, the odd bruise or pimple, are about all that in the normal course of things announces our imperfect-ability. There are thousands of things that can kill us - slightly more than eight thousand, according to the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, compiled by the World Health Organization - and we escape every one of them but one. For most of us, that is not a bad deal.”

If your looking for an interesting and instructive read for the holiday break, take a look at, “The Body,” by Bill Bryson. I am sure you will not be disappointed.