Entertaining, at times odd and eccentric whistlestop tour through the human body’s most bizarre functions. A bit awkward and OTT in its storytelling at times. I found myself wanting deeper understanding of these medical wonders, rather than just silly and witty nuggets of information.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Non-fiction, Science, History, Health
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Dr Adam Taor’s Bodypedia: A Brief Compendium of Human Anatomical Curiosities is a fact-filled and witty romp through the wonders of the human body. Each strange quirk of the human body is turned into an ultra-short vignette from A-to-Z.
This is a far cry from a typical dry medical textbook, and for this creativity Taor should be applauded. This is your body like you have never seen it before, full of mystery, eccentricity, weirdness and genius.
What is the difference between genuine tears and crocodile tears? What possessed Isaac Newton to stick a needle into his own eye socket? Why did one of the world’s most influential surgeons steal the skeleton of a giant? What are the “beastly origins of goosebumps”?
I really enjoyed the parts about the misogyny inherent in the naming of female anatomy. About how women’s reproductive organs were named after men who performed really invasive experiments on them. I really appreciated Adam writing at length about this, when other male authors would probably glaze over it.
To be honest I found Taor’s storytelling style a bit too over the top and silly after a while and the madcap style overshadowed the material itself with some of the segways and connections coming across forced and self-conscious rather than natural. For this reason, I couldn’t get through this book the whole way and probably stopped at about one third through.
About the Author
Adam Taor is an author, journalist, and the co-director of a healthcare advertising agency in Sydney, Australia. He is also the author of There’s a Worm on My Eyeball!
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