The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites, and Partners that Shape Who We are Today, by Rob Dunn
I fear that the sheer number of pop science-type books I post about might have some of you rolling your eyes. Oh great, another book about gross body stuff. And I think I get it; after spending a good solid 10 minutes chatting with a girlfriend about my girlhood skull collection and exactly how I obtained that many bones (a discussion for another day if you’re curious), I pressed my lips together and decided that not everyone understands the obsession, willing myself back into normal chit chat.
This book grabbed me first by the beautiful cover art, but once I read the cover and skimmed through the chapters (eyes growing wide at I Need My Appendix, and So Do My Bacteria and eyebrows raised at The Dirty Realities of What to Do When You Are Sick and Missing Your Worms). Beyond the shock value, the book is really good — a mishmash of medicine, biology, ecology, and evolution that I find so appealing. There’s also plenty about the consequences of modern living on human bodies, including some interesting talk about why we are becoming fatter as a society— but overall the appeal has to do with a general perspective change in how we view humans (as being just as wild and inhabited by other species as opposed to being separate from them). A great read if you’re up for an interesting, thought-provoking read.
Super cool! I think that story about the skulls warrants a blog post. 🙂
Oh, Liz. I was such a weird kid. But I think I’ll have to write about it here. 🙂
Kind of a comment on this post + the last one. The appendix and the ill fated March gave me the shivers. Let’s hope for a better March for both of us, okay? Yikes. Lots of last year was no fun.
P.S. I can barely even read a car-barf story anymore. My oldest got carsick so easily. If I never have to clean out another carseat again, I’ll be a happy lady. Gag gag gag.
Kristin, I’m 100% with you. I’d rather clean up poop than vomit any day.
And I’m thinking positive thoughts for both of this on the eve of March. We’re going to make it, lady!
It’s funny because while I love nature and bugs and plants… the body stuff of science makes me squeamish. W is sooo into the ickies (for me anyway) of science, and it’s fascinating to see his brain work in a way that doesn’t resonate with mine. He’s obsessed with death, but in this very physical way. Do bodies rot like vegetables? Do animals rot? If you eat animals, do they only rot when you die? Weird stuff! Sometimes he’ll look at meat in my cookbooks, and I’ll ask if he’s interested in trying it and he’ll say, ‘no I just want to know what under my skin when you cut me up’. It freaks me out a little, but I really do think he just has a genuine interest in the science of how the body works. Were you weirder than him?!?
Well, I too love icky body things! Maybe you need a few healthcare professionals as friends. I’m a nurse practitioner, and like my colleagues, I can talk about pretty much anything at the dinner table. Thanks for the recommendation- The book sounds positively fascinating!
Lilly, W sounds so much like me as a kid, I think I was always very curious about the human body. I remember being very young when my parents got me the “Invisible Man” for Christmas one year and I used to sit in the basement painting all the body parts and placing them back into the model, then removing them and studying the shape, etc. I think some people are just born interested. And if it’s any consolation, I am a *relatively* well-adjusted, non-sociopathic adult. Ha, ha!
And yes, Shairstin, I am lucky that I have pretty much all of Andrew’s relatives who are doctors to discuss the ins and outs of human anatomy. His brother Billy often indulges me with gory stories from the ER. I find it all really fascinating! Glad to hear that you do too!