The Unseen Body
A Doctor's Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy
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The Unseen Body
Narrated by:
Robert Petkoff
Buy Now for $23.05
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Narrated by:
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Robert Petkoff
Through his offbeat adventures in healthcare and travel, Reisman discovers new perspectives on the body: a trip to the Alaskan Arctic reveals that fat is not the enemy, but the hero; a stint in the Himalayas uncovers the boundary where the brain ends and the mind begins; and eating a sheep's head in Iceland offers a lesson in empathy. By relating his experiences in far-flung lands and among unique cultures back to the body's inner workings, he shows how our organs live inextricably intertwined lives in an internal ecosystem that reflects the natural world around us.
Reisman's unique perspective on the natural world and his expert wielding of wit ultimately helps us make sense of our lives, our bodies and our world in a way readers have never before imagined.
'An elegant, elegiac, and deeply enjoyable meander through human anatomy . . . the images Reisman conjures will linger long after you've devoured his delightful prose.' - Nicola Twilley, co-author of Until Proven Safe and co-host of Gastropod podcast
(P) 2021 Macmillan Audio©2021 Jonathan Reisman
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Critic Reviews
A fascinating, lyrical book . . . Reisman's experiences in other cultures bring a richness and depth to The Unseen Body. The way he thinks about the body and medicine - the rivers and tributaries, the flowing and unclogging, the top-down organisation of the brain - is extraordinary!
A magnificent travelogue through the human body by a truly intrepid explorer. A genuine 'must' for anyone who is even remotely curious about their own body and how it works. I really loved it.
An intelligent, innovative, eclectic and accessible book in which Reisman views the human body with a remarkable degree of lateral thinking. Sometimes funny, often gruesome but always entertaining and educational.
The author's literary approach to this complicated subject proved excellent bedside material. [Reisman] comes across as a generous and thoughtful physician . . . [who can] make sense out of it all. (Ms. Bone)
If you are fascinated by the human body and how it works, or you are thinking about studying medicine, or you are just a curious person you will find this book a joy to read . . . This is a great and easy read which I heartily (excuse the pun) recommend.
Terrific, memorable, original, and full of information that informs one's understanding not only of the body but what has stopped us from knowing more. There is palpable joy at learning in Reisman's writing and readers will know him as an individual whose humility and empathy are as impressive as his adventurous, travel-hungry spirit.
Through his acute and extensive observations of the seen world of nature and human nature, Reisman illuminates the analogous workings of our unseen bodies. An Alexander von Humboldt of the human body, Dr. Reisman's comparisons give us an ingenious perspective from which to understand the ways in which our internal organs function alone and together. I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in understanding and appreciating the marvels of the human body.
THE UNSEEN BODY is an elegant, elegiac, and deeply enjoyable meander through human anatomy, by way of brain-tanned buckskin, blood as the last salty remnant of life's oceanic origins, and the World Testicle Cooking Championships. The images Reisman conjures will linger long after you've devoured his delightful prose.
A remarkable travel narrative that documents the author's trip through a seemingly familiar place, the human body, and with a blend of science and personal experience renders that place both strange and fascinating, so much so that the reader will feel not only delighted, but also proud to be a lifelong inhabitant of it.
Quirky, never-dull popular science
An engaging book likely to pique the curiosity of readers interested in a wide range of medical conditions or naturalistic medicine
Dr Reisman engagingly relates provocative stories for the fifteen body parts uncovered in this treatise, and goads the reader to re-evaluate their perception of the body
Secondly and the reason this book was probably the worst I have listened to in my history of Audible (since 2014), was that this book is clearly written from the perspective of an insular and privileged white American male. I don't even need to google this guy to know this, because it is like a stereotype for the ignorant, rich, arrogant white guy.
His ability to be presented with life lessons, and then entirely miss the point, due to his own cultural bias was honestly next level. Where he thought he was coming across as funny, he in fact comes across and tone deaf, wilfully ignorant and cringe worthy on almost every occasion (he tries it a lot).
The book seems to be more a brag about how good he is at rote learning. The author doesn't even appear to have a fundamental understanding of human psychology, and if he does know the body as he claims to, he carefully keeps this to himself.
The Pièce de résistance of the authors vulgar and frankly bizarre thought processes had to be the borderline cannibalism he championed. After explaining his deep understanding of the intricate nature of the body and its organs and muscles, and how they related in the same way anatomically to animals. How he fully appreciated the rhythms and feedback loops of the physiology and the way the body functions in a structured and wonderous fashion in all animals. These epiphanies of how the body works, lead him to want to eat more meat, not just muscles, but organs too.... This bit nearly made me physically ill to hear (I am not a vegan). He seemed to take such pleasure in death.
This garbage tip of a book is an example of a person who is so privileged they see the world as an adventure playground for themselves, to be used and exploited, not understood cared for and protected. Quite the opposite of what you would expect a thinking person to conclude with a medical education behind them.
0 stars from me.
Bordering on Terrible
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