The body : a guide for occupants / Bill Bryson

Includes index and bibliographical references.

1. How to build a human -- 2. The outside: skin and hair -- 3. Microbial you -- 4. The brain -- 5. The Head -- 6 Down the Hatch: The Mouth and Throat -- 7 The heart and blood -- 8. The chemistry department -- 9. In the dissecting room: the skeleton -- 10. On the move: bipedalism and exercise -- 11. Equilibrium -- 12 The immune system -- 13. Deep breath: the lungs and breathing -- 14. Food, glorious food -- 15. The guts -- 16. Sleep -- 17. Into the nether regions -- 18. In the beginning: conception and birth -- 19 Nerves and pain -- 20 When Things Go Wrong: Diseases -- 21 When Things Go very wrong: cancer -- 22 Medicine good and bad -- 23. The end -- Afterword to the Anchors book edition (2020) --Acknowledgments -- Notes on sources -- Bibliography -- Index.

"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 readable facts and information. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best." -- Back cover