BKYRBDMM.RVW   20091214

"Your Body: The Missing Manual", Matthew MacDonald, 2009,
978-0-596-80174-8, U$24.99/C$31.99
%A   Matthew MacDonald
%C   103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA   95472
%D   2009
%G   978-0-596-80174-8 0-596-80174-2
%I   O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
%O   U$24.99/C$31.99 800-998-9938 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596801742/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596801742/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596801742/robsladesin03-20
%O   Audience i- Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation)
%P   293 p.
%T   "Your Body: The Missing Manual"

Part one deals with the superficial layers, as it were.  Chapter one
outlines various facts about skin, and some implications for personal
hygiene.  Fat is covered in chapter two, with a lot of emphasis on
implications for dieting.  The material on muscle, in chapter three,
is indicative of the technical level of the content: it gets into
details, but inconsistently.  For example, while anaerobic respiration
and lactic acid are mentioned in separate places, their relationship
is not noted.  The skeletal system is addressed in chapter four. 
Chapter five covers the senses of sight, hearing, taste, and smell.

Part two examines internal organs.  Chapter six discusses the lungs,
blood, nose, throat, speech, and other related entities.  Heart and
exercise is the topic of chapter seven.  The content describing the
digestive system, in chapter eight, is varied, covering biology,
diets, and social tidbits.  The immune system, and associated subjects
such as bacteria, viruses, cancer, auto-immune diseases, and
allergies, are dealt with in chapter nine.  Most of chapter ten, on
sex, discusses organs and activities, rather than reproduction.

The book finishes off with death.  And dying.  In chapter eleven.  A
lot of philosophy, and tips to stay young.

As I was reviewing this work, another person reading it complained
that, just when you get to the interesting parts, the explanation
stops and leaves you with no place to go (other than an irrelevant
joke).  That is, by and large, true.  There is a good deal of
information in the book, but while it would make more than one good
magazine article, it really doesn't get into any depth.  If you have
not thought or learned about your own body, this might be an
introduction to some basic aspects.  If you've taken any human biology
courses, you've probably gone beyond the material presented here.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2009    BKYRBDMM.RVW   20091214