Showing results for "Body" in History & Commentary

In the best-selling, prize-winning A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson achieved the seemingly impossible by making the science of our world both understandable and entertaining to millions of people around the globe. Now he turns his attention inwards to explore the human body, how it functions and its remarkable ability to heal itself. Full of extraordinary facts and astonishing stories, The Body: A Guide for Occupants is a brilliant, often very funny attempt to understand the miracle of our physical and neurological makeup.

The remarkable stories of the world's most famous body parts. Louis XIV's rear end inspired the British National Anthem. Queen Victoria's armpit led the development of antiseptics. Robert Jenkin's ear started a war. All too often, historical figures feel distant and abstract; more myth and...

Dripping with blood and gold, fetishised and tortured, gateway to earthly delights and point of contact with the divine, forcibly divided and powerful even beyond death, there was no territory more contested than the body in the medieval world. In Medieval Bodies, art historian Jack Hartnell uncovers the complex and fascinating ways in which the people of the Middle Ages thought about, explored and experienced their physical selves.

Just like us, medieval men and women worried about growing old, got blisters and indigestion, fell in love, and had children. And yet their lives were full of miraculous and richly metaphorical experiences radically different from our own, unfolding in a world where deadly wounds might be healed overnight by divine intervention, or where the heart of a king, plucked from his corpse, could be held aloft as a powerful symbol of political rule.

*WINNER OF THE 2023 OTTAWA BOOK AWARD* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 TEMPLER MEDAL FOR BEST BOOK* From Canada’s top war historian, a definitive medical history of the Great War, illuminating how the carnage of modern battle gave birth to revolutionary life-saving innovations. It brings to light...

Drawing on Crampton’s own experience of surviving a life-threatening disease only to find herself beset by almost constant anxiety about her health, A Body Made of Glass explores part of the landscape of illness that most memoirs don’t reach: the territory beyond survival or cure, where body and mind seem locked in a strange and exhausting kind of dance. The result is both a fascinating cultural history of hypochondria and a moving account of what it means to live with this invisible, elusive and increasingly widespread condition.

Throughout the seventeenth century, medical lecturers demonstrated human anatomy by dissecting a cadaver while surrounded by students. After the Revolutionary War, though, instructors realized that they needed many more cadavers to serve a growing number of medical students. Enter the “resurrectionists”–body snatchers. Resurrectionists were a cruel lot; men (almost always men and often medical students themselves) who would sneak into a cemetery under the cover of darkness, remove a body, and then sell it to a physician or anatomist–usually for around $100.

The kidney is an extraordinary organin many ways the regulator, the metronome, the keeper of the human bodys delicate equilibrium. On a given day, minute by minute, it purifies the body of toxins it encounters from diet, climate, activity, and injury. It allows us to be and to move in the world...

On June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, asserting that the Constitution did not confer the right to abortion. This ruling, in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case, was the culmination of a half-century of pro-life activism promoting the idea that fetuses are people and therefore entitled to the rights and protections that the Constitution guarantees. But it was also the product of a much longer history of archaic ideas about the relationship between pregnant people and the fetuses they carry.

In 1862, President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. The Act said that any American willing to settle on 160 acres of public land, live there for five years, and improve the parcel, could file a claim and receive title. Between 1862 and 1976, when the Federal Land Policy and Management Act repealed the homesteading provisions in the contiguous states, the United States distributed approximately 270 million acres of continental North America through this mechanism of the registered claim.

In the eighteenth century the first American medical school was established in Philadelphia. Following the model of European universities, anatomical lectures were conducted with cadavers. But where did the bodies come from? Dissection was viewed as a fate worse than death, and the only legal source of "stiffs" was executed criminals. But there were not enough. As the medical profession and its need for "anatomical material" grew, a new, macabre practice emerged: body snatching.

Dive into thrilling medical history and brilliant scientific discovery to decode the ultimate mystery: your own anatomy. Perfect for your daily commute, this enlightening narrative transforms complex biology into a captivating audio journey. Witness how ancient myths gave way to modern medicine...

Uncover the mind-bending medical history of how human belief transforms into measurable biological reality. Whether you are seeking an eye-opening commute listen or optimizing your own wellness, explore the fascinating line between physiological healing and psychological illusion. From ancient...

"Petkoff gives a flawless performance of this doctor/naturalist's memoir, conveying both his inquisitiveness and assuredness with aplomb." - AudioFile "A fascinating, lyrical book... Reisman's experiences in other cultures bring a richness and depth to The Unseen Body. The way he thinks about...

Mind & Body – Mental States & Physical Conditions is William Walker Atkinson’s clear, compelling exploration of the profound and often misunderstood relationship between mental life and physical health. Long before modern science recognized psychosomatic influence, Atkinson argued that the mind is not merely a companion to the body—but a decisive force shaping vitality, illness, resilience, and overall well-being.

Unearth the macabre medical history of secret dissections and the grave robbers who fueled a scientific revolution. Perfect for a captivating daily commute, this dark narrative non-fiction journey reveals humanity’s uneasy transition from fearing the dead to relying on them for survival. You...

Step onto the microscopic battlefield inside your own body to discover how invisible defenses fight off deadly pathogens. From ancient plagues to modern pandemics, this fascinating medical history reveals the relentless cellular war raging just beneath your skin. Explore the brilliant scientific...

Uncover the awe-inspiring medical history of human anatomy and our relentless quest to map the body's hidden secrets. Perfect for fueling your daily commute with thought-provoking science, this gripping narrative explores how early civilizations defied intense cultural taboos to understand the...

Uncover the gripping medical history of human transplantation and the fierce bioethical battles defying mortality. Perfect for a thought-provoking daily commute, this fascinating narrative traces our quest to replace failing body parts, moving from ancient myths to modern surgical miracles. It...

Experience the gripping medical history of an eerie, accidental discovery that revolutionized diagnostic science forever. Perfect for focused learning during your morning commute, this fascinating journey transports listeners from shadowy nineteenth-century physics labs to the frantic front...