Anatomies

Hugh Aldersey-Williams writes a “cultural history of the human body” in Anatomies.  While the book was interesting it wasn’t what I expected and it was very stream of the author’s consciousness.  He basically takes the body piece by piece and writes about it.  He attempts to get at some of the historical and/or cultural connections we make with the particular body part but the result is less what the culture as a whole sees and more what he personally thinks.  The section on the ear, for example, focuses solely on the ear in art.  He also adores making literary references and will frequently devolve into describing a story.  He describes Gogol’s story The Nose in his section on The Head, for example.

Truthfully I had hoped for something that actually was more a cultural history of the human body.  This was a little too much this is what the human body makes me (the author) think of for my taste.  It did have interesting parts though so I would recommend it to those who like personal reflections on (loosely) scientific topics.