The Body in Question - Hardcover

Miller, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394502809 ISBN 13: 9780394502809

Publisher: Horizon Book Promotions, 1986

Synopsis

In this remarkable book Jonathan Miller considers the functioning of the body as a subject of private experience. He explores our attitudes towards the body, our astonishing ignorance about certain parts of it and our inability to read its signals. Taking as his starting point the experience of pain, Dr Miller explores the elaborate social process of 'falling ill', considers the physical foundations of 'dis-ease' and looks at the types of individuals man has historically attributed with the power of healing.

His explanations are so lucid, so wide-ranging and so whole-heartedly entertaining it is often hard to believe one is reading about the facts of one's own body and what can go wrong with it. His use of metaphor and suggestive models, particularly when tracing the historical development of certain leading ideas in human physiology, is highly stimulating. Above all, there is the keen originality and sheer enthusiasm of Dr Miller's approach to his subject which makes The Body in Question such an outstanding book.

About this title

Review:

The Body in Question is a reprint of the 1980 book written by Dr Jonathan Miller to complement his then TV series. As the subject is the history and rationale of man's attitude to his own body, one might expect the book to have dated. After all, few things are more otiose than yesterday's medical knowledge. However, the author's lofty philosophical perspective, and distantly literary approach, ensure the text is as refreshingly different as when first written.

The book falls gracefully into eight sections, each dealing with some major aspect of medicine or anatomy. The first, Natural Shocks, concerns itself with the nervous system, the second section analyses the body's ailments, and diagnoses thereof. And so on. All the sections are liberally wreathed with allusion and anecdote: yes, there's plenty of stuff about the spleen and the pancreas-- there's also the surprising info that Mozart wrote tunes for robot pianos, and that a dog with no gullet will drink until it drops.

Anyone seeking practical medical knowledge should not look here; nor should anyone wanting relevant advice on, say, alternative medicine, or psychiatry: Miller's style and subject range is too pointed, choosy, cerebral. But that's also what makes this book so unique, and therefore engaging. --Sean Thomas

Review:

"The book will stand by itself as a tribute to the ingenuity of nature and to those who try to unravel its secrets" (New York Magazine)

"He manages to synthesize physiology, medicine, psychology, philosophy, history and art with astonishing skill, clarity, erudition and wit... the most complex subjects are rendered comprehensible and entertaining... An excellent book which bridges two cultures" (David Mendel Observer)

"[The Body in Question] reveals the range and variety of the author's skills: those of a physician, (especially a neurologist), a comparative anatomist and a philosopher... Among the various allotropes of Jonathan Miller cited above, we must number also the entertainer and the wit: Miller is exceedingly amusing... His text is distinguished by innumerable felicities of thought or expression" (P. B. Medawar Times Literary Supplement)

"A brilliant mixture of medical, metaphorical and philosophical commentary" (Richard Holmes The Times)

"This tour de force has... sheer gusto and kinetic energy" (Guardian)

About this edition

• Publisher: Horizon Book Promotions
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0394502809
• ISBN 13: 9780394502809
• Binding: Hardcover