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Wisdom of the Body
by Sherwin B. Nuland
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Trafalgar Square (1997-05-29)
ISBN: 070116672X
EAN: 9780701166724
Dewey Decimal #: 500
Hardcover: 410 pages
SKU: 20316
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Hardcover. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. All pages clean and unmarked.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
The author of "How We Die" combines his clinical knowledge and a sense of wonder to explore the human body, explaining how our myriad, multifarious cells work and how they organize themselves to protect our bodies from threats to our wellbeing and safety. The book's topics range from the complex detail of DNA to the engineering of the circulatory system, and through accounts of life-and-death emergencies and case histories the author takes readers close to his own experience as a practising surgeon and physician. He also seeks to move beyond mechanics and biology to explore the human spirit.
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Amazon.com Review
Much has been written about what makes humans distinct from other species, but what makes individual humans different from each other? Part of the answer lies in our responses to life-threatening illness, as Sherwin Nuland shows in this beautifully written meditation on human variability. Nuland explains biology and advanced medical procedures and makes them seem no more complicated than a good baseball game, and at least as exciting. Mostly, though, Nuland finds the human spirit within these complex systems, and the reader can be as exhilarated by his findings as he is.
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Customer Reviews
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Biology, Anatomy and Medicine ROCK!
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-05-13
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I read How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter several years ago. It was helpful, informative and downright fascinating. How We Live is more of the same, but focuses on startling recoveries, remissions and successes. Dr. Nuland writes clearly and with evident enthusiasm for his subject. I'm glad he had offered his thoughts and experiences to strangers. (I never knew I'd be so fascinated with a spleen!!)
His book lengh essay The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being is a pragmatic yet reassuring guide, too.
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Intriguing book!
Rating (4)
Date: 2006-05-25
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Do you have a human body? Are you the least bit interested in how it works? If you are then the book How We Live is perfect for you! My goal in life is to become a doctor; therefore, I am entering school as a Pre-med student. This book, How We Live, by Sherwin B. Nunland truly inspired a thirst in me to learn more about the workings of my body. He writes this book with enthusiasm, intellect, and skill and his stories placed throughout the book are truly capturing.
He starts of the book by immediately grabbing his reader. He states his opinions on the body and talks about human's will to live and the doctor's passion to save them. He quickly begins an intense story about a surprise surgery he once performed. As he walked into the hospital a page sounded for "any general surgeon". Dr. Nunland was in the operating room in a heartbeat, the woman needed immediate surgery. Her stomach was cut open and all he could see was blood, he was soon searching for the unknown source of blood flow. Just as everyone thought they were losing their patient, Dr, Nunland was able to miraculously bring her back to life. Dr Nunland explains this miracle as a patient's will to live and his ability to save her.
Dr. Nunland uses this initial story to grasp the reader and continues with this fast pace story telling mixed with his medical opinions throughout the entire book. Anyone interested in the body would love this book. He talks about intriguing surgeries, capillaries, muscle movement, cell division, Alzheimer's Disease, many of the systems working in our body, sexual reproduction, and the brain. Nunland is able to mention all of this, and more, and yet his book How We Live is much more then just a science book. He incorporates touching stories, near deaths and real life experiences that would relate to everyone. Read this book if you are at all interested in how you work!
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It's Great!!!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-05-19
8 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
How We Live, by Sherwin B. Nunland, is an intriguing, well-written book worthy of a five-star review. The 364-page book is beautifully written, with excellent descriptions and powerful stories. In addition to scientifically accurate descriptions of each body system, How We Live relates the structure of each part of the body to the function of a human being as a whole. This book is truly the work of an excellent author.
The first chapter, "The Will to Live", is a story of just that - a woman who requires immediate emergency surgery top treat a desperate condition. The descriptions in this chapter are vivid and graphic - including detailed accounts of the surgery itself. Spurting blood, ruptured organs, and jerking muscle are described so intensely it is easy to imagine what the scene described would look like. In fact, this chapter is so well-written, I advise anyone with a weak stomach to skip it!
The second chapter provides many accurate descriptions of the body and how it works - everything from blood and capillaries to the differences between voluntary and involuntary muscle. The circulatory system is described in such detail that it is easy to forget this is a scientific book! The body and its structures are described as wonders of nature. The third chapter goes into a story of breast cancer and gets more deeply into the endocrine system. There is, in this chapter, an interesting description of a cancerous breast and the procedure done to remove it. The fourth chapter deals with the nervous system, and provides several helpful illustrations to help the reader understand somewhat challenging information. The fifth chapter details the cell, and the sixth and seventh chapters discuss sexuality and the reproductive process. The book goes on the discuss birth, the heart, the digestive system, and the brain. These chapters add up to a scientifically accurate, yet interesting book.
How We Live is different from most other science books in that it isn't dry or confusing. It combines accurate information with heart-warming stories and is fun to read. The information is surprisingly easy to understand and the book is interesting enough to contend with fiction novels. This is a must read!
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Body Mechanics
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-03-13
19 out of 20 customers found this reveiw helpful
I bought this book under the title "Wisdom of the Body". Because it was written after "How We Die", which won a National Book Award, it was changed from "Wisdom of the Body" to "How We Live" because so many reviewers nicknamed it that. Dr. Nuland is one of the best writer's I have come across concerning the function of the human body. He writes with such clarity and interweaves his stories with wonderful references to the history of medicine. I think everyone that has the least bit of interest in how their body works should read his books. You don't have to have a medical background to understand his writing, but if you do have a medical background, he helps you see things even more clearly. These books are especially meaningful for anyone who has an aging parent suffering from certain illnesses. It will give you an understanding and a peace that you might not find elsewhere.
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Interesting Overview
Rating (4)
Date: 2004-01-28
9 out of 14 customers found this reveiw helpful
We start with an overview of the body as a working, smoothly functioning system. Dr. Nuland tells us that a stable system is not a static one, but one that is constantly changing and adapting. The paradox is stability means instability. Although his background is medical science, he has the courage to admit that medicine is an art. Going back to his system's paridigm, he says we are greater than the sum of our biological parts. From that statement he makes an inference, saying by our own choices, we can enhance what we've been given physically.He returns to this healing theme later in the book by noting, "All growth and all healing depend on the ability of cells to divide and thereby reproduce themselves." While the book presents fascinating insight on the body's physical functions, it totally misses the mark spiritually. When he comments on those matters, rather frequently in the margins my comments are "bogus" and "spiritually blind." He knows the external functions, but he is woefully lacking on the unseen part.
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