The Body in Question

by Jonathan Miller

Hardcover, 1986

Status

Available

Call number

612

Genres

Publication

Horizon Book Promotions (1986), Edition: 1st American ed, Hardcover, 352 pages

Description

An outstanding investigation into the functioning of the human body - original, stimulating and highly entertaining. 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.… (more)

Media reviews

The New York Review of Books

I prefer the book to the television series because it is more concise. It has left out some episodes, but these are not essential. On television, Miller has mutual fun with some highly verbal Cockneys on the streets of London, asking them where their heart, liver, and spleen are located—a useful

illustration of our ignorance of our insides. A patient with appendicitis is asked where his pain started. He answers that it began on the train going home. The doctor dismisses this silly answer since he wants to know where in the abdomen the pain started. The book, magnificently illustrated, allows the reader to consider how he questions his body and how others in other cultures and times have done so. The book cannot include the episode when Miller did a post-mortem on television, which earned him the title of "Dissector-General of the BBC." Still, the reader will learn a lot about his own body and his attitudes will be changed. Even though I am obviously familiar with the subject matter, I found many ideas and attitudes which were new to me and very provocative.

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User reviews

LibraryThing member jwhenderson

This book is a tie-in to the PBS series of the same name. Jonathan Miller shows the breadth of his interests with a tour of the latest in knowledge of the human body. While it is more than twenty years old this is still an entertaining journey.

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LibraryThing member Anome

The companion book to the landmark TV series of the 70s. It is one of the earliest serious television programmes I can remember watching, and I would rank it with Life on Earth, and The Ascent of Man (also early television memories). Jonathan Miller, perhaps Britain's greatest know-it-all, and best

known neurologist, presented the show with the same affable style that he used in his stand up routines for Beyond the Fringe, with the same effect. You felt that he was very knowledgeable, and that he was sharing his knowledge with you to the best of his ability.

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LibraryThing member Thruston

An engaging read about the nature of scientific thought, the development of medicine since ancient times, and our own perceptions of our own bodies. Very nicely presented in this Pimlico paperback edition too. Miller writes very well, with many vivid and memorable images; never patronizing, always

interesting and thought provoking.

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LibraryThing member vguy

Genial deeply informed, full of new insights ESP thru deft use of metaphor. Much new to me about blood, breath, perception, locomotion everything. Even the occasional joke, to remind us of the comedian. An overview and fresh angle on many things, showing the creative man of theatre mingled with the

polymath. Takes the role of dilettante to the level of genius. Il uomo universale still lives.

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