Ignorance About the Body

A major theme Bryson develops throughout The Body: A Guide for Occupants is the startling ignorance most people have about their bodies. In nearly every chapter he points out how little medical science and people in general know about each part of the body he discusses. For example, he notes how little we know about the microbes in our bodies, how much of our brains remains a mystery to us, how many of us have never heard of many parts of our head, how incomplete medical science’s knowledge is of the hormonal system and even how little we know about what happens to food after we eat it. Medical science has yet to unravel the reason why we cry emotional tears. Bryson explains, ““We are the only creatures that cry from feeling, as far as we can tell,” he writes (82). “Why we do so...