The Body Audiobook By Bill Bryson cover art

The Body

A Guide for Occupants

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Body

By: Bill Bryson
Narrated by: Bill Bryson
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.50

Buy for $22.50

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

An instant New York Times best seller

Named a best book of the year by The Washington Post

Longlisted for the Pen E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award

"Glorious...You will marvel at the brilliance and vast weirdness of your design." (The Washington Post)

Bill Bryson, best-selling author of A Short History of Nearly Everything, takes us on a head-to-toe tour of the marvel that is the human body. As addictive as it is comprehensive, this is Bryson at his very best, a must-listen owner's manual for everybody.

Bill Bryson once again proves himself to be an incomparable companion as he guides us through the human body - how it functions, its remarkable ability to heal itself, and (unfortunately) the ways it can fail. Full of extraordinary facts (your body made a million red blood cells since you started reading this) and irresistible Bryson-esque anecdotes, The Body will lead you to a deeper understanding of the miracle that is life in general and you in particular.

As Bill Bryson writes, "We pass our existence within this wobble of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for granted." The Body will cure that indifference with generous doses of wondrous, compulsively listenable facts and information.

©2019 Bill Bryson (P)2019 Random House Audio
Adulthood & Aging Anatomy & Physiology Biological Sciences Developmental Psychology Psychology Science Mental Health Inspiring Suspenseful Physiology Body Systems

Critic reviews

"Bill Bryson is not so much a discoverer of new lands as a charismatic cartographer of existing ones, smartly mapping points of entry into territory that might otherwise remain impenetrable to curious travelers. With light footed prose, The Body winds its way through the dense terrain of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry....The result is an absorbing catalog of the human body in all its firmness and fatality....The colossal roster of facts on display is dazzling.... Bryson's distinctive voice will likely delight readers eager to go sightseeing around the world they embody." (The American Scholar)

"A delightful tour guide...Bryson's stroll through human anatomy, physiology, evolution, and illness (diabetes, cancer, infections) is instructive, accessible, and entertaining." (Booklist starred review)

Amusingly informative." (Forbes)

Featured Article: The Best Science Listens to Channel Your Inner Einstein


While you might listen in order to be entertained, there are also a host of works intended to be purely educational. We chose the best science titles on this list for the fact that they are both. These selections not only bring important perspectives on some of the most pressing scientific issues of our time—they’re also written and performed with a refreshing clarity that makes them easy to swallow and entertaining to the end.