
If Our Bodies Could Talk
A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body
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Narrated by:
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James Hamblin
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By:
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James Hamblin
About this listen
"If you want to understand the strange workings of the human body, and the future of medicine, you must read this illuminating, engaging book." (Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene)
In 2014, James Hamblin launched a series of videos for The Atlantic called "If Our Bodies Could Talk". With it, the doctor-turned-journalist established himself as a seriously entertaining authority in the field of health. Now, in illuminating and genuinely funny prose, Hamblin explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away - and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. He covers topics such as sleep, aging, diet, and much more:
- Can I "boost" my immune system?
- Does caffeine make me live longer?
- Do we still not know if cell phones cause cancer?
- How much sleep do I actually need?
- Is there any harm in taking a multivitamin?
- Is life long enough?
In considering these questions, Hamblin draws from his own medical training as well from hundreds of interviews with distinguished scientists and medical practitioners. He translates the (traditionally boring) textbook of human anatomy and physiology into accessible, engaging, socially contextualized, up-to-the-moment answers. They offer clarity, examine the limits of our certainty, and ultimately help listeners worry less about things that don't really matter.
If Our Bodies Could Talk is a comprehensive guide that entertains and educates in equal doses.
©2016 James Hamblin (P)2016 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"This book answers all the questions you ever had about your health - plus a whole lot of questions that never occurred to you but should have. Even if you don't care about your health you should read it, because Hamblin is such a delightfully amusing writer." (Walter Isaacson, New York Times best-selling author of The Innovators and Steve Jobs)
"Reading James Hamblin's book is like taking a journey through the vast and uncharted landscape of 'health science.' Fad Diets. The science of vaccines. The truth (and lies) behind coffee. The rumblings of the stomach. If you want to understand the strange workings of the human body, and the future of medicine, you must read this illuminating, engaging book." (Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times best-selling author of The Gene and The Emperor of All Maladies)
"[Hamblin] writes with sarcasm, humor, and a sense of astonishment.... He does a stellar job with nutrition, covering supplements, multivitamins, energy drinks, and gluten. He calls out medical misinformation and marketing myths.... Educational, entertaining, and a bit eccentric." (Booklist)
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How to Be Human
- An Autistic Man’s Guide to Life
- By: Jory Fleming, Lyric Winik
- Narrated by: Jory Fleming, Lyric Winik
- Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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As a child, Jory Fleming was wracked by uncontrollable tantrums, had no tolerance for people, and couldn’t manage the outside world. Slightly more than a decade later, he was bound for England, selected to attend one of the world’s premier universities. How to Be Human explores life amid a world constructed for neurotypical brains when yours is not. But the miracle of this book is that instead of dwelling on Jory’s limitations, those who inhabit the neurotypical world will begin to better understand their own.
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Revealing
- By Helena Abreu on 06-05-21
By: Jory Fleming, and others
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Measure What Matters
- How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
- By: John Doerr, Larry Page - foreword
- Narrated by: John Doerr, full cast, Julia Collins, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that the Objectives and Key Results system has spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.
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Last chapter covers what matters most
- By Dan Richards on 06-08-18
By: John Doerr, and others
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The Body
- A Guide for Occupants
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: Bill Bryson
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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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."
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Must Read for the Sheer Fun of It
- By J.B. on 10-16-19
By: Bill Bryson
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Tools and Weapons
- The Promise and the Peril of the Digital Age
- By: Brad Smith, Carol Ann Browne, Bill Gates - foreword
- Narrated by: Brad Smith, Carol Ann Browne
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Microsoft President Brad Smith operates by a simple core belief: When your technology changes the world, you bear a responsibility to help address the world you have helped create. This might seem uncontroversial, but it flies in the face of a tech sector long obsessed with rapid growth and sometimes on disruption as an end in itself. While sweeping digital transformation holds great promise, we have reached an inflection point. The world has turned information technology into both a powerful tool and a formidable weapon.
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Informative, not captivating. Not about technology
- By UDI B on 11-14-19
By: Brad Smith, and others
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Future Forward
- Leadership Lessons from Patrick McGovern, the Visionary Who Circled the Globe and Built a Technology Media Empire
- By: Glenn Rifkin
- Narrated by: Glenn Rifkin
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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With magazines such as Computerworld, PCWorld, and Macworld, Patrick McGovern's company, International Data Group (IDG), quickly became a global powerhouse with information technology publications in nearly 100 countries. The story of IDG's astonishing success has been a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs all around the world. Future Forward shows you how to apply McGovern's principles to your own organization.
By: Glenn Rifkin
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Destined for War
- Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
- By: Graham Allison
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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War with China is much more likely than anyone thinks. When Athens went to war with Sparta some 2,500 years ago, the Greek historian Thucydides identified one simple cause: A rising power threatened to displace a ruling one. As the eminent Harvard scholar Graham Allison explains, in the past 500 years, great powers have found themselves in "Thucydides's Trap" 16 times. In 12 of the 16, the results have been catastrophic.
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Balances, Counter-Balances and Traps
- By Joyce U. Olewe on 10-09-17
By: Graham Allison
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Noise
- A Flaw in Human Judgment
- By: Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein
- Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From the best-selling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow, the co-author of Nudge, and the author of You Are About to Make a Terrible Mistake! comes Noise, a revolutionary exploration of why people make bad judgments, and how to control both noise and cognitive bias.
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Disappointing
- By Z28 on 05-31-21
By: Daniel Kahneman, and others
What listeners say about If Our Bodies Could Talk
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- Angie Jimenez
- 03-10-17
Outstanding!!!
Eye opener for anybody that lives in a body. Exciting and relevant information delivered in a simple and easy way we can all understand! I will give this book to all my friends and family.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 10-09-18
already planning on listening to it again
loved it. pleased I picked it out of all the audiobooks available, what luck! it is a great read, I highly recommend it. it can be picked up, and put down easily, no matter where you pick back up on it, it is easy to follow because he is covering so many subjects in such an easy and amusing way and constantly changing the topic. I could see this as a bathroom reader. or as the book you listen to when you know you have a short drive and don't want to be pained by putting down a long engrossing fiction. but it is still really interesting and amusing and captivating. I'd consider all the information useful. and have already recommended this book to several people. I listened to this at work between clients. listened to it while I cleaned. and listened to it in the car while driving to work. and listened while my kids were in the car too. a perfect read that didn't leave me grouchy when I had to put it down, but thoughtfully considering what I'd just heard. it covers a lot more than what I expected to hear. I expected a nutrition book. and although it started that way, it covered every body related topic, from burial procedures to diseases to nutrition to vaccinations to medical controversies and silly random questions
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5 people found this helpful
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- Sarah Fitz
- 05-25-17
Thoroughly enjoyable
The author breaks down a lot of complicated medical concepts into digestible chunks for a non medical audience. He uses humour and empathy to review many ethical issues.
He also helps to put medical issues into a broader context of the world around us. Fascinating and highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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- KEVIN
- 01-13-17
funny and insightful.
answers those nagging questions that you didn't know you had. enjoyed the author's sense of humor.
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4 people found this helpful
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- wwturbo
- 07-15-18
Amazing. Funny. Helpful.
Useful. Funny and honest. Keep up the excellent work and updates. Well thought out and delivered.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Noah
- 04-03-17
Great balancing book on what we are as humans
Just a tremendously well done book on understanding what and more interestingly who we are as humans. I loved the organization of the book around seemingly silly medical questions that turned into fascinating moral, ethical, funny and heart felt topics. A great listen with friends as they can pick up at any point and find it interesting.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Captain Awesomepants
- 12-31-21
wonderfully entertaining knowledge
I love the author and his irreverent tone while keeping the knowledge factual and based in multiple studies.
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- Cindy
- 03-02-21
love books like this!
I have listened to both this book and the authors new book " Clean " and wished there were more. I loved the In sight into things that we may have thought about but really never knew why they happened. can t wait for another book by Dr. Hamblin!!!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Lizzy
- 01-31-17
Informative and Entertaining
The author and narrator James Hamblin is incredibly insightful and has a wonderful sense of humor. I highly recommend this book.
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1 person found this helpful
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- 347
- 02-24-23
Great way to explain the current state of Medicine to most people outside of the profession
Most policy makers should take a read. Most people should consider it if they want to demystify their understanding of medicine.
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