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The Body in Time |
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| (Illus.) John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1988 227pp. 0-471-85762-9 Index YA-T, GA ** |
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Award-winning science writer Kenneth Jon Rose has supplied us with a fascinating and accessible book in which he discusses universal biological processes as they occur in the human body and their relationships with time. After citing Ecclesiastes ("To everything there is a season. . ."), Rose explores body processes that occur in microseconds (enzymatic action), milliseconds (nerve reflexes), seconds (trauma), minutes (hormone secretions and drug interactions), hours (sleep), days (weightlessness), months (fetal gestation), and years (aging). He explains events that take place before birth and follows them through life to decomposition after death. Complex matters are simplified so that high school-level readers can understand and appreciate their significance. In one passage, he presents the effect of a gun wound on a human body by relating in an unemotional, scientific manner the exact biological processes that took place in the first seconds after President Reagan was shot in 1981. Throughout, information is accurate, well organized, and clearly presented. High-quality illustrations complement the text. I highly recommend this unique, intelligently written book to general science buffs of all backgrounds.
--Reviewed by Robert R. J. Grispino in Science Books and Films, 23/5 (May/June 1988), p. 302.
