The Unseen Body: A Doctor's Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of Human Anatomy

In his beautifully written prose, Dr Jonathan Reisman - physician, adventure traveller and naturalist - allows readers to navigate their insides like an explorer discovering a new world.

Through his offbeat adventures in healthcare and travel, Reisman discovers new perspectives on the body: a trip to the Alaskan Arctic reveals that fat is not the enemy, but the hero; a stint in the Himalayas uncovers the boundary where the brain ends and the mind begins; and eating a sheep's head in Iceland offers a lesson in empathy. By relating his experiences in far-flung lands and among unique cultures back to the body's inner workings, he shows how our organs live inextricably intertwined lives in an internal ecosystem that reflects the natural world around us.

Reisman's unique perspective on the natural world and his expert wielding of wit ultimately helps us make sense of our lives, our bodies and our world in a way readers have never before imagined.

'An elegant, elegiac, and deeply enjoyable meander through human anatomy . . . the images Reisman conjures will linger long after you've devoured his delightful prose.' - Nicola Twilley, co-author of Until Proven Safe and co-host of Gastropod podcast

A fascinating, lyrical book . . . Reisman's experiences in other cultures bring a richness and depth to The Unseen Body. The way he thinks about the body and medicine -- the rivers and tributaries, the flowing and unclogging, the top-down organisation of the brain -- is extraordinary!

― Mary Roach, author of STIFF

If you are fascinated by the human body and how it works, or you are thinking about studying medicine, or you are just a curious person you will find this book a joy to read . . . This is a great and easy read which I heartily (excuse the pun) recommend.

― Professor Alex Rodgers, author of THE DEEP

Terrific, memorable, original, and full of information that informs one's understanding not only of the body but what has stopped us from knowing more. There is palpable joy at learning in Reisman's writing and readers will know him as an individual whose humility and empathy are as impressive as his adventurous, travel-hungry spirit. ― Kenneth S. Brecher, cultural anthropologist and author of TOO SAD TO SING

Through his acute and extensive observations of the seen world of nature and human nature, Reisman illuminates the analogous workings of our unseen bodies. An Alexander von Humboldt of the human body, Dr. Reisman's comparisons give us an ingenious perspective from which to understand the ways in which our internal organs function alone and together. I highly recommend this book to everyone interested in understanding and appreciating the marvels of the human body. ― Warren Zapol. M.D., professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School, Antarctic researcher, and inventor

THE UNSEEN BODY is an elegant, elegiac, and deeply enjoyable meander through human anatomy, by way of brain-tanned buckskin, blood as the last salty remnant of life's oceanic origins, and the World Testicle Cooking Championships. The images Reisman conjures will linger long after you've devoured his delightful prose. ― Nicola Twilley, co-author of UNTIL PROVEN SAFE and co-host of GASTROPOD podcast

A remarkable travel narrative that documents the author's trip through a seemingly familiar place, the human body, and with a blend of science and personal experience renders that place both strange and fascinating, so much so that the reader will feel not only delighted, but also proud to be a lifelong inhabitant of it. ― Lawrence Millman, award-winning author of FUNGIPEDIA

Jonathan Reisman, M.D., is a doctor of internal medicine and pediatrics who has practiced medicine in the world's most remote places - in the Arctic and Antarctica, at high-altitude in Nepal and in Kolkata's urban slums. He speaks Spanish and Russian and heads a non-profit to improve healthcare and education in India. Jonathan's writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, and the Washington Post. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and children.