What do you know about bones? Personally, I don’t know much. They make up our skeleton, they’re the reason we’re able to run around on two legs, they break and you fix them. I’d like to think I know most of the names but, upon a quick personal quiz, I failed miserably. It’s not a part of human anatomy I think about much. 

In the Secret Life of Bones, author Brian Switek takes this basic piece of human anatomy and turns it into a thrilling story, combining biology, human evolution and history, and accounts from a few personal research trips to create this entertaining tome. It’s truly amazing how many museums, institutions and private collections are housing countless bone collections. From a distance, they all look the same but up close, every skeleton tells its own story. 

Bones themselves are fascinating structures given their perseverance centuries after the body’s death. You’ll find a dive into their makeup, but that’s not the real gem in the book. This is a real history of bones, complete with strange collections and even stranger scientists and enthusiasts who have remained enthralled by what bones can tell us about the past. Many of the stories give rise to the old ‘stranger than fiction’ adage. 

Switek has a very personable writing style, flowing seamlessly between personal experiences and historical accounts. It’s all extremely engaging, showing his excitement for the subject matter. You’ll learn loads of facts and figures you didn’t know and by the end, you’ll have a new appreciation and respect for the bones holding you together. 

To be published on 8/8: http://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/08/08/the-secret-life-of-bones-book-review

Excellent popular-science book about bones

I enjoyed this book. It has everything I expect in good science writing: written in a conversational tone, with the science clearly explained, and topped off by a sense of humor. It also covers an area that doesn’t crop up that often in popular-science books - your bones. The book was hard to put down. I recommend this book for anyone interested in, well, bones.

A well researched and very readable book, the Secret Life of Bones by Brian Switek was an absorbing account of bone in all its guises. Approaching the topic from the perspectives of culture and history as well as biology, Switek has created a book that is both informative and entertaining. Written in layman;s terms and without too much technical or scientfic jargon , the broad subject matter is broken down into easily managed topics like the how our skeleton developed over the evolutionary process and the many similarities still to be found with a surprising array of other creatures to the buying and selling of bones, from the grave robbing days of Burke and Hare to E Bay auctions in the internet age. I found the sections dealing with the functional anatomy of bones, and how not just disease but culture can change this malleable tissue fascinating. I had never really given much thought to bones , in the abstract or in the case of my own skeleton , but it turns out that they are more interesting than I could ever have imagined.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

The Secret Life of Bones was a generally entertaining read. There was a little 'hard science' in terms of paleontology and anatomy, but not so much it became oppressive for me as a novice. I particularly enjoyed the section looking at the recovery and identification of Richard III's remains, and several other facts were new to me and therefore interesting and surprising. Overall this was a fascinating book that covered a wide range of fields and areas of interest, all connected to bone.

The Secret Life of Bones by Brian Switek is a journey through the history and science of bones and skeletons.