So you think you know all about anatomy? Can you name the largest and one of the most important organs in the body? If you called out anything other than skin, you need to go and listen to John Lithgow crooning "You Gotta Have Skin!" As Monty Lyman makes very clear in this interesting tome, your skin does so much more than just keep your insides in!

In ten informative chapters, Monty Lyman takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of skin. He starts off with a look at instances when the skin fails, and then dives into all the intricate layers of your skin. He looks at how your skin reflects what is going on in your gut, how skin deals with light and sun exposure, and how it ages. Skin plays a key role in your sense of touch, for both good an ill. How our skin looks and feels affects us psychologically while what we ink on our skin can affect us socially. And then skin plays a part in our impression of others and their impression of us. Finally Monty Lyman discusses how skin shapes our thinking in regard to religion, philosophy, and language.

Skin is so much more than just a container for bones and guts. The Remarkable Life of the Skin provides the reader a readable entrance into the world of skin!

Nonfiction about the skin – every single aspect of the skin. The cells that make it up and their interactions, in perhaps too advanced, textbook-level detail; advice on how to care for it; why sunburns are even worse for you than you already knew; the connections between the skin and other organs, particularly the brain and the guts; how skin ages; how psychology can effect its functioning; how skin diseases from the serious (leprosy and albinism) to the mild (acne and eczema) are regarded by various cultures. I definitely think Lyman could have reduced the number of subjects. Some of the lighter topics (where do sayings like "skin-deep" and "saving his skin" come from?) sit awkwardly against the graduate-level lessons in skin biology.

Lyman doesn't have the engaging touch of the best of our popular science writers, people such as Mary Roach or Carl Zimmer, but his book was interesting enough. My favorite thing I learned is why fingers and toes wrinkle when you spend too long in the bath. Turns out: it's not because the skin absorbs water. MIND BLOWN. Scientists still aren't entirely sure why it happens, but it's somehow connected to the nerves – dead toes or toes with the nerves cut don't wrinkle. The current best guess theory is that it's an evolutionary adaption to improve grip in slippery circumstances. Did I say mind blown? Because... whoa.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4649522394

5 "superb, all-encompassing, multi-disciplinary" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, Dr Lyman and Atlantic Monthly Press for an e-copy. This was released June 2020. I am providing my honest review.

This book was an absolute gem. Written by a dermatologist for a wide audience. The style is clear, respectful and immensely helpful. I am so pleasantly surprised as to how much is packed into this book.

Dr. Lyman takes a holistic and wide panoramic view of disseminating a whole host of information about human skin. He provides plenty of clinical examples and personal anecdotes and there is never a dull moment into this topic area.

I will list some of the topics that I can from memory (but will likely miss many)

-basic anatomy and physiology of skin
-the skin-gut-mind connection
-myths and lies of the beauty care industry (the science behind taking care of our aging skin)
-mechanisms for wound healing
-multiple forms of treatment and healing for various skin conditions
-the mental health challenges of living with skin issues
-history of skin disorders and disorders that have manifestations on the skin including scabies, syphilis , HIV, psoriasis, eczema, leprosy, acne among many others
-anecdotes of his treatment of dermatological populations around the world
-the politics, sociology and anthropology of skin including racism, tattoos, gender relations
-the psychoanalysis and spirituality of skin


The subject was vast and Dr. Lyman was able to impart his knowledge and research in an interesting , respectful and hope instilling way. Kudos Dr. Lyman !

On a fun note...I was completely off meat and poultry while reading this...we will see how long this lasts.

On a serious note....If you are somebody that struggles with hypochondriasis or other health anxiety this book might be quite triggering so please make sure you have the appropriate supports if tackling this book.

This was a very interesting book about an organ most of us don't think of as an organ, because it's on the outside of our body. I learned a lot, like the majority of dust in a person's house is actually skin (eww). I'm thankful for Netgalley for allowing me to review this book.

Aside from what I learned about skin when I was a kid-skin holds the insides in- and my 5 long decade fight with acne and now other atrocities, I really didn't know much about skin. I was excited to actually find this book, as I've never seen a book on skin before and it IS the largest organ of our body! You'd like we would have heard more about it in health! Interesting book; very informative.

This book talks about the largest organ of the human body in multiple perspectives. I love the way the author described the skin in an easy to clear and concise language. The discussions on the psychological as well as social aspects of our skin are great. It captures how this humble organ contributes and shape not only our individual lives but also our history as well.

The brain and the heart tend to get all the good press as far as bodily organs go, each with a slew of books focused only on them. The other organs either don’t get mentioned at all or get thrown in with a bunch of others as part of the discussion of a particular system or the body entire, as in Mary Roach’s Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal or Bill Bryson’s The Body: A Guide for Occupants. But skin, as NY Times crossword aficionados know, is the largest organ in the body, and though it’s a relative newcomer to the classification, only making the organ club in the eighteenth century we’re told, it’s about time it got its own tour book. And author Monty Lyman, a doctor at Oxford, makes for an engaging and knowledgeable guide.

Lyman begins, as one might expect, with the structure and building blocks of skin, explaining how its various part create the barrier that protects us from a hostile world, as well as keeping all our good things inside. Other subjects include its role as home to our exterior biome (mites, lice, and bacteria oh my), its role in temperature regulation and the sense of touch (both pleasurable and painful), the ways it changes as we age, and the various diseases that either attack the skin, such as melanoma or eczema, or present themselves as symptoms on the skin, such as scabies or scurvy. Moving to the softer sciences of sociology and psychology, he also discusses skin color as it relates to the non-scientific concept of race, the different ways humans have marked our skin over time, and the connection between skin and our sense of self.

Some of Lyman’s discussion is depressing (our skin begins to lose its pliancy and smoothness in our twenties, and that loss accelerates once we hit our 40s). Some is moving, as when he discusses some of the individual cases of skin disease he’s treated. Some is infuriating and horrifying, as when he explains how albino children in some regions are murdered in the belief that their body parts “bring good fortune, wealth, and political power . . . [or] cure any ailments.” A “full set” he says, can go for as much as 100, 000 dollars.

All of it is informative and much of it is fascinating, particularly for me the sections on touch and the microbiome. The mechanical aspects of the touch system are intriguing enough—its speed, the four different types of receptors, its fine, fine distinctions, but even more fascinating is how we can distinguish between a “good” touch and a “bad” touch, even though in terms of pure physics—pressure, contact—they’re the same thing. And while some might cringe a bit at the section on the creatures that live on top of us, there’s just something so cool (ok, and also cringy) about how we’re one big huge ecosystem, a walking forest basically, and that as we walk we’ve got a bunch of eight-legged creatures trekking over our faces seeking out food and mates, and even cooler, these creatures get passed down within families (perhaps via breastfeeding) and so their DNA is “a time capsule that could potentially be used to track the movement of our won ancestors across the continents . . . for thousands of years.” C’mon, that’s pretty neat.

For those wanting something a bit more grounded in the day the day, Lyman does offer some basics. Why are paper cuts so painful? How do you get a sunburn? Do moisturizers really work? What causes acne? And so forth. But even in these more mundane areas he finds a bit of magic. For instance, that wolfing down that pizza slice at midnight can impact your chances of getting a sunburn the next day.

The prose is clear and smooth throughout if not particularly “styled” or “literary” (i.e. I’d call it serviceable and engaging but not lyrical or compelling). For those who read a lot of popular science it’s not too technical or jargony, and for those who haven’t read much or any bio since high school, Lyman provides a useful and lengthy glossary. Remarkable Life of Skin is a deft weaving together of biology, history, sociology, and psychology, with some of Lyman’s own experiences mixed in for a nice personal touch.

Another entry in the crowded field of anatomy-related lively nonfiction. I enjoyed it quite a bit - the focus specifically on the skin only draws attention to what a big subject it is! I''d have personally preferred a little more organization - one topic flows into another and so on.

6.2.2020
Stopped at 10%
DNF
ZERO STARS

O M G. I love a good NF medical book and this was not it. It was confusing and boring and I barely made it to 10%. I just cannot continue.
I think this would be awesome for someone who is already in the medical field of dermatology or is THINKING of going into that field; it is absolutely NOT for a regular layperson just wanting to learn neat things about the skin and what its function truly is.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Have you ever wondered how our skin works? I have. So I read a book about it. The Remarkable Life of the Skin taught me that the name of the book truly stands up – our skin IS remarkable. It made me feel so much reverence to the miracle that is our bodies! I need to read more books like this (any to recommend?) Here is my review – I hope it temps you to read it as well.

It's about...

There are so many things about our bodies most of us don’t really know. The way our skin works is one of them. We just take it for granted.

For example, did you know that if you have a midnight feast, you may get sunburn the next day, and it has a perfectly sound scientific explanation? Or that not only our blood has immune cells, but our skin does as well? And you certainly can’t have heard that there’s a Syrian boy in Germany who would have died because his entire body was made up of torn skin due to a genetic condition that rendered him unable produce healthy skin – and yet, he didn’t, because the scientists took a sample of it, grew it in the lab, infected it with a (good) virus that minimally changed the gene and taught the skin to grow a protein that would make it healthy, and grafted it on the boy’s entire body… Which then made the boy’s body learn to grow healthy skin. Or in other words, MAGIC.

This book is full of miracles or tidbits of curious facts like that! It’s incredibly interesting. You have to read it!

Practical Elements Of The Life Of The Skin

The Remarkable Life of the Skin is all full of trivia, as well as explanations on processes and parts of the skin, so it’s hard to give you an exact rundown of everything. But there was some very interesting information on suntan, aging and sun protection.

For example, I didn’t know that SPF is only about UVB protection, but there’s also UVA to worry about. Apparently, there is a different rating for UVA and not many people know it’s a thing at all. Also, you may want to avoid certain sunblock ingredients, such as retinyl palmitate (I’ll leave the reasons why for the author to explain in the book.) It was all very interesting and is probably going to be very useful the next time I need to pick sunblock for the summer.

There was also an interesting chapter on skin aging – why it ages, what accelerates aging and how most anti-age creams are pure snake oil salesmanship, but how some chemicals actually do work, to some extent. Those are listed in the book – so perhaps it will be interesting to those who are always looking for something effective to make their faces look younger.

Another piece of trivia and shattered myth in this book is about antiperspirants and the idea that they have a connection to breast cancer. The author says that apparently, they don’t! I don’t know about you, but I’m relieved. As a highly anxious person, I don’t know where I’d be without my antiperspirant.

Our Bodies Are Truly Magical

But we don’t just learn trivia from The Remarkable Life of the Skin. It shows you the truly magical world of how we’re built. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this, but whenever I read medical nonfiction it always baffles me how we are made up. How could we ever come into existence? We are so complicated! (And that goes for the rest of living organisms, to be honest, not just us.)

The author tells us about all the receptors we have in our skin and how they help us not only feel, but manipulate objects and understand the world around us. And when you start thinking about it, it is truly unbelievable we are built in such a magical way. I’m sure that only scientists who try to build their own robots are acutely aware of this fact. Have you ever wondered how is it that when you pick up a glass, you don’t break it? Or when you pick up a cupcake, you don’t instantly crush it or let it fall through your fingers? All of that is due to four types of sensors in the skin and I loved how it all was explained on this book. It made me wonder at how wild the world actually is. Wow!

The Importance Of Mental Health On Skin

The Remarkable Life of the Skin stresses especially the incredibly close relationship between the skin and the mind. One can affect the other in many ways – mental turmoil can bring about skin conditions as seen in egzema and skin irritability during stressful periods in life, and skin conditions in turn can affect your mental illness. We all know that – but we don’t know how it happens in the body, and why. These mechanisms are explained in the book and I found them particularly interesting!

It’s Not Only About The Science Of Skin

This isn’t just a book about how your skin works. The author goes farther, by also examining the social, regilious and representative role skin plays in our lives. It’s our barrier to the world, it’s a means for us to distinguish ourselves from the outside, and from others – it’s also a way to connect to our family, by likely looking a lot like them. Skin can have religious meaning, as well as help express our individuality. Our skin is in a large part the way we see and imagine ourselves in the world. I honestly never thought of it like that before I read the book.

It’s Easy To Read

The Remarkable Life of the Skin is remarkably easy to read – if from my previous statements about it you may have thought that it has a lot of medical info that may baffle you – well, it doesn’t! Medical terminology is used at a minimum, and everything is presented in easy to understand similes or examples. I really found it super easy, and even quick to read. It’s very accessible.

Triggers:

Like any book that contains medical descriptions, some of them can be tough to stomach. It wasn't a very graphic book, but I still delayed reading the bits about skin cancer. Thankfully, there was very little about it, and the info was on point and not too graphic. However, there are descriptions of other skin diseases, like Syphilis and how AIDS manifests on the skin, which may be disturbing to read. Again, not very graphic, so if you're squeamish you can skim or just simply skip those paragraphs.

Dr. Monty Lyman’s The Remarkable Life of the Skin is a fun read for those with a sense of wonder about the human body. The author describes it as “a circumnavigation of, and a love letter to, our most remarkable organ.” It took me a chapter or two to get used to the author’s style; he shares a great deal of information in a manner that can sometimes feel like a bit of a brain dump. Be prepared for plenty of medical and scientific terminology, but if that doesn’t bother you, this is an interesting and comprehensible read.

I found the author’s enthusiasm for his topic infectious. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about skin parasites (complete with diagrams comparing different types of lice), but was intrigued by his discussion of how a protein in tick saliva might one day be used in a drug to treat heart disease. The discussion of the skin microbiome was even more fascinating.

I was most interested in the chapters of the book discussing physical aspects of the skin, but subsequent sections on psychological and social aspects were also interesting. The back matter includes a glossary and references.

I would definitely recommend this book for the intellectually curious. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to lean over and share the latest interesting tidbit you just read with whoever is sitting next to you.

Thanks to the publisher, Atlantic Monthly Press, for providing me with an unproofed ARC through NetGalley, which I volunteered to review.

I received this book from Grove Atlantic publishing through Netgalley, for review, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Skin, the body's biggest organ; functioning as protection - a barrier and a way for us to socially communicate with our fellow human beings. Highly informative, this book handles the basics of skin cancer, OCD, touch, central nervous system and nerve conduction with ease of understanding. Author uses real examples to express his information as he travels the world and sees, case by case, how our skin is viewed and used, marked and damaged. Such topics as ornamental tattooing, tribal scarring, and various skin diseases found out this well written book.
I enjoyed this book. It was quite interesting and highly informative.

A fascinating, well researched and informative book about skin that made me learn a lot and gave me a lot of food for thought.
I thinks it's a great example of how science should be explained to people like me, informing and easy to understand.
I strongly recommend it.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Remarkable Life of the Skin by Monty Lyman takes as a subject the largest human organ, our skin and delves into its physiology and physical function as well as its social significance and psychological meaning. It is an acutely interesting piece of work that is educational but never dry or dull and is written to appeal to the lay reader, so the author keeps the scientific jargon to a minimum. From looking at the skins role as a barrier to the external world, to looking at it as the habitat for a thriving ecology of microorganisms, to looking at our skin colour and melanin production as an evolutionary adaptation there is a wealth of science to consider , and Mr Lyman has crafted a concise summary that informs the reader without overwhelming them, For the faint of heart , be warned there are some fairly gruesome depictions of skin conditions both common and rare, along with the discussion of treatment options , and in the case of conditions such as melanoma , how they can be prevented. I thought the discussion on skin damage from the sun, and the long lasting consequences was something that every parent should read, since even one severe sunburn as a child increases the risk by up to 50% in later life. One thing I had never considered, but found fascinating was the connection between skin and mental health , it was an eye opening chapter for sure. I also found the discussion of cosmetic creams and procedures and their effects ( or lack thereof) on the skin to be a very blunt and honest one. The latter parts of the book focus more on the psychology and sociology aspects, e.g. the differences in treatment of those with lighter or darker skin within ethnic communities. It is clear that the author has done an immense amount of research on his subject, and while it would be impossible to go into detail on the number of topics that he addresses, he has done a fantastic job of providing enough information to satisfy , inform and act as a jumping off point for further reading.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and found myself recommending it to several friends and colleagues, it is the perfect example of a well written science book that does not require a scientific background or education to be understood and enjoyed.

Read if you: Want a fascinating, compassionate, and accessible investigation into your skin.

Why do we blush? How do we heal from a paper cut? How does your skin react when you get a tattoo? These are just some of the fascinating investigations covered in this remarkable read. The social stigma and/or the personal embarrassment of common skin issues such as acne and eczema are movingly portrayed, as well as the more severe scorn faced by sufferers of vitiligo, albinism, syphilis, and AIDS. Dr. Lyman traveled extensively to research this book, so skin issues in various cultures (including suntans and skin lightening) are included.

Librarians/booksellers: This is a compelling read that your science and medical history fans will enjoy. It's short enough (text is just over 200 pages) to not be too intimidating for the general reader.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The first chapter of The Remarkable Life of the Skin was very scientific as it delved into the different layers of the skin and the purpose of each. It was a little dry, but once I got past that first chapter, I thought it was a very interesting, educational read. Several specific cases of skin diseases were mentioned throughout the book, as well as their psychological impact, which I loved. One case that stands out to me was a woman who, back in 2013, had an "addiction" to picking skin on her forehead with a sewing needle, which ended up creating not only a giant hole, but also symptoms of a stroke such as memory loss. I can't even imagine! The author also explained how skin can be a societal and spiritual issue. Fascinating stuff!

See my ***Starred Review*** of The Remarkable Life of the Skin by Monty Lyman in
Booklist magazine (publication of the American Library Association).

4.25 STARS ★★★★✩

⤐ Preface.
Shoutout to my skin-care queen Millie (not a GR member) who ultimately inspired me to pay more attention to my skin, especially my post-acne skin care routine, sun lotion and keratosis pilaris.

⤐ Overall.
‘The skin – despite being our largest and most visible organ, despite us seeing and touching it, indeed living in it, every moment of our lives – is the organ most overlooked by the medical profession. [...] The skin is where the individual meets the group, where biology rubs up against culture. While our layer of hide is a defensive barrier against all sorts of threats, skin’s social power has too often made it a weapon.[...] Our skin is not only a physical presence; it is an idea. In the same way that our physical skin contains us while we try to contain it, what it represents has directed the course of history and profoundly affects our own life.’

It cannot be denied that this is a phenomenal book. Monty guides us through his book with ease, each chapter fluently transitioning into the next. Although I am of the opinion that Monty covered everything there is to be covered, I still found myself interested in some of the stuff he had to say, which is why I cannot give more than the 4.25 STARS. There were also some weird expressions I wished he just wouldn't have used, the most dominant one being that our skin is what causes racial discrimination. But it's not the colour of the skin that is to blame, but the people who use it as a base for racial discrimination. Some details also reoccured again and again, until the repetitiveness was annoying rather than impressing.

Although I am overall thrilled with the information in The remarkable life of the skin I found the attention brought to the relation between the sun and the skin particularly relevant. I also love little fun facts such as the fact that our epidermis is replaced each month. That's a blown mind right there. Also; tattoos, although widely bad mouthed in medicine and religion, have proven to be successful treatments of diseases such as arthritis, asthma and recurrent headaches. Ain't that crazy?

Addressing the social and cultural relevance of skin diseases and skin as a canvas for art was another favourite topic of mine, as was Monty doing away with plenty of myths.

⤐ The book is structured as follows
1 The Swiss Army Organ
2 Skin Safari
3 Gut Feeling
4 Towards the Light
5 Ageing Skin
6 The First Sense
7 Psychological Skin
8 Social Skin
9 The Skin That Separates
10 Spiritual Skin
_____________________
writing quality + easy of reading = 4*

structure = 4*

enjoyability = 4*

insightfulness = 5*

This is a great book about your skin. How it works, what can happen to it and all the emotional aspects that pertain to the skin. I found that the stories relating to each skin type or problem fascinating and made it easier to understand what is involved in the skin.. I never knew that without the touch of the skin on your finger the smartphone you are using wouldn’t work.

Who would've thought that a book about the largest organ in the human body would prove itself to be so much more than "skin deep?" Who would've guessed it'd be so much more than some science-y regurgitation that puts readers to sleep with its unpronounceable physiology and dermatology?

Not me, that's who.

In fact, I found myself pleasantly surprised by how broadly Lyman contextualized skin and our understanding of it. The author accomplishes this by outlining the ways in which it functions - how sweat forms, why cellulite exists, that sort of thing. He also breaks down the physical, emotional, and erotic responses it can elicit, points out societal and historical stigmas it's left behind, and highlights how things like skin color or disease can help shape perceptions of ourselves as well as the world around us. There's even an argument made for skin being a large part of what makes us human even though discourse around consciousness/the brain is widely accepted, or much more <i>en vogue</i>, so to speak.

(Still don't buy it, huh? Read this first then get back to me.)

I personally thought the sections about microorganisms and touch were fascinating. I never would've known that vaginal vs. c-section births can contribute to our microbiome so minutely, for instance, that the former type can protect us against allergy development later in life. (Like, whaaat? Can I sue?) Just like I had no idea the mere expectation of a loving caress "temporarily changes the composition of the skin" to receive pleasure. I mean, we all know how lovely, how tantalizing, a caress can feel but who knew it changed the skin's physical makeup in anticipation of receiving it? (Again, not me.)

The case for skin's "remarkableness" is more than argued in these pages. It's made.

There's a lot to unpack here about this woefully overlooked, complex, versatile, outermost organ but it's worth it! Take the time to "scratch beneath the surface" a little and I promise you won't be sorry.

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic Press and NetGalley for the ARC!