Curious is the perfect way to describe this book. It has a smattering of interesting details but it was strange to read. I though it would be more cohesive but it was like a collection of short essays. Who knew you could write a whole book on the knee?

3.5 stars

"The Curious Human Knee" was a somewhat strange book to read:
it divides into more scientific and more historical and/or human interest chapters (not sure that is the right way to put it).
I actually enjoyed the non-scientific chapters a lot more and I think the book maybe suffers a little from the scientific chapters just not being as in depth and interesting as the other chapters.

In “Last Words,” the ninth and final chapter of Han Yu’s book on the human knee, the author discusses how she pitched her book to Columbia University Press. Scornful of the idea of “educating” her audience (which she equates with inducing textbook-style boredom in readers), Yu apparently proposed to do something more “daring”. She would “intrigue” and “surprise” less scientifically inclined readers with a diverse range of “fun” topics. So, in addition to covering the expected material on the knee—including information about its evolution, anatomy, pathology, the injuries it can sustain, and the treatments offered—she’d also address matters such as fashion, Chinese kowtowing, the symbolism of “taking the knee” (quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protesting police brutality towards Blacks) as well as the use of the knee to inflict harm, by both martial artists and the likes of Derek Chauvin on Black citizens like George Floyd.

Before being accepted by the publisher, Yu’s book proposal had to be reviewed by a group of knee experts—anatomists, orthopaedic surgeons, and anthropologists—apparently to decide on the feasibility or worthiness of the project. It seems that one reviewer expressed concern that Yu (who is not an anatomist, kinesiologist, physician, or physiotherapist) was not “the proper person to educate the public.” That opinion galled Yu, but not as much as the criticism (possibly from the same “dissatisfied” person) about the “distracting” details she planned to include about women’s dresses, people kneeling, and the “sensational” matters of race and money.

Having now completed Yu’s somewhat unconventional text, I have to say that I basically agree with that dissatisfied reviewer. What I liked about The Curious Human Knee was the wealth of information it presented on expected subject matter: actual physical knees, their anatomy, how they function or malfunction, and the treatments offered when things go wrong. Also rewarding to me were the chapters addressing why women have more knee injuries than men and why non-Caucasians have more osteoarthritis of the knee and poorer knee-surgery outcomes. What I did not like were the long and tedious sections on women’s fashion (mostly concerning flappers), distressed jeans (and the third-world sweatshops they’re made in), kowtowing, and martial arts. Some, of course, might feel otherwise about this subject matter. I also acknowledge that the author’s discussion of Colin Kaepernick’s “taking-the-knee” protest and George Floyd’s death may be of interest to readers outside North America. Here in Canada, though, the stories dominated the mainstream media for weeks, even months. I had no desire to read about them yet again. The discussions seemed out of place in a work of this kind.

While I ultimately learned a fair bit from Yu, finding her book—dare I actually say it?—educational, the reading was sometimes hard going. I really have encountered textbooks that were more accessible and lively than this work. If Yu had wanted to make her writing more “fun” (her word choice, not mine) she’d have summarized research studies economically, placing finer details in footnotes. I also could not understand her resistance to calling the bones that make up the knee joint by their anatomical names. Yu does not hesitate to use the correct term for the knobs at the end of some long bones: “condyles”. Strangely, however, she persistently identifies the femur, tibia, and patella as the “thigh”, “shin”, and “kneecap” respectively. More oddly, she calls the fibula the “calf bone”. Calf bone? At first I didn’t know what she meant. The calf is muscle, “the fleshy back part of the leg below the knee,’ not bone. Really, how hard is it for general readers, even the non-“sciency” ones Yu says she wants to reach, to keep four anatomical names in mind? Since the bones are repeatedly mentioned and illustrated, why not use the most correct word for them?

I have mixed feelings about The Curious Human Knee. Some sections are overcrowded with detail, the writing is occasionally awkward or too forcedly pally, and the material that is supposed to be “fun” bored me to tears. Maybe I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to read this book. Possibly I’m not the intended audience. Honestly, though, I am not quite sure who is.

Eclectic and fascinating, the book unpacks the human knee from all angles. As more of a "soft science" person, I gravitated more towards the content that explored topics like flappers, history, cultural practices, and social injustice. But, I found myself really enjoying the deeper looks at the knee's physiology, what we know, and how imbalances affect women and minorities disproportionately in knee injury recovery. It seems like the material is housed in separate boxes, but as the book continues, you get an understanding that the physical and the tangible are inextricably linked to the sociological--cultural practices, historical injustices, and prognosis for knee injuries are deeply entwined.

It's a fun read, but it's also a serious read. A must for nonfiction buffs, and I'd recommend it to anyone curious, as well.

This was a very surprising book. I do not know what I was expecting going in, but given the tone of the title and the cover page, I was right about the tone of approach for at least half of the content.
The author alternates the science of the knee with anecdotal narratives. Every alternate chapter is all about the anatomical or medically related content about the knee, and the next could be anything!
These second chapters were the most fun for someone like me. I had had enough of the knee's structure with just the first introduction to the physical state and the attention it receives. It was all not bad, however. The facts related to issues and cures for knee-related injuries (bolstered by the author's direct experiences) were quite enlightening.
The latter chapters had tales of flappers, all the way to what bowing means in Asian countries. Given the depth the author went to with regard to the other Asian countries, including how some Muslim-majority countries pray, I was very surprised by the entire omission of the Indian subcontinent. The concept of sitting cross-legged(this is where the knee comes in) is part of our daily life, and even in the current generation, I still think it holds its place. I am definitely nitpicking here, but I found this omission, amongst all the other discussions that happened and how close the author skirted to the country and away, felt a little strange.
This last part is not why I am rating the book the way I am. I really enjoyed one half of the book and sped through it, chuckling to myself or whoever was around at the time with factoids that amused or astonished me. The other half was not as engrossing, and to a more medically inclined person, this section will probably be equally entertaining.
I would recommend this book to those people who like a mix amongst their other non-fiction reads.
I received an ARC thanks to Netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Everything you ever wanted to know about knees and much that you had no idea you wanted to know. Who knew that knees could be so fascinating? But apparently they really are. Not just their evolution, anatomy and physiology, but their place and significance in culture and society – from flappers to taking a knee, from kowtowing to fashion, from injuries to art, from sport to bipedalism. So much to learn here, and much to think about. Wide-ranging and covering a wealth of knee-related topics, the book is accessibly and entertainingly written. Quite a few personal anecdotes from the author pepper the text but I didn’t find these obtrusive as they are relevant and anyone who has ever experienced a knee injury will relate to them. An informative and entertaining read.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Colombia University Press for an advanced copy of this book on the importance of the knee to humans, how it allowed us to grow and about the cultural history the knee helped create.

The leg bone's connected to the knee bone, the knee bone's connected to the thighbone, doin the skeleton dance. One of the better songs about the interconnectedness of the human body, with a a very catchy beat and lyrics. This is probably as far as many of us have thought about the knee joint and what is does, and how it allowed us to grow as humans. Unless one has knee problems. Than the strengths and weaknesses becomes apparant, and how amazing the knee can be. Han Yu, professor at Kansas State University in the The Curious Human Knee a biography of the knee and its place in history, and an ode to the knee in both culture and our development.

The book begins with a search for bones that leads to the discovery of one of the oldest knee bones ever found. From here the author begins to share a history of the knee and how it helped humans not only move, but it helped increase our minds, and even change the ideas of sex. Readers learn about the anatomy of the knee, and how it evolved. Injuries, treatment, hot and cold, stretching wrapping and caring for the knee are a few chapters, chapters which probably rang home to me the most, as my knees are starting to get a little weak and painful, and I don't think it is any feelings of love, as a chapter looks at. The idea of taking a knee, and the importance of kneeling in China are very interesting. Also was the look at the knee in fashion, the length of skirts and freedom for women. A lot of history for a joint to support.

The book is well written in a style that is more essay like then straight-ahead narration. Some chapters are spaced apart, where they might be better following each other, as the themes are similar, but I get that too much of anything can be a lot. There is a a lot of humor, and most of it hits well, and does not take away from the writing. Sometimes Han Yu can really discuss a matter, sometimes in technical language that might be lost on the casual reader, but this is very seldom. I enjoy these kind of books not only for what I learn about the main subject, but all the other interesting fun facts and points of history that I had no idea would be discussed or even an idea how the book got there. And yet I learn so much, which I really enjoy.

Again, I love these kind of books where the history of humanity can be shown by an object of a body part. Recommended for readers of Mary Roche, Bill Bryson even Cristin O'Keefe whose sense of humor would get well for fans of Han Yu. I kneel to the writer on this book.

“The Curious Human Knee” is a very... well, curious book. Most non-fiction books tell a coherent story, exploring their subject along some sort of storyline – they are not unlike novels in that respect. In that sense, Han Yu’s work is more like a collection of short stories – or, if you will, essays, sharing little more than a loosely overarching theme: the human knee.

The book starts out in a promising way: The first two chapters give insightful introductions to the biological evolution of the knee and its anatomy. Here, we learn how unique the human knee actually is, how its structure reflects bipedalism, and how that in turn may have led to our oversized brain, and all the societal implications that followed. The light-hearted and humorous tone makes you think of Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything” and “The Body” – so much for the praise.

However, the second chapter already foreshadows some of the book’s flaws. Instead of making a smooth transition from how those evolutionary aspects naturally give rise to the details of the knee’s anatomy, the first two chapters feel oddly and unnecessarily disconnected. What is yet more irritating is the author’s tendency to digress into minute technical details and discuss them in a tedious manner more reminiscent of a scientific report than a popular science book. To add icing on the cake, we are told at great length about the author’s personal suffering. While I could strongly relate to her meniscus injuries and her struggles with the medical system, it might have felt more entertaining if Han Yu didn’t share her mother’s passion for nagging (yes, we learn about that as well).

If the first two chapters were still broadly interesting, the book then drifts off into a flurry of incoherent excursions. “Bare Knees, Dicey Power” suddenly tells the story of how skirts have gotten shorter over the past century or so, only to be followed by an analysis of sex differences in knee injuries. If you find this trajectory a bit abrupt, you may be forgiven. And it gets better: The ensuing chapters, in true Brownian motion, discuss the role of kneeling in ancient China as well as in police violence (Chapter 5); the empirical evidence for various medical treatments of knee pain (Ch. 6); martial arts (Ch. 7); and, alas, the influence of “Race and Money” on knee health (Ch. 8).

Possibly this random walk might have felt refreshing and multi-faceted had the book been exceptionally well written. But, as you might have guessed by now, it isn’t really – even though it does have a sense of humor and Han Yu does a solid job at explaining scientific and technical details. Overall, I feel the book might have benefited from a more conscientious editor, especially when it comes to cutting out the author's ubiquitous judgemental comments as well as her lengthy rants about the injustices of life. It probably didn’t help that the electronic copy I gratefully received from NetGalley was full of formatting errors, missing figures, typos, and other surprises.

In conclusion – oh, well, let’s leave the last word to the author: “But, as I look back to the stories I told, I’m rather afraid that any conclusion I try to come up with will be woefully inadequate.”

A book you never knew you'd want to read: a whole book about the human knee. It was an interesting read, covering all sorts of knee-related topics like anatomy, sports, culture, fashion and surgery. I'm not gonna end up remembering much of it though, except for the chapter on icing and heating, as I am someone who went through months of physical therapy in the last year and a half.
Overall I would recommend this one.

The Curious Human knee was so interesting and informative! One of those books that teaches you things you never knew you wanted to know.

I seriously thought that this book would be a heavy snooze fest of technical jargon all related to the human knee.
The author said NAY NAY!
This book was so delightful to read.
It was about the human knee, sports, fashion, Asian culture, cultural relevance of taking a "knee", and all with studies to back up all of the claims.

I wish that the authors end NOTE was actually at the beginning, because near the end of the book, I was wondering how did all of these stories relate to each other.

Each section was educational in that I learned something new...kowtowing, flappers, knee painting, bipedalism, taking a knee, and sports injuries are higher in females.

People who are interested in niche things should give this book a read. I will guarantee that you will learn something new.