Wow! I feel smarter after reading this!! Thank you NetGalley for the Advanced Copy!

As someone without a medical background, I found What the Body Knows both fascinating and educational, even if some of the more complex details went over my head. The book explores the incredible scope of our immune system, touching on how it influences not just our ability to fight disease but also metabolism, gut health, and even wound healing.

I particularly appreciated the historical perspective and the insights into how far research has come. The book was long, but the author’s clear organization and the engaging voice of the narrator made it an enjoyable listen. I may even go through it again to absorb more of the details I missed the first time.

I listened to this while recovering from an appendectomy, so I found the discussion on the appendix’s role in immunity especially relevant. As someone with celiac disease and asthma, I also gained a deeper understanding of those conditions and their connection to the immune system.

Overall, this was a well-researched and compelling book that gave me a new appreciation for how interconnected our body’s systems truly are. Highly recommended for anyone curious about the science of immunity!

My career has been in western healthcare for 15 years, but I have a heavy foot in the, we really know nothing and need to be open to exploring other ideas about healing and health. This was a super great read with lots of tidbits of info along with back research as well as thought provoking lines. The immune system is still elusive and I love what the author was able to share with us. I think I’ll definitely continue to think on this how it relates in my practice and mine and my
family’s health. Thank you so much author for sharing your knowledge with us.

Thank you so much for this ALC opportunity I really enjoyed listening to this one and have taken a lot from it.

The Body Knows So Much!

I love when books can be used to keep up with current literature and "What the Body Knows" is informative and factual. In addition, the information is really easy to digest (wink wink there is talk about the gut microbiome).

I highly recommend everyone pick this up. It is well written for those who have a background in science and those who do now.

Thank You to John Trowsdale, Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the audio-digital ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is chock-full of tidbits, research, and insights about the immune system: what it is, how it functions, and why we haven’t (until recently) know much about it. Unlike the circulatory system, there isn’t a clear set of organs and “pipes” that make it up. There isn’t one single test that tells doctors that your entire immune system is working fine. From allergies to infections, Lupus to Fibromyalgia, our immune system is complex and small things can cause big problems.
If you have an interest in medicine and science, I recommend this book. Some things I already knew but much more (ok, most) was new information for me, illustrated in clear and interesting ways and often with a bit of humor.
Sometimes, because I multi-task while listening at a fast speed and my TBR is very long, I would lose the thread or feel I missed something, but I also know I would not make the time to read this as a physical book. I might, however, listen to this one again. Excellent narration! 4.5 rounded up.
My thanks to the author, publisher, producer, and #NetGalley for access to the audiobook of #WhatTheBodyKnows for review purposes.

I have no medical or scientific background but for some reason medical nonfiction is my jam. This book was no exception. It was easy to understand for a non science major and I learned a lot. I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the immune system.

I am absolutely fascinated by medical things and the human body so this was definitely right up my alley. I found this to be absolutely fascinating. I will say some of the language could be a bit dry. I found if you don't already know a lot of medical terms this could be a bit confusing in places as well. I still really enjoyed this but I do think others should be aware of that.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ALC copy of this fully informative scientific exploration! As an adult, I find I have a persistent and curious quest for knowledge that needs to be fulfilled. Couple that with a very serious case of anxiety and undiagnosed hypochondria, it can be a perilous task actually fulfilling this quest and need. Even as an adolescent, I was either bored or freaked out by certain things, specifically topics related to biological sciences.

Enter “What the Body Knows”— and I am sat and ready for the information. It may be that I would consider the narrator’s voice and anecdotal way of telling a story to be quite soothing, or maybe, now as an adult, certain things are sticking.

This was a very long and involved way to say: this was great, I learned a lot and if you are interested in the topic, please do not hesitate to listen. It’s giving a very big NG/Animal Planet/OG documentary style of storytelling coupled with anecdotal and evidentiary evidence.

I really love how the author states at the beginning of the book that, unlike many other functions of our body that are performed by specific organs, there is no such thing as an "immune organ" dedicated solely to an immune function. This isn’t to say that other parts of our body are trivial, but rather that they are generally far less complex than the immune system as a whole.

So, what is the immune system, how does it work, and who actually does this work? As someone who isn’t an immunologist but has a high-level understanding of human biology, including blood composition and cell structure, I still found much of this book to be new and eye-opening. Every single chapter unraveled myths I previously believed and replaced them the with well-explained facts. The level of detail mixed with a chunk of humour make this book both interesting and informative to the extent that by the time you finish, you won’t have any open questions left. You’ll learn about why we need bacteria, viruses and fungi. You’ll get to know key components of the immune system, such as macrophages, B cells, T cells, among many others. You’ll discover the hidden role of the appendix and tonsils, as well as what happens if they are removed. These are only few of the topics covered in the book, but you can also find insight about cancer cells, autoimmune deceases, transplantation, fasting, and so on and so forth.

As I was listening this as an audiobook, I’d like to additionally highlight that the narration of the book by Mike Cooper is wonderful. He reads in a highly engaging manner, varying his intonation, tempo, and volume, which is something you wouldn’t necessarily expect for such a technical book. That being said, I still found the subject matter difficult to absorb while multitasking. I had to make a conscious effort to find time and place where I could fully concentrate on the book without distractions. Otherwise, it was easy to lose a thread due to the complexity and so many of in-depth biological explanations.