This is a great survey of everything you never knew you wanted to know about bones. There is medical information, including both how the healthy process of bone replacement proceeds as well as what happens with various diseases and treatments, but then there are sections on bones in myth, art, music and daily human life. All written at a label anyone could understand but with enough detail to leave you feeling like you learned something ( )

Received via W. W. Norton Company and NetGalley in exchange for an completely unbiased review.

I'll preface this review by saying I knew absolutely nothing about bones. I could tell you that it’s the hard stuff that holds our bodies vertical, that they sometimes break but eventually heal and it’s where our red blood cells come from, but beyond that? Nothing.

Bones is a book that is for the initiated and uninitiated alike, although granted the initiated will find that 90% of the content of this book is remedial. The book is divided in three sections: what are bones and what do they do, what happens when bones ‘go bad’ and what innovations have we developed to rectify these problems and how are bones part of humanity’s cultural and artistic history? It also answers interesting questions like how do bones grow from the moment we are born until we are adults and then what happens to them as we age? Meals also covers topics such as the composition of bone and the reasons why bone are so darn strong – both of which, as a neophyte in bone, surprised me.

Meals straddles the line between accessible “everybody" popular science and the more technical side of things, dumbing down the important parts but also adding just a tad more for those who better understand biology and chemistry. In the end, while Bones started out a bit bumpy with Meals’ discussion as to why bones are nature’s greatest building material (i find construction materials boring), later chapters were educational and fun to read.

The only part of this novel that fell flat for me what the anthropological section, which will still be incredibly interesting for many readers.

The author is very passionate about all things bones, including architecture, art and carved items (there’s a photo of a contraption made entirely of bone that folds in and out like an accordion that’s particularly surprising). I can verify the author’s enthusiasm for all things bone shines through in every line, but one section that fell flat for me was the last bit of the book dealing with cultural and artistic uses of bone throughout all of human history. Some of this section was interesting but grotesque which, granted, is expected of anything made from the remains of a once living creature and some of which were things I’d already learned during my university degree. Thus, while written in an engaging, accessible and enthusiastic manner, this section above all was a slog for me – but still worth a read for those who haven’t studied bones or have never taken interest in how bones have shaped or been shaped by human cultures into tools, art and games.

Finally, Bones contains several photos taken by the author himself and added a personal touch to such an impersonal subject. The author includes several anecdotal stories regarding the author’s bone-ish hobbies outside the operating theater and amusing hints that his wife is somewhat discomfort with his hobbies. Meals comes across as a quirky and interesting person without delving too excessively on his personal successes, which will undoubtedly make Bones a strong entrance into the popular science genre.

Bones is an under represented subject in popular science – its much more complex and fascinating than our grade school teachers made us believe – and Meals delivers a wonderful reading experience much worth taking. ( )