Name: The Secret Life of Bones
ISBN: 9780715653807

Brian Switek

In The Secret Life of Bones, Brian Switek frames the history of our species through the importance of bone from instruments and jewellery, to objects of worship and conquest from the origins of religion through the genesis of science up to today.

Their Origins, Evolution and Fate

The Secret Life of Bones

Moray Lyle McIntosh

An engaging and informative book that takes us from the earliest formation of bone in earth's creatures. With energy and enthusiasm Switek covers ancient remains and fossils and what they teach us, stories of medical pathologies, with a smattering of bizarre and funny stories all related to bones. It's a little messy and disorganised, as if Switek struggled to find a way to express everything he knew and learned and without pictures it was sometimes difficult to understand what he was talking about. It varied quite significantly in tone from extremely detailed and dry to deeply personal and informal. Because of this inconsistency there were sections that I found fascinating and others that I skimmed through. A better structure and more rigorous edited could have solved some of these problems.

The Secret Life of Bones Their Origins, Evolution and Fate

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