My favorite non-fiction author Mary Roach is back with another succinct title (I suspect her goal is one witty word, although never more than three), this time taking us on adventures with scientists working on replacing one or other human body parts with human, animal, or synthetic substitutes. This book is as delightfully droll as her previous ones: Fuzz, about times when nature and humans collide (reviewed here https://www.margueritereads.com/home/fuzz-when-nature-breaks-the-law-by-mary-roach?rq=mary%20roach ), Grunt, the science of humans at war, Packing for Mars, the science of space travel, Stiff, the science of human cadavers, to name a few of her previous seven books.

Roach identifies professionals willing to allow her to tag along and pepper them with basic questions, enabling the reader to peer over their shoulders and get a glimpse, learning fun facts, and enjoying the repartee between author and practitioner. We learn the history, science, procedures, and limitations of skin grafts from Jeremy Goverman, plastic surgeon at Mass General’s Burn Center (note to self: a significant burn is one of the last injuries you every want to endure, for the pain and length of recovery). Roach finds humor and humanity in details large and small, and in the person leading her through the process. She is always respectful, but her observations are comical, original, and enlightening.

Other chapters include explorations of intubation (in and outs of mechanical breathing, with a tube down your throat), life in an iron lung (she decides to try it out herself), cataract surgery in Mongolia, how people cope with an ostomy (external bag substitutes for the colon), the how-to on hair transplantation, how tissue donation takes place, the extraction and injection of fat, and other escapades. Be sure to enjoy Roach’s footnote asides, hilarious short stories in themselves.

Her final conclusion is that the human body is amazing, since every replacement does not completely measure up to the perfection of the original. Within the next fifty years, we are likely to see amazing progress in all the science she revealed, and so much more. Check out this and all of Mary Roach’s books— come for the humor, stay for the remarkable information and insight.