This book is not for the squeemish or the faint of heart, but if you don't mind a bit of gore then you'll surely love this fascinating book. Mary Roach dives into the world of prosthetics and leaves no stone unturned, beginning with the nose. Yes, that's right, the prosthetic nose. This is a great book for anyone searching for interesting conversation pieces or, honestly, interesting conversation stoppers as well (no judgement on whether you use all of this information for good or evil here!!).
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I always learn from Mary Roach's books, and this was no different in that respect. Her writing can be a little hit or miss on some topics, but overall, very well done and interesting. We will be purchasing for the branch!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an Advance Review Copy (ARC) of Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach. This was the second book I have read by this author, and I'm sure it won't be the last. Roach's writing style combines interesting facts with humor and I learned a lot from this book- although some info I'm debating if I really wanted to know. If you have surgery coming up, you may choose to skip the section on the risks of anesthesia. In several parts of the book, Roach becomes part of the story by experiencing some medical procedures and/or equipment. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy non-fiction mixed with some humor. This review is also posted on Goodreads.

Mary Roach gets an auto-add to my TBR with every publication, and she never disappoints me. This time she tackles a subject that revisits some parts of her previous books and adds to them. How replaceable is the human body? She wrote Stiff, about human cadavers, in 2003; Bonk, about sex, in 2008 and Gulp, about the digestive system, in 2013. In medical terms, even 12 years ago was the Bronze Age. There have been so many advancements since she wrote about the human body, that you’d think “Replaceable You” would be about all the ways that we can upgrade ourselves. Well, read this and be surprised. Roach writes about the most complicated technical and scientific issues in a way that even I can understand. Her sense of humor made me laugh so much that my husband was surprised when he found out that I was reading about heart failure. She makes readers feel like they’re there with her, making her interviewees (and even some dead people) feel approachable. There is a bit about animal experimentation that I had to skip (that’s my one and only trigger); and some other parts require a strong stomach. As with all of Roach’s books, this is not for everyone, but curious readers will love how she asks the questions that we’re all asking and some that we hadn’t even considered. I’ll keep praying for a way to restore my old-age vision so that I can keep reading her books forever.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/W. W. Norton & Company.

Mary Roach’s Replaceable You is another energetic, deeply-researched exploration of the odd corners of science and medicine, this time focused on the quest to rebuild and replace the human body. Roach’s signature curiosity and humor are present as she investigates everything from prosthetic limbs and organ transplants to the latest advances in stem cell technology and 3D-printed body parts. She travels widely, from burn units in Boston to pig farms in China, and interviews a cast of researchers, surgeons, and patients, always eager to illuminate the strange and improbable ways medicine tries to make us whole again.

This book, like her previous work, is packed with quirky facts and unexpected stories. Roach’s writing is accessible and often funny, and she’s especially good at making complex science digestible for general readers. However, in Replaceable You, her focus on food metaphors and eating-related imagery is unusually heavy-handed. While this adds a certain flavor to the narrative, it sometimes distracts from the more profound questions about identity, humanity, and the ethics of medical intervention. The book feels a bit more clinical and less emotionally resonant than her best work.

The good: engaging science writing, fascinating stories, and Roach’s trademark wit. The bad: a distracting reliance on food metaphors and less emotional depth than you might hope for.

I like all of Mary Roach's books. She makes scientific subjects very interesting and accessible. This one is just okay. Probably because I have read so many of her books, they don't astound me like they use to. It would be nice to see her approach a totally different topic.

Mary Roach is one of the most consistent writers I’ve read in any genre, and here she delivers again. Many of the subjects in this book will be familiar to readers of her previous books: prosthetics and transplants were discussed in Grunt and organ/tissue donation in Stiff, for a few examples. But you probably won’t feel much déjà vu. Every topic is approached from a new, different, and in many cases higher-tech angle than in her other works. And of course Roach’s trademark humor — running the gamut from zany to punny to self-deprecating to subtly witty — keeps the book fun and readable.

Roach’s books are always survey courses rather than deep dives, but I felt that more than many of her previous books, each chapter of Replaceable You built on and added to what came before it. For a loose collection of stories of the author going on whatever field trips she could get permission for, this book felt quite focused. Even the chapter transitions flowed neatly from one topic to another.

Recurring issues and themes, such as the difficulty of tricking the immune system and re-engineering the already incredibly evolved human body recur throughout the book. Aside from a few witty observations and asides, the author largely allows the reader to draw their own conclusions, which I appreciated.

While I’m not sure how long this book will be relevant, considering how much cutting-edge research Roach chronicles in real time, I would recommend this book as an informative and digestible overview of biomedical research. And of course, Roach stans will have a great time regardless of the subject matter.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Life is good when there’s a new Mary Roach book to absorb. My favorite entertaining science writer is back with a book about the various attempts to replicate parts of the body and its various functions, from joint replacements to hair transplants and much more. In the service of exploring the subject, she travels as far as Mongolia and goes so far as to try out an iron lung. I think this book had fewer total laugh-out-loud moments than some of her previous books, and it’s a less “weird” subject than some she has explored (e.g., death), but it still filled with riveting tales of quirky corners of science. and buoyed by her endless curiosity…and as usual for a Mary Roach book, the footnotes and acknowledgments are no less entertaining than the rest. Anyone who loves Mary Roach is in for another good ride with this book (and will yearn to be a scientist, if only to be trailed and then written about by her), and anyone who doesn’t love Mary Roach had better get started on reading her books.

Mary Roach scores another one for science with a side of comedy. This time she turns her searching gaze toward replacement parts for the human body. I really enjoyed this one, as it gives readers a grand tour of the latest biotechnology and science while provoking contemplation on moral dilemmas such as "At what point are we just playing God?" Roach's trademark humor sparkles throughout, making even the footnotes, ordinarily the domain of dry academic citation, must-read material. I highly recommend it, with thanks to the publisher for the complimentary advance NetGalley.