Book Review: The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by Bill Bryson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my first book by Bill Bryson. He is an excellent author - the book is easy to read and thoroughly researched. In this book author makes the subject of human body accessible to laymen. My interest in this book was to get a refresher of things i had read in biology classes in school days and topics that one hears being mentioned by health related books/articles - ranging from understanding of how the different organs, glands and parts of the body function, the different kinds of diseases, their symptoms and how they are acquired, our body's built-in defense mechanism (the immune system, white blood cells and the different glands that fight-off the harmful microbes entering our body - like the placenta that shields the womb/baby from the harmful microbes), aging and eventually death and the state of the body after one dies. It also mentions of the evolution of medical science to some extent and calls out the people who contributed to the field - sometimes at the cost of their own lives. A very interesting read.

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Book Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had been meaning to read this book for a long time and finally could get this checked off the list of to-be read books. The impression i had of this book was that it will be a quick read but as is the case with every book that is heavy on literature, it tends to be a dense read -as most of the book is loaded with phrases and full of sentences that can be underlined and quoted. The story is short - a guy named Dorian Gray is blessed with good looks and full of youth. Dorian sits for a painter Basil Hallward, who worships Dorian and considers Dorian to have a very positive influence on his art - one that any artist can only find by chance in their life time. Then there is Lord Henry Wotton who is a friend of Basil and Dorian. Dorian learns from Lord Henry the importance of youth and comes to see his own portrait painted by Basil full of life. Basil gives that painting to Dorian to keep. Dorian likes that painting so much that he wishes if only he could never loose his youth and his painting becomes old with time instead. This wish of his comes true. As time passes Dorian retains that charm of his youth, the same boyish look he had when he sat for that painting. The painting instead starts to appear old. As Dorian gets drawn towards vices in his life he is still able to retain his youth but his painting started to show the evil look. Dorian hides the painting from everyone. He commits several sinful acts and evens kills the painter who drew the picture. At the end he decides to kills the Dorian in the painting and that puts an end to his life.
It is not a light reading as i had thought initially so read it if you enjoy reading good literature (prose or poetry).

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