For a number of years, cultural historians have been considering the body as a site of important investigation. Gestures, postures, manners, sexual expression, etc. have all come under the gaze of historians keen to explore the ‘non-natural’ aspects of the body-the impact of culture on the physical. To this end, we have been presented with histories of crying, histories of breasts, of lipstick, of blondes, as well as more mundane topics such as histories of the genitalia, all of which show how deeply embodied culture has been. Basic human activities that are considered natural, or at least naturalised, can be shown to have a past. Some of this work has been done by historians of the sciences and medicine, who have shown in detail how ‘official’ knowledge of the body is also immersed in culture – and that representations of the facts of life and discourses about the body must also be understood within the contexts of their production. Although it seems that Michael Sims has read some of this material – as he plunders some cultural histories for a variety of facts – he has missed the central message of these works. There is no historical argument in this work. The result is that he presents us with a book that is neither a cultural or natural history, but a narrative thinly woven around points that he found interesting. Even the most brilliant of writers would have trouble sustaining the interest of his readers for nearly three hundred and fifty pages of directionless musing.

The book was first conceived when Sims lay in bed, recuperating from an operation that enforced his absolute stillness. His mind began to wander around his rigid, suffering body, resting on the bits that he found interesting: the face, the arms, the legs, the breasts, the genitals, and the navel. A true omphalopsychoi, Sims was compelled to think up lists that added trivial flavour to his bed-ridden suffering. And on recovery, it would seem that he made a bee-line for an internet connection, spending hundreds of hours compiling ever more lists from google.com searches on the bodily terms that he had deigned worthy of investigation, supplemented with pop science books and a reader’s guide to Western Literature. These lists of hits – often a simple sentence long – contribute wholly to the ahistorical character of the book. The text is scattered with out of context references on nearly every page. But lists of facts do not make history. Historians have prided themselves on their ability to explain cultural and social phenomena. Not here. All we get is a prudish journalese combined with a liberal suggestion of smut that is hidden under the respectable cover of ‘the border habitat where the two fields interbreed and form strange hybrids’ (8). The result is highly problematic for anyone with historical interests, or an interest in science studies.

In a word, I found this book almost unreadable, and if it had not been for my clinging to the wreckage of responsible reviewing, I would have thrown it away circa page 100. The topic is fascinating, but the approach kills off any slight interest one might have in the body. Even the spot-checking of factual errors became tiresome. I was being dragged out with the tide, searching listlessly for a beacon of argument. I had hoped that the conclusion would provide it, but alas, the last page of text-dealing with Oedipus the Tyrant, Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite, Australopithecus, the derivation of the word ambulance, and a tit-bit about walkie-talkies and Sony Walkmans led tirelessly into another list – four pages of obsequious thankyous and name droppings. I still do not know what Sims was trying to achieve. The sooner this book is remaindered, the better.

Ivan Crozier