- Publisher: Profile
- Year: 2024
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 336pp
- Illustrated: Yes
- Dimensions: 220x142mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.4kg
- ISBN: 9781788167550
- Product code: 545978
Rumbles
A Curious History of the Gut
Elsa Richardson New Hardback Illustrated
Postscript summary
Observing that the gut – described by one 19th-century doctor as 'strangely wicked and ungrateful' – has long had a bad press, Elsa Richardson offers a cultural history of the human digestive system. Writing from both a physiological and symbolic perspective, she explores topics including the institutionalization of lunchtime, waste disposal before indoor plumbing and the reforms that followed Victorian London's 'Great Stink'.
Product information
Full publisher description
A Guardian Book of the Year
A Prospect Book of the Year
A Financial Times Most Anticipated Book
'A charming, fascinating foray into corners of history ... the perfect book for our golden age of indigestion' Washington Post
'A brilliant new cultural history of the gut' Daily Mail
Have you ever had a gut feeling? Found something hard to stomach? Have you gone belly up under pressure? Did you pull yourself together and show some guts?
The growls and gurgles of our digestive system are a constant reminder of the physical work it does to keep our bodies running. But throughout history, humans have puzzled over how this rowdy organ might influence us in other ways, from our emotional states and mental well-being to the decisions we make and even our sense of self.
Through Ancient Greece and Victorian England, eighteenth-century France and contemporary America, cultural historian Elsa Richardson leads us on a lively tour of all the ways we've tried to make sense of this endlessly fascinating (and sometimes embarrassing) body part. From etiquette guides and diet advice to medieval alchemy and microbiology, she reveals that the gut-brain connection may be a modern obsession, but the question of whether we are ruled by our stomachs is as old as humanity itself.
'A fascinating, erudite and entertaining journey through the gut-brain connection'
TIFFANY WATT SMITH, author of The Book of Human Emotions
'A thrilling and surprising journey into the science and culture of an organ that refuses to be civilised'
PAUL CRADDOCK, author of Spare Parts
A Prospect Book of the Year
A Financial Times Most Anticipated Book
'A charming, fascinating foray into corners of history ... the perfect book for our golden age of indigestion' Washington Post
'A brilliant new cultural history of the gut' Daily Mail
Have you ever had a gut feeling? Found something hard to stomach? Have you gone belly up under pressure? Did you pull yourself together and show some guts?
The growls and gurgles of our digestive system are a constant reminder of the physical work it does to keep our bodies running. But throughout history, humans have puzzled over how this rowdy organ might influence us in other ways, from our emotional states and mental well-being to the decisions we make and even our sense of self.
Through Ancient Greece and Victorian England, eighteenth-century France and contemporary America, cultural historian Elsa Richardson leads us on a lively tour of all the ways we've tried to make sense of this endlessly fascinating (and sometimes embarrassing) body part. From etiquette guides and diet advice to medieval alchemy and microbiology, she reveals that the gut-brain connection may be a modern obsession, but the question of whether we are ruled by our stomachs is as old as humanity itself.
'A fascinating, erudite and entertaining journey through the gut-brain connection'
TIFFANY WATT SMITH, author of The Book of Human Emotions
'A thrilling and surprising journey into the science and culture of an organ that refuses to be civilised'
PAUL CRADDOCK, author of Spare Parts
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Observing that the gut – described by one 19th-century doctor as 'strangely wicked and ungrateful' – has long had a bad press, Elsa Richardson offers a cultural history of the human digestive system. Writing from both a physiological and symbolic perspective, she explores topics including the institutionalization of lunchtime, waste disposal before indoor plumbing and the reforms that followed Victorian London's 'Great Stink'.
Hardback
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Elsa Richardson
General
220x142mm
Profile
No
Hardback
