31
ing home. Without these characters,
Bryson points out, The Body would
simply be another medical text
book, and it is far more than that.
The final chapter, appropriately,
is about death. Since Bryson has
lived in the UK for many years, in
North Yorkshire, Norfolk, Dorset
and now Hampshire, I ask if his
life expectancy is American
(78.6 years) or British (81.6 years).
‘I’d like whichever is higher,’ he
laughs, ‘but since I was born and
brought up in America I will prob
ably have to go with that.’
In case he gets sick he’s written
a living will, a document that
expresses someone’s wish to die if
they are unable to articulate it them
selves. His wife Cynthia, their sons,David, a surgeon, and Sam, and
daughters Felicity and Cath
erine, know it’s in his desk
at home. He is quietly in
favour of assisted dying too.
‘I am not campaigning
for it, I am not going
to man the barricades,
but I believe it is humane
and that when the time
is right it should be
an option.’
Right now he’d sim
ply like a long lie down.
‘My body feels done
in by writing a book
about it,’ he jokes.
He’s worked so hard
that he might have
rubbed the whorls
off his fingerprints.
Actually you can’t do
that, though you can
be born with none.
It’s called aderma
tologlyphia and is
useful if you are a
career criminal.
We finish with
s o m e q u i c k f i r e
questions. What’s his
favourite part of his
body? ‘My brain.’ Of
Cynthia’s? ‘Her face.’
The most unbelievable
fact he uncovered writ
ing this book? ‘That you
have a metre of DNA in
every cell and so many cells
that if you unpacked them
and formed your DNA into a
single fine strand there
would be enough to stretch
to Pluto.’ Does he want
to be buried – decompo
sition in a sealed coffin
takes between five and
40 years – or cremated,
which turns you into
5 lb of ash? ‘I don’t
care. You can toss
me into a ditch when
I’m done.’
Finally, how does
he feel about organ donation?
‘Unquestionably happy. People
are welcome to make use of me.
I’ve only got one kidney but it’s a
really good one.’lThe Body: A Guide For
Occupants, by Bill Bryson, is
published by Doubleday on October
3, priced £25. Offer price £18.75 (20
per cent discount) until September- To pre-order, call 0844 571
0640 or go to mailshop.co.uk.
tists down the centuries – Freder
ick Banting and J. J. R. Macleod, the
men who gave the world insulin,
hated each other.
And he includes numerous take
downs of quackery, fakery and
ego. The selfpromoting New York
surgeon Henry Heimlich, who
invented the abdominal compres
sions that can save someone from
choking, only ever got to use his
own technique once, in his 90s, sav
ing a fellow pensioner in their nursINSIDES
STORY:
Bill Bryson,
who describes
his new book,
The Body:
A Guide For
Occupants,
as ‘a kind
of owners’
manual’
World exclusive
starting in
next Week’s
TMOS_Masthead_Reversed_NoLines
TMOS_Masthead_Lines
TMOS_Masthead_NoSunday_NoLines
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If our DNA
was formed into
a single strand,
it would stretch
to Pluto
Britain’s favourite
travel writer has
written a brilliantly
compelling new book
- this time exploring
the human body.
don’t miss it – only
in next week’s Mos
Bill
Bryson
is Back!
STEVE SCHOFIELD