Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (original 2014; edition 2015)

Gut introduces the world of the digestive tract to a mass audience -- both the organs and systems themselves, and then an extensive look at the microbiome and how they all interact with other systems, overall physiology, health, psychology, and to some extent culture. This is a very easy read and is accessible and interesting for a mass audience. There were a few cases where she used overly "cute" analogies which actually were harder to understand than the underlying concept, but overall it was very good. ( )

This book was bought for me, as a gift. Under my own impulse, I would have left it on the bookshop shelf after looking with mild amusement at the rather good doodle style illustrations that do an excellent job of explaining the science. Giulia Enders’ sister Jill Enders is the one to thank for these. However, the book ended up on my bookshelf.

Six months later, in search of something a bit different and reasonably light to read, I picked it up.

I consider myself more interested in the brain, how I think and feel and how I can change all this to make me a happier, more content, likable human being. I prefer to think of things in terms of psychology than biology. Probably due to an unnecessary grudge against my school biology teachers. Giulia Enders however introduces the gut in a manner that would have been acceptable to both me and my biology teacher when I was fifteen. Apparently, my stomach is really much higher in my body than I imagined. And my small intestine really does agree that a siesta – or at least a bit of relaxation – is a good idea after lunch. Enders also points out what I feel I should have recognised as the obvious: we feel not solely with the brain in some mystical fashion, but because it keeps us alive.

“Anyone who suffers from anxiety or depression should remember that an unhappy gut can be the cause of an unhappy mind. Sometimes, the gut has a perfect right to be unhappy, if it is dealing with an undetected food intolerance, for example. We should not always blame depression on the brain or on our life circumstances – there is much more to us than that.”

There was also a chapter on the cause of various intolerances and some fascinating (and sometimes icky) detail on all the living creatures – bacteria, yeasts, fungi, worms – that you may or not want living in your body.

It’s a super easy to read book. The bit on bacteria goes on a while, and you might lose focus at this point, but the pictures and the sometimes unexpected but clear explanations of how we work make it worth reading and easy to digest.
( )

Ausgerechnet der Darm! Das schwarze Schaf unter den Organen, das einem doch bisher eher unangenehm war. Aber dieses Image wird sich ändern. Denn Übergewicht, Depressionen und Allergien hängen mit einem gestörten Gleichgewicht der Darmflora zusammen. Das heißt umgekehrt: Wenn wir uns in unserem Körper wohl fühlen, länger leben und glücklicher werden wollen, müssen wir unseren Darm pflegen. Das legen die neuesten Forschungen nahe. In diesem Buch erklärt die junge Wissenschaftlerin Giulia Enders vergnüglich, welch ein hochkomplexes und wunderbares Organ der Darm ist. Er ist der Schlüssel zu Körper und Geist und eröffnet uns einen ganz neuen Blick durch die Hintertür.

My gut unfortunately fell out with me around 3 years ago, and whatever I did to upset it, clearly it's not forgiving me any time soon. I therefore hoped upon hope that this book would have a "Yes! That's it!" moment for me, but sadly (and not overly unexpectedly) there were no such revelations.

Still, it's an interesting, popular science read, and I did learn a number of new things along the way about this most complex of organs and how it works when it's working well. Particularly interesting was the new research which points to the relationship between the health of our gut bacteria and mood / depression.

I'd hoped that within these pages would be some new insights of the 'got this symptom? Perhaps check out x, y, z', but this is more of a popular gallop through the gut with a light touch on some general dysfunctions. An interesting read, written in a light and entertaining way, but nothing ground-breaking sadly.

3.5 stars - informative but not life-changing. ( )

Lovely little book. Almost like a user's guide to the digestive system. It's very much popular science, with a broad range of fairly shallow information presented in an appealing and entertaining format. (That's not a criticism.)

I found a couple of Enders' analogies a little strange (distant trees are spoons?) but overall I thought her writing was enjoyable. The illustrations were a little off for me, but good enough. There wasn't much in there to blow my mind, but I imagine approaching this with a different background would show it's pretty informative. I definitely appreciated that she outlines a kind of range of normal, and gives sensible advice without the hyperbole I associate with American health writing. I love the idea of destigmatising basic bodily functions, so I liked that aspect too.


Overall, I did enjoy it, but likely won't revisit. I'll be giving it to others who could benefit from the clear information contained within, as I think it is useful and actionable whilst being an easy read. ( )