Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ

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 show 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. show less

This was a fun (yes, fun) and interesting look at the most current research about what goes on in our gut. Enders goes through all this information with humor and clarity, even when the subject could be confusing.

The most interesting parts to me were the speculation that the gut is a center that sort of runs the body, much like the brain, and that it probably is a contributor to anxiety and depression. It's not all "in our minds". Also, I'm of course interested in the new research about the role of our gut flora and probiotics and prebiotics.

The only thing I wish is that there had been more actual answers in this book, but the research needs to be done first. It seems to be a very new field of study. I think you can find more detail show more about probiotics and prebiotics in other books, but it is all so new that I think it's probably based on untested hypotheses. I also have [The Good Gut], another book published in 2015, and I'll be interested to compare the two. It looks more like a plan to make use of the current research to influence your diet and health. I'm hoping the two books complement each other. show less

"The gut is our body's most underrated organ. This is its inside story."

Gut is a rollicking ride through the vast organ that is the human digestive system. Enders takes us through the whole thing from top to, er, bottom, and from inside to out.

The book is similar in tone to Mary Roach's book: Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, but where Roach excels at going into the kooky culture behind the science, Enders gives us the low down on the anatomy and physiology of our most ignored organ (appropriate, as she is--at the time of this writing--a medical student). We move through the structure of the various components of the digestive system, on to the structure of the nervous system which services the gut, and make a nice little show more stopover with the microbiome: the bacterial cells living in our gut that outnumber our or human cells by 9 to 1.

Enders has that rare and precious gift: she is able to impart knowledge in an engaging manner. Many, many nonfiction writers would kill for her delivery. The entire book is written in a wry, accessible tone, making Gut the most fun your going to have with your colon for quite a while. In addition, the book is cunningly (and humorously) illustrated (by Jill Enders) throughout, treating us to images of ballerinas toe dancing on slices of cake, babies diving through a sea of bacteria while being born, and the immune system fitting bad bacteria with little hats, among many, many others.

Gut gives us the best of science writing. You will learn quite a bit while perusing this book, but you won't realize it right away. I'm almost sad that Enders is seeking a career in medicine, I hope she'll still find time for her writing; the world needs more books this fun.

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An excellent look at the way our digestive system works, as well as all the little organisms that help it function.

I had hoped to get this kind of information from Mary Roach's book Gulp, but I was rather disappointed. Gut, however, didn't disappoint!

As someone else said, there were a few portions that dragged a bit, but overall, I appreciated the way it was told, and there's a lot of surprising information packed into this book.

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 show more 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. show less

Knowing that this was translated from the German (Darm mit Charme) keeps forcing me to pronounce the title "goot" - despite the intestines hanging off the word. And it is "gut," I enjoyed it. Enders's writing is reader-friendly while being informative. And it seems oh so German and frank (haha, see what I did there?).

Enders tells us that the digestive system has its own brain and it communicates with the one belonging to the nervous system as well, both affecting each other. She describes the system in a way that makes it interesting and attractive. Her sister's illustrations are light-hearted yet enable the concepts to stick in your mind. I now have an indelible image in my mind of intestinal villii and what foods are pre-biotics.

The show more book might not be for the faint-hearted, especially if they are germ-phobic, but they should probably read it anyway. Bacteria is not necessarily bad for you (are you listening, Debbie?) and, in fact, it might be crucial to your well-being.

There's something about translation or perhaps the very Germanish of this that makes the narrative a little stilted. Enders's tone is playful but somehow still seems to come off as stiff. I also wonder about the wealth of US statistics cited. Were they in the original or did they replace the more eurocentric statistics? Of course, I might be more interested in US statistics, but maybe not. I certainly wondered about all the US stats. We do seem to be obsessed here with antibacterial products (not at my house, obviously). Is it the same in Europe? show less

The more books I read about my gut, the less I seem to know. This book is one of the better ones because it (a) gets into the details of why scientists might think this or that, (b) tells you when the information is somewhat or largely conjectural and should be taken with a grain of salt and (c) takes more of a common sense approach in giving the advice (e. g., saying a certain advice is from her grandmother and, although the scientific backup for it is still a little sketchty, her grandmother was right about a lot of other things...: )

Enders writes in an entertaining and witty way although without the "belly-laughs" I had with Mary Roach's similar book (Gulp). Katy Sobey does a wonderful job turning this excellent writing into the show more audio format. show less