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Title: Balance
Subtitle: A Dizzying Journey Through the Science of Our Most Delicate Sense
Author: Carol Svec
Narrator: Wendy Tremont King
Format: Unabridged
Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
Language: English
Release date: 09-01-17
Publisher: Tantor Audio
Genres: Science & Technology, Biology
Publisher's Summary:
Balance is a lively, 360-degree exploration of our body's supersense. Health and wellness writer Carol Svec examines every facet of balance in a way that is highly entertaining, broadly accessible, and rigorously researched. Listeners follow her through various facilities as she talks with scientists doing state-of-the-art research. She grilled an egg in a virtual kitchen, had her senses fooled in a tumbling room by a mannequin named Hans, survived "the Vominator" without losing her lunch, and experienced drunken dizziness inside a police muster room.
Chapters include fascinating case studies of people whose lives are affected by balance dysfunction, the latest research initiatives, the coolest gadgets used by researchers, and first-person accounts of what it's like to be a scientific guinea pig for balance. In a clear, friendly style, Svec communicates what she has learned about balance from some of the top scientists in the world, including how balance research is being applied to help those who are ill, elderly, disabled, or simply prone to queasiness, and what ingenious, potentially life-changing advances may be coming down the road.
Critic Reviews:
"Both awe-inspiring and funny, this is science writing at its best." (Joy Bauer, MS, RDN, best-selling author of From Junk Food to Joy Food)
Members Reviews:
Life is Balance
Balance is just one of those things you donât think aboutâunless you have a problem with it. But if any robot designer came up with the human form, they would have been laughed out of the business. An upright human is basically an unstable structure, and while walking is an efficient mode of transport, it requires exceptional balance and control. Carol Svec examines the magic that makes the whole thing work.
=== The Good Stuff ===
* The book is an excellent overview of human senses, especially as they relate to balance and equilibrium. Everything from what causes sea and air-sickness, how auto interiors are designed to minimize problems, and wind-turbine sickness are discussed. None of the discussions are especially scientifically rigorous, but do cover the basic knowledge and theories on what causes them.
* The author writes in an informal and easy-to-read style. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, while the science is reasonably well explained and summarized.
* Svec loads the book with any number of interesting little observations. For example, infants and small children seldom get motion sickness, probably because their sense of balance doesnât develop until somewhat later in life. A good thing, since small children need to tolerate an endless routine of falling, wobbling, and being carried at odd angles. Similarly, there was an excellent discussion on how the body calculates where to place a foot for the next footstep. It is a remarkably complex calculation, done in real time.
* Throughout the book we meet a number of researchers delving into any number of areas. Svec does a marvelous job of explaining their thoughts, and in many cases describing experiments that can either be replicated at homeâor at least described well enough to give a feel for what the research is all about.
=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===
* Svec can get a bit âtouchy-feelyâ in her descriptions. For example, she feels the need to describe the body-language of some of the researchers.
