Balance: A Dizzying Journey Through the Science of Our Most Delicate Sense

by Carol Svec Narrated by Wendy Tremont King

Overview

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.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“Balance is an incredible book by one of my favorite authors. From the first chapter, I was swept up in a quirky journey that illuminates one of the most mysterious aspects of the human body. Both awe-inspiring and funny, this is science writing at its best.” —Joy Bauer, MS, RDN, health and nutrition expert for NBC’s Today show and best-selling author of From Junk Food to Joy Food


 


"Svec takes us on a fascinating romp through the science of balance and the mind-body connection…a well-balanced blend of science, stories, surprises and her own dizzying adventures as a guinea pig.”  —Jena Pincott, author of Do Chocolate Lovers Have Sweeter Babies?:  The Surprising Science of Pregnancy


“Never again will I understand the mere act of standing upright as anything less than a small miracle. Carol Svec's exploration of balance is unexpected, engaging, and ultimately enlightening.” —Samantha Dunn, author of Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Carrless Life


“Balance is easily taken for granted. In this book, Carol takes you on a journey through the vestibular system to demonstrate how the inner ear works with the eyes, muscles and brain to control our ability to balance. She interviews some of the top researchers in the field and exposes herself to tests that would make your stomach flip (literally). Carol's writing is informative and funny, educational and illuminating. A great introduction to a very complicated system.” —Cynthia Ryan, Executive Director, Vestibular Disorders Association (VEDA)


“With crisp, lucid, and witty prose, Svec leads us on a kind of Odyssean journey into the secret symphony performed every second of every day between our eyes, ears, brains, nerves, joints, and even blood. Who knew ‘balance research’ could tell us so much about ourselves? I didn’t, and was bowled over by the whole thing. This is less a book about the misunderstood sense of balance and more a paean to the clever clockwork of the human body.” —James Nestor, author of DEEP: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves


“A comprehensive view of what we take for granted—until the devastation of no longer having it.” —Nicole Detling, owner and senior consultant with HeadStrong Consulting


“...thoroughly informative and engaging, Svec's "dizzying journey" maps a crucial, too-little understood aspect of health and well-being.” —Booklist

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"Both awe-inspiring and funny, this is science writing at its best. —Joy Bauer, MS, RDN, bestselling author of From Junk Food to Joy Food

Library Journal - Audio

12/01/2017
Our sense of balance involves so much more than standing on one foot and trying to stay upright. Through Svec's meetings with doctors and scientists, she has learned and written about how the signals from one's ears, eyes, and sense of touch affect one's balance. She covers the topics of motion sickness, virtual reality sickness, movie sickness, and many more subjects related to our sense of balance. Not only does Svec interview the experts in the field, she volunteered to experience firsthand experiments using the Vominator, goggles that simulate drunken dizziness, and rooms that trick the senses about which way is up. Svec includes narratives about people who have debilitating balance dysfunction and the work that is being done to help them function as completely as possible. The listener learns that balance issues increase for senior citizens, so home and community design are important factors for the aging population; for example, stairs that differ from the national standard of 7¾ inches high are more likely to cause falls than standard-height stairs. Narrator Wendy Tremont King projects a friendly attitude, inviting listeners to engage even in the technical aspects of the book. VERDICT This work offers new and fascinating facts with every hour of listening. Although the book would be of special interest to those with balance dysfunction, everyone who is growing older will find useful information here.—Ann Weber, Los Gatos, CA

APRIL 2018 - AudioFile

Wendy Tremont King give a serviceable narration of Svec's well-researched and well-written look at the human mechanisms that allow us to stand upright and perceive our place in this three-dimensional universe, and that also can cause us to be afflicted by vertigo and nausea. King seems to handle the scientific terminology with ease. The audiobook delves into little-known research on a you-are-there human scale; we follow the author as she visits testing laboratories and academic research centers. Why do we get seasick, for example. What do astronauts feel in weightless environments? How is it that amusement park rides make youngsters delighted and adults sick to their stomachs? The answers are here. D.R.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171242039
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/01/2017
Edition description:	Unabridged

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