“If you have been inside a human brain, as I have, and held the quivering substance in your hand, if you have gazed through a microscope at a tiny section of the unimaginable network of nerve cells, if you have watched brain wave machines record a minute sampling of the communications between cells, if you have pondered the interwoven mysteries of brain and mind and human personality, then I think you should be prepared, if not for the concept of the analogy, at least for its emotional force. A whole person lives inside the bony box, locked in, protected, sealed away for the indispensable duties of managing one hundred trillion cells in a human body. The Head of the Body is the seat of mystery and wisdom and unity. He is the source.”
~Excerpt from Chapter 10, “The Source"
~Excerpt from Chapter 10, “The Source"
The author of Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand, continues his tour of the human body’s intricate workings and it’s application to Christ’s spiritual Body. Along with his collaborator and editor, author Philip Yancey, this sequel was published by Zondervan in 1984 and reprinted in 2008.
In His Image continues where Fearfully and Wonderfully Made left off. Covering topics such as image, blood, head, spirit, and pain, this second book by Brand will continue to bring you wonder and amazement surrounding the complexities and ingenious mechanics of our body’s intricate workings. Dr. Brand also gives a new perspective regarding aspects of our body’s design we may consider unfavorable. For example, no one enjoys pain. However without this seemingly negative sensation we would be clueless to the wear and strain we put our bodies through, and would constantly be damaging its living cells and tissue. This is just one example of the many thought provoking, praise inducing, awe-inspiring concepts uncovered in this book. A few of my favorite excerpts include:
“The body provides the energy for the red cells’ travels by employing the heart, an organ that deserves a book exclusively devoted to it. Primitive artificial hearts are now available, but I would like to see a government design specification sheet for a truly adequate replacement. Bids accepted from: fluid pump with 75-year life expectancy (2,500,000,000 cycles); no maintenance or lubrication required; output: must vary between .025 horsepower at rest and short bursts of 1 horsepower determined by such factors as stress and exercise; weight: not to exceed 10.5 ounces (300 grams); capacity: 2,000 gallons per day; valves: each to operate 4,000-5,000 times per hour.”
~Excerpt from Chapter 4, “Power”
“Each day we live at the mercy of organisms one-trillionth our size. … Early in the twentieth century the ‘war to end all wars’ cost the greatest toll in the history of human conflict: eight-and-a-half million lives. But during the year of armistice an influenza epidemic broke out that would eventually triple the carnage—twenty-five million deaths worldwide.”
~Excerpts from Chapter 7, “Overcoming”
“This ability to transpose units of messages—whether from the ear, the nose, the tongue, or the eye—into ever-higher strata of meaning is only possible because of the inner functions of the secluded brain. Cells inside that ivory fortress have no immediate experience of light, sound, taste, or odor. Yet every bit of data transmitted by sense organs terminates there. Indeed, no sensation truly registers until the brain has taken hold of it, translated it, and made sense out of it.”
~Excerpt from Chapter 9, “Pathways"
~Excerpt from Chapter 4, “Power”
“Each day we live at the mercy of organisms one-trillionth our size. … Early in the twentieth century the ‘war to end all wars’ cost the greatest toll in the history of human conflict: eight-and-a-half million lives. But during the year of armistice an influenza epidemic broke out that would eventually triple the carnage—twenty-five million deaths worldwide.”
~Excerpts from Chapter 7, “Overcoming”
“This ability to transpose units of messages—whether from the ear, the nose, the tongue, or the eye—into ever-higher strata of meaning is only possible because of the inner functions of the secluded brain. Cells inside that ivory fortress have no immediate experience of light, sound, taste, or odor. Yet every bit of data transmitted by sense organs terminates there. Indeed, no sensation truly registers until the brain has taken hold of it, translated it, and made sense out of it.”
~Excerpt from Chapter 9, “Pathways"
The human body will never cease to amaze and fascinate me, and this book—along with Dr. Brand’s first book—help give a deeper glimpse at the perfect design of the Creator. So if you enjoyed Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, you will want to dive into this continuation. May you be blessed, inspired, and encouraged by the anatomical and spiritual insights of medical missionary and world-renowned surgeon, Dr. Paul Brand.