Body Heat (The Simply Series, Book 4)

Book Description

Night after night, Brianne Nelson has fantasized about the sexy stranger she met at the cafe where she works part-time. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine that this tall drink of water would turn out to be a client.

Thanks to his wealthy sister, injured detective Jake Lowell is the recipient of Brianne's next personal services as a physical therapist for the next month. Now, he's not in any hurry to return to the beat -- but he has to find the guy who shot him first. Still, he does need therapy. But the "therapy" has evolved into something a little -- uh -- steamier. And before they know it, their nightly sessions have turned into a full-blown summer fling.

Just what do you do when your wildest fantasies become an even wilder reality?

A story guaranteed to raise your temperature!

Customer Reviews:

Injured cop falls for his physical therapist.......2006-08-24

After a drug bust goes awry and his partner is killed, Jake is nursing a bullet wound to his shoulder and he refuses to get physical therapy to return to duty. The highlight of his week is the visits with his sister to a cafe where he trades longing glances with a sexy waitress. When his sister decides to take a trip to Europe to nurse her own broken heart, she asks Jake to dog sit for her at her penthouse, not telling him that he has made arrangements for the sexy waitress, Brianne (who just so happens to be a physical therapist by day...) to move in and help get him back to health.

When the two discover the deception, both are convinced they won't succumb to temptation. That lasts about a half day, and they agree to a summer fling, as she plans to move to California where her brother will attend college in the fall. Jake knows that Brianne will discover he's back in near perfect health - something he's kept secret since he has his own plans to get even with Luis Ramirez, the drug dealer who killed his partner and eluded capture on a technicality. Luis has plans to get even with Jake by going through Brianne. As a precaution, Jake has a PI watch over Brianne when she is not with him. Soon she notices that she is being followed, and Jake is convinced it's Luis. Will he be able to protect the woman he loves from the man that killed his partner without losing his heart in the process?

Note that this is a re-issue that pre-dates Phillips' "Simply" series (Jakes sister Rina appears in "Simply Sexy" and the epilogue in this one is yet another shameless promotion to entice the reader to check out Rina's story). The writing is a bit pedestrian, the mystery and suspense kept at a minimum, but the steam that Phillips is known for is in abundance.

A sweet summer Romance.......2006-07-24

Body Heat is a quick summer romance novel with splash of danger and mystery. Jake is on leave from the Police Department after being shot. Brianna is a Physical therapist/Waitress who is overwhelmed with life. Jake's sister Rina finds the need to do a little matchmaking.... If you enjoy this genre, I would also suggest Body Check by Deirdre Martin , Wedding Survivor by Julia London, Glory Days by Irene Peterson and Squeeze Play by Kate Angell.

Shouldn't have been "re-released.".......2006-07-12

This book was a big disappointment. I picked up a Carly Phillips novel last year at the airport and was pleasantly entertained. I've read and enjoyed a couple of others since. This book, however, isn't one of them. This is a rerelease of a book Ms.Phillips wrote for Harlequin Romance years ago, and is now trying to use her recent popularity to sell once again. Let me say, she's improved in her writing immensely since she wrote this one. The book drags on and on as we wait for the inevitable coupling between the main characters. The internal dialogue is repetitive and the formulaic "romantic barrier" preventing the two characters from immediately committing is flimsy at best. The language is often stilted and the plot contrived. Thankfully, Ms. Phillips has learned to write a better book than this. Unfortunately, she's decided to foist her less-than-stellar early efforts off on her unsuspecting public, leaving at least this reader with a bad sense of having wasted my time on a crappy book and disappointment in the author.

Enjoyable but Redundant.......2006-06-06

This book was fun to read and everytime I had a free moment I wanted to read more. Breaks at work, before bed and wheneer I got to work a little early I would sit and read before I had to punch in. It kept me entertained however it was somewhat redundant. The thoughts of the main characters wer repeated over and over again. It felt like the whole novel was what they thought about their relationship and what the ultimate outcome was going to be. It was very romantic and somewhat unrealistic. The characters are loveable but I found them both to be somewhat annoying at times. The story focused more on the sex and emotions than the actual plot. For example, their relationship started as a patient/therapist relationship but everytime they start a session, things get steamy. Not that I really want to be reading details about physical therapy, but it just seemed redundant. Don't get me wrong, when the story acutally got into the plot, it was very enjoyable. I guess I just found the characters to be a little bit needy and maybe a little bit whiney.
-indifferent

Capivated Me!.......2006-04-24

While Jake sits at a table in the The Sidewalk Café waiting for his sister Rina, he is watching for the waitress that has captivated him and brought him back to the restaurant time and again. Jake is a detective on leave because of an injury caused by a drug dealer he was investigating, named Louis Ramirez. Jake isn't letting anyone know that he is recuperating, instead he is keeping his recovery to himself so he can decide if he wants to get back on the force. Ramirez had been caught, but got off on a technicality. Now Jake intends to get Ramirez on his own.

Brianne goes to work every night hoping to see the gorgeous man who has been appearing lately at the café she works in. Although he is always there with another woman, she can't help how attracted she is to him. Brianne is a physical therapist who works two jobs trying to pay for her brother's schooling.

One night Brianne is stopped by her mystery man's date. Rina asks Brianne to become Jake's physical therapist. She has an ulterior motive, though; Rina thinks that Brianne and Jake belong together. Rina sets them up in the hopes they will hit it off. Neither Jake nor Brianne are looking for a relationship, but their attraction to each other is deep and fighting it is futile. Together they decide to share a summer of passion together.

Brianne tells Jake that she notices a man following her and her description resembles Ramirez. Jake then uses their affair as an excuse to protect her. Finding Ramirez, and putting him behind bars is even more crucial now. As there relationship progresses, Jake is willing to put his career and his life on the line to protect her. Then Brianne shows Jake she is willing to do the same for him.

Body Heat is terrific! The sexual anticipation between Brianne and Jake is heady. The chemistry between them is delicious. Jake is commanding and protective. Brianne is both sweet and tough. She fits Jake like a glove. With a little nudge from Rina, Jake and Brianne's attraction grows into a lifetime love. The threat Ramirez poses and Jake's ability to protect Brianne add a thrilling element to the story. Body Heat is romantic, passionate and exciting; it thoroughly captivated me.

Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Average customer rating:

Another wonderful collection of photographs
From the Publisher & About the Author
ENOUGH HEAT TO LAST A YEAR AND BEYOND

Body Heat

Manufacturer: Bruno Gmunder Verlag Gmbh
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Erotic Photography | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Portraits | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 3861878607

Customer Reviews:

Another wonderful collection of photographs.......2007-07-18

No disappointments here - somewhat posey at times but the composition and beauty still thrills. Get it if you are a fan or a collector.

From the Publisher & About the Author.......2005-08-26

FROM THE PUBLISHER
"A beautifully printed full color calendar with loads of Kristen Bjorn models."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
"Kristen Bjorn was born in London, England on 12 October 1957. He grew up in Washington DC and at the age of eighteen he left the USA, and lived in numerous different countries over the following seventeen years. Kristen started his career as a Falcon [Studios] model in 1981, and within two years later he became one of the foremost photographers of the male nude for several international publications. In 1989, Kristen released his first gay erotic video CARNIVAL IN RIO, which was filmed at his home base in Brazil. Over the past 10 years, Kristen has toured the globe, and has created some of the world's best gay erotic video in such diverse locations as Brazil, The Dominican Republic, USA, French Canada, Australia, Venezuela, Hungary, Cuba, and Costa Rica. [...] ISBN 3-86187-676-0, © 2004 Bruno Gmünder Verlag (Editor & Publisher); photographs © Kristen Bjorn (Photographer), U.S.A., 2000

ENOUGH HEAT TO LAST A YEAR AND BEYOND.......2002-11-23

Those who know Kristen Bjorn will know why his men are hot...and now these models in this hot 2003 calendar will generate enough heat to keep you going all year...beautifully photographed and top notch nude and muscular men from Bjorn's world will make you delighfully feverish!

Average customer rating:

Body Heat 2
Kevin Taylor
Manufacturer: Amerotica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1561635030
Release Date: 2007-05-01

Product Description

Taylor's next collection of short goodies featuring all his most popular characters! And this one is in full color.

Average customer rating:

Definitely NOT worth the money.
A very good read
Not worth over $10
A Hot Romance!
Sizzling romance

Body Heat
Katherine Garbera
Manufacturer: Kensington
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0758212410

Download Description

IS IT GETTING STEAMY IN HERE...Andi O'Rourke is a fire chief and a darned good one--one of only a handful of women in the U.S. to make it. Raised in a family of firefighters, she's a natural, barking out orders and keeping her guys safe at the same time; and her big, tough guys respect her, treating her just like one of them. Away from her job, though, Andi doesn't have a clue how to handle herself with men. That's why arson investigator Tucker Fields is so dangerous...and so tempting. Tucker is no slap-you-on-the-back kind of guy; he's all man. A man who makes Andi feel sexy, alive, desired...

Customer Reviews:

Definitely NOT worth the money........2006-07-02

Yet another author (like Lori Foster) that's more interested in writing as many graphic sex scenes as possible at the expense of plot or character development. Come on ladies, if you want to write porn, write porn. But if you want to write romance, as this book is classified, build up the characters first and don't have the sexually expclicit come-ons and thoughts (of the characters) happen by page 5. I found this so annoying I only made it to page 43 before throwing the book down in disgust. I'm even more disgusted knowing that I paid $14 dollars for this. Wish there was a money back guarantee on these things.

A very good read.......2006-05-04

I spend a lot of time reading romance books and this one is one of my favorite books of all time. I just couldn't put this one down. The romance between Angie and Tucker was very steamy. Makes me wish that Tucker was a real person.

Not worth over $10.......2006-04-24

I am not a professional reader, but I do read a lot of romance novels, usually over a dozen a month. I enjoy a wide variety of romance settings, from historical to contemporary, thrillers to paranormal, e.g., Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, Linda Howard, Sherrilyn Kenyon, just to name a few. This book was the first time I've tried this author and I was disappointed (particularly since the book is one of the annoying trade paperbacks costing over $10). Editing was really poor. For example, it really threw me off a bit when I first encountered "Andrea" a bit into the book because I thought that was a new character when it was just Andi's full name. But the writer never introduced the idea that Andi was a nickname to begin with -- then throughout the book Andrea and Andi would annoyingly be used interchangeably, sometimes on the same page. Same with use of "Tuck" and "Tucker". The arson investigation never felt well interwoven as part of the storyline; instead it was a mere background story, and not a very interesting one at that. It felt almost like an afterthought. The romance/relationship aspect was okay. Overall I am not sure I will try another one of this author's books again.

A Hot Romance!.......2006-04-15

Andrea "Andi" O'Rourke is a fire Captain and she has worked hard to be seen by her men as a strong person...not as a woman. But, now something or rather someone has changed that. His name is Tucker Fields and he makes her melt and challenges her at every turn. She's not used to not having the upper hand and Tuck is not used to being submissive. Will it work out between them?

Tucker is a arson investigator. He has been called to help Andi and her crew solve several suspicious fires. He is not expecting a fire of a different kind to flare between him and the sexy captain. But, will he be able to walk away from her when it's time for him to move on or will he finally find a reason to stay?

This was a fair romance but what kept it from being great is Andi. This character was just too strong and it made the romance between Tuck and her seem forced and less then romantic. Still the heat between the characters is hot and the mystery of who is the arsonist is engaging.

Sizzling romance.......2006-04-12

Andi O'Rourke is a fire chief in mid Florida. She has fought hard and long to raise to the level she is, especially in the firefighting legacy family as she has. But, along the way she has forgotten how to not be "just one of the guys" and people see her just that way. She also only dates guys who she can walk all over and who don't understand her.

Tucker Field is a guy's guy who knows what he wants and goes after it. One thing he doesn't want is to settle down as he is determined not to repeat the sins of his father and walk out on a woman and child.

Tucker is brought in to Andi's firehouse to help solve an arson investigation. Tucker is known as a genius in solving fire mysteries. But, he takes one look at Andi and a second pursuit is undertaken. There is a little fire investigation in the book but the majority of the remainder of the book deals with Andi and Tuckers relationship. Can Andi let her guard down to really let Tucker in and will that scare him away?

Average customer rating:

Amazing content throughout the entire book!

Healing Energies of Heat and Light
Charles T., M.D. McGee
Manufacturer: Medipress
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Healing | Alternative Medicine | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books
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Accessories:

ASIN: 096369796X

Book Description

Healing Energies of Heat and Light introduces a breakthrough in healing and disease prevention. A strange mixture of do-it-yourself healing steps are involved that stimulate a synergistic response when used together. The program is the development of qigong masters and includes the use of new light therapy devices that emit energy very close to chi itself.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing content throughout the entire book!.......2001-02-08

This is a very unique book that has some Qigong information that I haven't seen anywhere else. It focuses on combining several treatment modalities that have a synergistic effect that increases the speed and quality of the healing for many different problems. Much better than hearing about how this one thing is the very best or that one thing is the best. It's a combination of several things that work really well alone and they work even better when combined in the specific way this book talks about. This book has some incredible case histories that you just have to read for yourself. I have experienced the results on myself and can say first hand how easy, safe and effective it is.

Average customer rating:

Great collection of Kevin Taylor's 3-issue Body Heat mini-series
The Best Their Is
Kevin Taylor knows his Girls
There's fantasy, and then there's [bad].
A collection of hardcore hits

Girl: Body Heat
Kevin J. Taylor , and Kelvin Taylor
Manufacturer: Amerotica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Comic Strips | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

General | Graphic Novels | Comics & Graphic Novels | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1561632465

Book Description

This collection brings the best stories Taylor has done all in one juicy volume! Includes stories with Girl, Boy Blue and Marty and many other goodies as well as a number of new ones as yet unseen!

Customer Reviews:

Great collection of Kevin Taylor's 3-issue Body Heat mini-series.......2006-12-11

Girl: Body Heat is a graphic novel which collects Kevin Taylor's 3-issue mini-series of the same name. This 3-issue mini-series was first released in comic book form during the mid-1990's. Prior to Body Heat, Kevin Taylor's work was only known in North America through his first "Girl" series. This series introduced Taylor as an up-and-coming talent in the adult comics industry. Taylor's style was a slightly exaggerated realism to the look of his women and men which made for some extremely graphic sexual sequences which made his first series a very sought after series of comic books.

Body Heat was released a few years after Taylor's first series and the response to it was pretty much what one would expect for a mini-series from an artist who has cultivated an almost cult-like following. If you don't believe me just go to any comic book convention where he makes an appearance and the lines are as long as for the more mainstream comic book titles. This follow-up to his Girl series has Taylor making a sort-of anthology series of short stories with all of them having one thing in common: lots of hot and steamy sex. Girl makes an appearance in a couple of the issues. We see her as freshman in high school already attracting the boys and men. Then we see her in a sort-of fantasy like situation involving a favorite centaur. Newer characters make first appearances who would turn out to become favorites as well: Blue and his ridiculously large endowment and Marty, his good-suffering boss who tries to keep things professional between the two of them.

Body Heat also has stand-alone stories which doesn'tties in to Taylor's character Girl. A spoof of Lois Lane working to get her exclusives with heroes who have an uncanny resemblance to Superman and Batman. Then there's the diary entry of a small-town girl to her high school sweetheart as she tries to make it out on her own in the big city. To say that what she writes in her letters to her sweetheart differs from what actually occurred is a huge understatement. The series also has Jill (who stars in her own title later on in Jill: Part-Time Lover) making her first appearance in the Girl Universe. All the stories do just enough to keep a semblance of a story, but really they're just there to move the scene along to what fans of Taylor want and that's the sex and alot of it. In this respect, Kevin Taylor doesn't disappoint.

Girl: Body Heat collection would be a must-buy for all Kevin Taylor fans and would be a nice addition to those who follow and read the adult comics coming out more and more in the last decade or so. Whether Kevin Taylor does full-lenght stories or short ones they are well done and doesn't disappoint. It's a shame that most of his shorter work hasn't been released outside of Spain where they're usually a staple of the Spanish adult comic series KISS. Here's to hoping he decides to share these shorter works and collects them a la Body Heat.

The Best Their Is.......2003-04-16

Kevin J. Taylor's body heat only proves one thing. He is the best at what he does. His storys and vivid imagination captures anyone who glances at it. I haven't seen too many artist who paint his imagination so fluid. Anything that he creates is worth the money. Take it from a faithful fan buy the best!

Kevin Taylor knows his Girls.......2001-09-13

This is a great book. I still LOVE the first Girl book the best as far as it ALL goes, story, art, sex, etc. etc. Jill, Part time lover was okay, but the long written "narration" seemed like a cop out more than a real comic, as the ones in this book and in the first girl were equally image driven as text driven. I also prefer the black and white art over the color job in Jill, though it grew on me some. Overall, though, the first girl was better than this as the two black and white styles in the books are not identical... one was thick lines and psudeo-cross hatched shading. In this one there are actual grey washes, etc. I don't prefer it.

The sex is hot, though not like the first Girl, which was truely over orgasmic and sexy even when it was perverted to the point of disgusting. Here it looks a little less "thrilling". There is also a strange amount of ACTUAL bestiality going on here, that I must admit is more erotic than I'd ever thought it'd be, but never comes close to actually being pleasantly arrousing or anything... just a strange sense of erotic perversion. The thing this book really has going on is some of the new characters in the Girl World we get to meet and visually have our way with.... worth a look but can't compare to the original

There's fantasy, and then there's [bad]........2001-08-17

I am a big fan of erotic artwork, and I love it when the artist allows his or her imagination to go wild. Erotic comics don't have to be fully realistic, so artists can, e.g., bend the rules of gravity. But come on! Like most other guys, I like largely proportioned women, but why does Taylor feel the need to draw his women so that they look like they have had very poorly done breast implant surgery? Actually the cover depicted above is the most realistic art I've ever seen by him, but look at the woman on the bottom right-hand side of the cover. That's how his characters almost always look: completely stiff and made of hard plastic...

A collection of hardcore hits.......2001-04-26

Girl: Body Heat is a compilation of erotic comic shorts drawn from Kevin Taylor's individual comic publications under the same name. Body Heat contains stories about Girl, a lusty lass that is more than happy to satify the boys, two or three at a time, at her high school. We also meet Blue, a boy with a third leg and a bevy of beauties following him around. And Jill, a pretty girl working her way through college, puts in a cameo appearance.

The distinct Taylor illustration style remains constant through out the book . Some people will not like the thick lines and the physically impossible anatomies - if you are looking for realistic illustrations then von Gotha or Duvet are better bets. However, the crude, exaggerated illustrations match the super hard core story line.

Book Description

How do mammals manage to maintain their body temperature within the same narrow range in environments as different as polar regions and hot deserts? This advanced text describes the morphological features and physiological mechanisms by which humans and other mammals maintain their body temperature within a narrow range despite large variations in climatic conditions and internal heat production. Its 19 chapters deal with the physics of heat exchange with the environment, and the autonomic and behavioural mechanisms available to control the loss and production of heat. The neuronal basis of temperature regulation and current concepts of the central nervous interface between temperature signals generated in the body and control mechanisms are examined in detail. This book is of invaluable help for undergraduates, postgraduates, teachers, physicians and scientists.

Body Heat: Temperature and Life on Earth

Average customer rating:

Packed with important scientific insights and a lively style
Interesting topic but oversimplified
An interesting book
Fascinating and fun
Thoroughly Enjoyable

Body Heat: Temperature and Life on Earth
Mark S. Blumberg
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Environmental Science | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Basic Instinct: The Genesis of Behavior

ASIN: 0674013697

Book Description

Whether you're a polar bear giving birth to cubs in an Arctic winter, a camel going days without water in the desert heat, or merely a suburbanite without air conditioning in a heat wave, your comfort and even survival depend on how well you adapt to extreme temperatures.

In this entertaining and illuminating book, biopsychologist Mark Blumberg explores the many ways that temperature rules the lives of all animals (including us). He moves from the physical principles that govern the flow of heat in and out of our bodies to the many complex evolutionary devices animals use to exploit those principles for their own benefit.

In the process Blumberg tells wonderful stories of evolutionary and scientific ingenuity--how penguins withstand Antarctic winters by huddling together by the thousands, how vulnerable embryos of many species are to extremes of temperature during their development, why people survive hour-long drowning accidents in winter but not in summer, how certain plants generate heat (the skunk cabbage enough to melt snow around it). We also hear of systems gone awry--how desert species given too much water can drink themselves into bloated immobility, why anorexics often complain of feeling cold, and why you can't sleep if the room is too hot or too cold. After reading this book, you'll never look at a thermostat in quite the same way again.

Customer Reviews:

Packed with important scientific insights and a lively style.......2005-02-09

In Body Heat : Temperature And Life On Earth, biophysicist Mark Blumberg's exploration of temperature in the world considers the many ways temperature rules the lives of animals, from how penguins survive Antarctic winters to why people survive drowning accidents in winter, but not in summer. Packed with important scientific insights and a lively style which lends to leisure browsing, Body Heat is a remarkable survey and a highly recommended selection for Environmental Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Interesting topic but oversimplified.......2003-10-15

Body Heat is an introduction to how living things regulate their internal temperature in the face of changing external circumstances. It is aimed at a general readership and written in a non-technical style. Although published by the Harvard University Press and handsomely presented, this is not as rigorously scientific as one might like.

First of all there are no footnotes so that some of University of Iowa psychology Professor Mark Blumberg's assertions are without reference. In a work aimed at the general public this is perhaps acceptable, even preferable; however when some of the assertions are a bit puzzling, it would be agreeable to have some attribution.

For example, Blumberg claims that the ancestors of the Pima Indians of southern Arizona (whom he is writing about because they have low levels of leptin which "predisposes them to fat storage") "have lived in North America for 30,000 years." (p. 182) From everything I know about the settlements in North America, there are none that go back 30,000 years. Perhaps this is a very recent discovery. If so, he should cite the source.

Or, consider Figure 8 on page 179. This is a black and white photo of two mice, "one bred for obesity (left) and the other a normal mouse..." On the facing page 178 the obese "mouse" is identified as a db/db (for diabetes) mouse, yet the text suggests that it is more likely a ob/ob (for obese) mouse. Maybe I have this wrong, but what REALLY bothers me about the photo is that I think those white mice are really white RATS and the wrong picture (or text) was used!

Or, on page 175 Blumberg writes that "a pound of fat holds twice as much energy as does a pound of sugar or protein." Actually it holds more like 2.25 times as much energy. There are nine calories in a gram of fat and four in either a gram of sugar or protein. Since I'm sure Blumberg knows this I can only attribute his expression to either a desire on the part of his publisher to "keep it simple" and avoid fractions, or because in the metabolism of fat some energy is lost. If the former is the reason, he should have insisted in the interest of accuracy on the more precise expression; and if the latter, he should have told us so. In either case, we are left wondering if we are being "dumbed down."

This simplistic approach, a kind of creeping casualness about what is and what isn't so, may lead the reader to wonder about the strict accuracy of other statements in the book. For example, on page 158 we learn that the psychologist Craig Anderson asserts that in high heat conditions (hot days) there is an increase in human violence and aggression. This seems reasonable enough. However Blumberg then cites Anderson as suggesting that "if global warming trends continue, an increase in average temperature by" two degrees fahrenheit "will result in 24,000 additional murders each year in the United States." This is startling, so much so I would like to have some of the evidence and the reasoning leading to his conclusion. But Blumberg does not provide any. He does however cite a research paper by Anderson in the bibliography.

Another example of Blumberg really needing to tell us more than he does is from page 188 where he writes that on a "practical level" leptin is not likely to help the average overweight person because "leptin costs nearly $200 per milligram." Problem here is, how much leptin would one need--a milligram a month or perhaps a milligram a day? Again Blumberg doesn't say.

This casualness of expression is really a shame because in perhaps the most interesting part of the book, in the chapter entitled "Livin' Off the Fat," Blumberg presents some evidence that anorexia nervosa may to some degree be a disease caused by a thermoregulatory dysfunction. (pp. 191-196) Unfortunately before he presents this argument he writes that the "discrepancy between the physical realities faced by most women and the messages portrayed by a minority of women who are so thin that many of them no longer have menstrual cycles has helped to generate a steady increase in the incidence of anorexia nervosa over the last twenty years." (p. 188)

I'm not sure what this means, except it sounds a lot like the usual lament about how the fashion media is in some sense responsible for anorexia. Yet, he doesn't exactly say that, does he? What he really says is that some "women" have "helped to... increase" anorexia!

Finally on page 204 Blumberg notes that there are "many theories, some of them silly and some of them intriguing" as to why we behave as we do in REM sleep. However, he just leaves it at that without mentioning any of them except to say that temperature is a factor.

On the plus side, there is a lot of interesting information in the book about how heat and cold affect us and other animals, and plants. I was surprised to learn that plants can heat themselves, that the skunk cabbage, for example, can melt snow (p. 92), and that some plants may be using heat instead of aroma or color to attract pollinating insects (p. 93). Also interesting is the little known fact that the skin of polar bears is actually black (to absorb as much of the sun's heat as possible) while its fur of course appears white to match the snow and ice of its environment.

Bottom line: this is definitely worth reading; however I think the decision to avoid being technical and explanatory work against the value of the book.

An interesting book.......2002-09-18

The author writes in a clear manner and fits a lot of interesting information into a fairly small book (about 50,000 words in 215 5X7 inch pages). He gets slightly technical -- about the right amount for a tyro like me.
I found his defense of evolution in chapter 3 to be particularly thought provoking. The author makes the point that there is no single cause, no essence, and no blue print for some complex processes -- "There are only the parts and their interactions". The mathematically inclined may wish to see a half-million word expansion of this theme in S. Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science".
I noticed a couple of errors:

- Latitude and longitude get swapped from page 65 to page 67.

- Page 30 states that dogs breathe at 30-40 breaths/minute or pant at 300-400 breaths/minute, and they do not breathe at any in between rate. I timed my dog panting at about 180 breaths per minute.

Fascinating and fun.......2002-08-12

Get ready to embark on a truly exciting and entertaining round-the-world voyage of discovery. And it won't take 80 days, either. In just 215 pages and in beautiful prose, Mark Blumberg explains the vitally important connection between temperature and life on Earth.

Body Heat not only answers questions that I've always wondered about but also answers questions that I've never even thought to ask. For example, before I read this book, I didn't know how Antarctic fish survive (answer: antifreeze in their blood) or how male penguins manage to incubate eggs while enduring temperatures of -76 degrees F (answer: I won't spoil it for you). On the opposite end of the thermometer-at 185 degrees F-is the bacterium that thrives within hydrothermal vents more than one mile below the surface of the ocean. As the author so rightly puts it, "These are the true athletes of the extreme." And then there are the enlightening discussions about those aspects of our lives that are much closer to home - thermostats, peppers, sleep, fevers, dogs, obesity, anorexia, language, behavior, and babies, just to name a few. It's amazing how much information can be shared when the language is clear and purposeful.

As told in this treasure of a book - with humor ("Pluto is cold; Chicago in January is merely inconvenient"), a passion for his subject, and a marvelous ability to draw on diverse subjects as well as personal experiences to tell this story - the tale of temperature and life on Earth is fascinating indeed.

Thoroughly Enjoyable.......2002-07-22

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book. The publisher's weekly reviewer's criticism is misdirected. I guarantee that you will enjoy this book, and annoy the hell out of your friends/family quoting them little tidbits. I particularly enjoyed the author's discussion of the design of experiments, in his lab and in the lab's of other scientists, for various purposes. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

author's comments

Mechanics, Heat, and the Human Body
Howard D. Goldick
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0139228160

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author's comments.......2001-04-17

I am the author of the book, so please excuse the 5 stars. The purpose of this note is to let anyone who is interested know that I have a web site, morpheus.hartford.edu/~goldick. On the site I maintain a list of errors and re-writes for the book. They are listed by date and by page. I hope that this is useful to all who are using the book.

I would very much appreciate comments about the book from any reader and also notification of errors.

There is an instructor's manual available from the publisher.

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