“Roy A. Meals is in love with bone, insofar as a man can be infatuated with calcified connective tissue. His new book is a valentine to what Dr. Meals calls ‘the world’s best building material,’ taking us on a lively, lucid and entertaining tour of bone in health and disease, and its strange afterlife in human culture.” Wall Street Journal

A wonderful read for anyone with a backbone. If you enjoy books like “Gulp” by Mary Roach and “Cannibalism” (by some guy with the same name as me) you should seriously consider Dr. Roy Meals incredible new book “Bones: Inside and Out”. Dr. Meals has taken a sometimes complex topic and turned it into a fascinating, entertaining and jargon-free adventure. Vic Volvox, Amazon Five-Star Review

“Roy Meals has done for bone what Mark Kurlansky did for salt: he saw the possibilities in something that everyone takes for granted, and made it into a star. This is a paean to bone, a scientific primer as well as a cultural history, composed by a master of his subject.”—Ross MacPhee, curator, American Museum of Natural History; author of End of The Megafauna

“Wide-ranging, deeply researched and entertaining, Bones is a highly accessible examination of a complex topic. Meals has a real knack for explaining complicated phenomena like bone growth, fractures and healing in an imaginative, jargon-free manner. A must read for anyone with a backbone.”—Bill Schutt, author of Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History

“An engaging journey for readers exploring and explaining the mysteries and wonders of the skeleton, illustrating the importance of bone in health and history in a wonderful story-telling style. Most informative and a real joy to read.”—Vernon Tolo, MD, Former President, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons

“Orthopedic surgeon Meals lauds bone as the ultimate building material: “Manufactured on-site, it is also lightweight, durable, and responsive to changing conditions. … An educational, enjoyable, and sometimes quite surprising look at living bone and what becomes of it after death.” Tony Miksanek, Booklist

“An expansive and lively treatment of a material most of us take for granted.” Kirkus Review (starred)

“This appealing and kaleidoscopic narrative on bone topics, ranging from x-ray technology to the Paris catacombs, will appeal to readers interested in medicine and medical history, anthropology, archaeology, and material culture. Enjoyable and recommended.” Kelsy Peterson, Library Journal

“I loved this book. It has everything I want in science writing: plain explanations, conversational tone, a little bit of the author’s journey, and a fair amount of humor.” Steve, Goodreads 5 stars

“Bones is an under represented subject in popular science – its much more complex and fascinating than our grade school teachers made us believe – and Meals delivers a wonderful reading experience much worth taking.” Debbie, Goodreads 4 stars