Caramel has recently been reviewing a series of books about the human body for the book bunnies blog. So far he has reviewed The Science of Snot and Phlegm: The Slimy Truth about Breathing by Fiona MacDonald, The Science of Scabs and Pus: The Sticky Truth About Blood by Ian Graham, and The Science of Poop and Farts: The Smelly Truth About Digestion by Alex Woolf. Today he is talking about the fourth and last book in the series: The Science of Acne and Warts: The Itchy Truth About Skin, written by Alex Woolf. As usual, Sprinkles is asking questions and taking notes.
Sprinkles: So Caramel, tell us about this book.
Caramel: This is a book about human skin. You can learn everything about skin by reading it.
S: So tell me something you learned then.
C: I learned that the layers of skin are the epidermis, the dermis, and the very bottom one is subcutis. I also learned how the body creates blood clots.
S: Wait, blood clots were in The Science of Scabs and Pus: The Sticky Truth About Blood by Ian Graham, too, right?
C: Yes.
S: So why do they show up here too?
C: Because when your skin is wounded, and it is trying to repair itself, you make a blood clot.
S: Hmm, so it is about blood but also about the skin, I see. So what else is there in this book?
C: There are pages about fungal infections, warts, acne, skin rashes, …
S: Hmm, those all sound quite irritating at the very least. Nobody likes them.
C: True, but they are also very interesting.
S: I guess that means the author is doing a good job keeping things engaging.
C: Yeah.
S: What is the most interesting thing you learned from the book?
C: Let me see. There are a lot of interesting things in here. Here is one: Did you know that some of the dust at home is dead skin cells? People lose up to 30,000-40,000 dead skin cells every day. That adds up to 9 pounds of skin every year.
S: Wow! That is amazing!
C: Here is another interesting fact: There is a skin condition, a hive called dermographism, where you write on your own skin with your finger. It stays there as a rash for fifteen minutes.
S: That is so interesting. I had never heard of it before. Here is the Wikipedia article about it if our readers want to learn more.
C: Here is another strange fact. There is a mouse in Africa, the African spiny mouse, and it loses its skin when a predator catches it. Its skin just peels off and the mouse can run away. And it can regenerate new skin and is safe from the predator.
S: That is a very interesting defense mechanism Caramel. Okay, let us wrap this up so you can go on ahead and reread the book if you want to. But before we do that, tell me your three words to describe this book.
C: Interesting, helpful, and colorful.
S: Those work! Okay and as your last words to wrap things up?
C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!
BookBunnies 
Well, I certainly learned a few things I didn’t know reading this review. I knew about lizards shedding their tails to distract predators, but I never heard about the mouse skin trick before, nor about dermographism.
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I wonder how they calculated how many pounds of skin one sheds in a year? Don’t you wonder?
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