How to Build a Human: The Incredible Design of the Human Body - Scott Goldie - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Scott Goldie

GENRE: Children's Illustrated Nonfiction, Science

PUBLICATION DATE: January 6, 2026

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: An illustrated book about the anatomical constituents of the human body. Presented in a humorous way. Quite elaborate, with fairly comprehensible explanations. A good option for older middle-graders.

The book delivers exactly as promised by the title and the tagline. The content explores the components of the human body, beginning from the basics. So we get a detailed look at the skeleton, the muscles, the key (and not-so-key) organs, the senses, the constituents of cells and blood, and so on.

As the content is organised in terms of role in the human body, the book is highly structured and hence easy to peruse through. Beyond the basic biological information, it also has several fun sections such as ‘Four Facts and a Fib’ and Breakthroughs.

While the information does get science-heavy at times (it cannot be avoided in such a topic after all), the proceedings are kept fairly accessible, with meanings, pronunciation guides, and simplified explanations wherever possible. The regular dose of humour also helps digest the information easily. Do note that the pages are quite text-intense, even though there are plenty of graphics as well.

While I enjoyed most of the scientific breakthroughs, I wish the book hadn’t been so overly enthusiastic about the use of AI. To be clear, I know that AI is very helpful in the medical field, and probably one of the few fields where the use of AI should be legitimately sanctioned. However, children don’t understand the difference between this medical AI and the generative AI that they know in daily life through image and video generators or through chatbots. The latter is very harmful, and children ought to understand its dangers and untrustworthiness. Phrases such as “our trusty friend AI” are a risky inclusion in a book targeting this innocent age group. The wording should have been changed, or a clarification issued about medical AI vs. generative AI.

I thought the book would stop after the *human was built*, so to say. But it continues with several topics I wouldn’t have expected to see in such a book. These include some topics connected to the human body such as puberty and reproduction, but also some non-anatomical topics such as vaccines, food components, and dreams. The latter could easily have been skipped.

The illustrations are really good, working excellently in conjugation with the text to create a fun yet accurate representation of anatomical components.

Overall, this is a fairly informative book offering a detailed *inside look* at the human body and its components. The combination of information and humour ought to make it a good option for older middle-graders, as long as adults understand and explain that all AI isn't “our trusty friend”. (Statement made on the big assumption that the average adult recognises the dangers of generative AI.)

My thanks to Publisher Spotlight and Beetle Books for providing the DRC of “How to Build a Human” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.