On the weekend, my eight year old was coughing and sputtering at the dinner table and I asked him if his food went down the wrong tube. It’s something I have always said, likely because my parents always said it.

But then I realized the expression didn’t make sense; I don’t think there is a wrong tube for the food to go in.

So I got up from the table and I picked up DK Book’s My Amazing Body Machine, A Colorful Visual Guide to How Your Body Works by Robert Winston ($25.99).

Turning to the chapter “Fueling the Machine,” we read about how food enters your mouth. Your teeth cut and crush the food into small pieces and your tongue pushes it down your throat, where it is carried to your stomach through a long tube called the esophagus.

All those years. Expression debunked.

The book didn’t explain, however, how apple juice can come out of your nose, although I can tell you that when it happens it burns. FYI.

The book is divided into several chapters including Building the Machine, Lungs and Breathing, Under Attack and Life Cycle, among others. Each double page spread offers a paper craft look at what the page is talking about, the inner workings of an ear for example, as well as information about the diagram as well as other tips and information. I like the little bits of information placed within the gear with such cool facts as the smallest bone is inside your ear and is the size of a grain of rice or each year, a person releases enough urine to fill two bathtubs. As a side, I would like to know how this was discovered.

A copy of this book was provided by DK Books for an honest review.