Everyday Carry

The Body Keeps the Score

The standard book on how trauma lives in the body, and the one most often handed to veterans.

Every Dad Carry is reader-supported. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.

Mike ManningBy Mike Manning
Marine veteran, gym owner, dad
Recon Report: full review pendingPhotos: Bessel van der KolkUpdated 2026-10-04
More from Bessel van der Kolk

Product Information, Not A Review

Specs, pricing and buying notes taken from the manufacturer so you can compare this against whatever else you are looking at. I have not had this one in my hands. When it goes through real use it gets rewritten as a full review, with a rating and my own photos.

The Body Keeps the Score

Quick Specs

CategoryEveryday Carry
BrandAmazon
ReviewedOct 4, 2026
AuthorBessel van der Kolk
CategoryTrauma, psychology
FormatsAudible and print

What Stands Out

  • The clearest explanation available of why trauma does not respond to talking it through
  • Covers body-based approaches including movement, which is why it belongs on a gym shelf
  • Decades of clinical work behind it

What To Check

  • Heavy going, with detailed case histories
  • Some of the therapeutic claims are more contested than the book admits
  • Not a substitute for actual treatment

What it is

The standard book on how trauma lives in the body, and the one most often handed to veterans.

Audiobook or print

Both links are below, and for some books on this shelf that choice genuinely matters. Narrative and memoir usually win on audio. Anything you will want to flip back through — frameworks, diagrams, protocols — is better in print, and I say so on the pages where that applies rather than pretending every book works both ways.

Who should skip it

The cons above are the honest version. If two or more of them describe you, this is not your book, and there are forty-four others on this shelf.

The Short Version

The book I would hand a veteran who cannot work out why talking about it has not helped.

Mike Manning

MIKE MANNING

Founder, Every Dad Carry

Dad | Coach | Marine Corps Veteran

Ready to buy?

The Body Keeps the Score

Related Gear