It’s a conspiracy!
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An amazing text on p. 46 today!
ニ、次はあなたが椅子に腰掛けましょう。
2) Next, sit down on a chair.
どちらかの手を、頭の後ろに当てたら、誰かにこの手を頭から放してもらいましょう。
Put any of your hands behind your head and get someone to set it free from your head.
どうですが。
How is it?
あなたが特に力を入れなくても、手は簡単には放れません。
Even if you do not put a special effort, your hand is not easily set free.
これにもわけがあります。
There is a reason for this.
頭の真下に重心があるため、あなたの手を放すことは、あなたの体を持ち上げるのと同じくらい大変なのです。
Because your center of gravity is right under your head, setting free your hand is as difficult as lifting your body.
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Of course it is.
But you are right, these pages are written in a different style than the pages before, and more difficult to read. However the subject is interesting.
“Either hand” would be better here. Unless you happen to have more than two hands? 
In any case, this seems quite implausible (from a physical standpoint that is, not an issue with the translation). What’s your arm strength got to do with your centre of gravity?
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Still playing catchup but might as well post a few more pages.
Translations for pg. 40-42
４０：
どうして日やけをするとはだが黒くなるの?
Why does skin become darkened in the sun?
日ざしが 強い夏に何日もプールでおよいだり、外でのうんどうなどをつづけていると、日やけで だんだんとはだが黒くなってきます。
日ざしが - rays from the sun
強い夏に - strong in summer
何日もプールでおよいだり - for many days, swimming in the pool
外でのうんどうなどを - exercising outside + object marker
つづけていると - continuing and
日やけで だんだんとはだが - gradually tanning of skin
黒くなってきます - continues to become dark
Strong rays from the sun in summer, for many days swimming at the pool or exercising outside, continuing and gradual tanning of skin continues to it to become dark.
はだが黒くなったのは、ひふのなかに[メラニン色素]というこい茶色のつぶができたからです。
Skin darkening is because of, inside the skin, small beads of melanin pigment is able to be a dark brown.
４１：
では、なぜメラニン色素ができるのでしょうか
So why is melanin able to do that, do you think?
太陽の光には、からだにがいがある、「紫外線」という光がふくまれています。
In order for sunlight to cause skin damage, needs light that contains ultraviolet rays.
メラニン色素には この 紫外線を ふせぐ サングラスのような やくわりが あるのです。
The expectation is that melanin pigment protects from ultraviolet rays similar to sunglasses.
４２：
強い 日ざしが うけると、「ひふ」の 中の 「色素さいぼう」が、メラニン色素を たくさん つくって、紫外線が からだの中に とどくのを ふせごうと します。
Receiving strong sunlight, inside the skin, a lot of pigment cells “melanin” are produced. This is done to protect from harmful UV rays. (Guessing lots here, not sure how to tackle this one)
そのため、 太陽の光に 長く あたると、たくさんの 「メラニン色素」が つくられて、はだが どんどん 黒くなるのです。
For that reason, after a long touch of sun light, lots of melanin is produced and the skin begins to darken.
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Page. 46 These pages are killing me
二、つぎは あたなが いすに こしかけましょう。
Two, next you sit in a chair.
どちらかの 手を、 あたまの 後ろに あてたら、だれかに この手を 頭から はなして もらいましょう。
Place either hand behind your head, and try to get somebody to release your hand from your head.
どうですか。
Why?
あなたが とくに 力を 入れなくても、手は かんたんには はなれません。
Even if you don’t work hard, you hand wont move. (I couldn’t figure this sentence out at all and just gave up and plugged in to google translate so I have a feeling it isn’t super accurate lol)
これにも わけが あります。
This is the conclusion/reason.
頭のま下に 重心が あるため、 あなたの 手を はなす ことは、 あなたの からだを もち上げるのと 同じくらい たいへんなのです。
With your center of gravity under your head, releasing your hand is as hard as lifting your body. (again google translate 
)
どう is “how” rather than “why” so this is “how is it?”
I agree some of these sentences seem quite hard. But they are a great exercise in understanding the basic grammar. Who’s sitting on the chair? Who’s pulling who’s arm etc. Here we have:
あなたが とくに 力を 入れなくても、手は かんたんには はなれません。
あなたが - you + topic marker
とくに - especially
力を - power plus object marker
入れなくて - 入れる in negative form in て form = not entering ) - with the previous two words this means roughly “not entering power” although Jisho actually translates 力を入れる as a set phrase meaning “to put effort into”
も - ても (the previous word here was in て form) means “even if” - this is a good one to learn, we’ll see this a bit I think
手は - the hand + topic marker
かんたんに - かんたん means easy, add に to a な adjective and it becomes an adverb = easily
は - topic marker - here は is indicating contrast, or adding to the negative sense of the phrase
はなれません - is not separated (離れる negative form)
Even if you don’t especially put in (much) effort, the hand isn’t easily separated.
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So I’ve dropped out over the last week due to feeling ill. Have skimmed the posts above, trying to work out a good page to start back from - any suggestions? I’m likely to be slow due to work and still not being 100%.
Thanks for the breakdown! It seems we have entered a more advanced portion of the book, and flicking towards the later pages it seems it may get even harder still!
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Sorry to hear you’ve been ill. Hope you are on the mend. My suggestion would be to skip the chapter we are currently on and move onto the next section which we are due to start in 48 hours time (生き物の話 - page 50). If you didn’t want to get ahead but wanted to do some catch up this weekend I’d go for the suntan chapter. 
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p. 47
三、最後は手も指も使わないでできる、まるで「超能力」のような力です。
3) The last one can be done without using hands or fingers, a power quite like a “supernatural power”.
誰かに体の左側を壁にぴったり付けて立って貰います。
Ask someone to stand with his body’s left side closely to a wall.
そこで、呪文のように「右足が動かなくなる。」と言いましょう。。。
Then say, like a spell “Your right foot can no more be moved.”.
BTW how do you type a japanese ‘~’ or ‘…’ (not ‘。。。’) in IME on a PC keyboard?
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～ = tilde key in the top-left under the Esc key, same as a regular QWERTY keyboard
… = just push 。。。 and cycle through the options
Page. 47
三、さいごは 手も ゆびも つかわないで できる まるで 「ちょうのう力」のような 力です。
3, the conclusion is done without hands and fingers, like psychic powers.
だれかに からだの 左がわを かべに ぴったり つけて 立ってもらいます。
Get somebody to stand tightly to the wall on their left hand side.
そこで、じゅもんのように 「右足が うごかなくなる～。」と 言いましょう…。
Now say a spell that the right leg will become unable to move…
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Probably I should have said that I am using the Mozc keyboard on Linux.
Your suggestions didn’t work for me. Pushing ~ has no effect at all, ‘…’ gives ‘。。。’ without any options.
However I have found a customizable Romaji table in the settings of the IME. There the input for ‘〜’ is given as ‘~’ (not working) but also as ‘z-’ which works. ‘z.’ gives ‘…’, ‘z,’ gives ‘‥’ and there are some other special signs like ←『・.
Another useful feature: F7 converts to カタカナ.
Thanks, reckon I’ll go with the next section and try to do the other pages when I’m up to it.
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That it does. And F6 converts everything to hiragana. F8 makes half-width katakana.
Page. 48
びっくり。
Amazing.
本当に 右足は うごきません。
You really can’t move your right foot.
これも ひみつは 重心です。
The secret to this is also the center of gravity.
かたほうの 足を 上げる とき、 わたしたちは からだを はんたいがわに かたむけて
バランスを とります。
When one side’s foot rises, our body inclines on the opposite side and keeps the balance.
でも かべに くっついていると、 それが できないのです。
But, we are not able to cling to the wall.
重心を うまく うごかす ことで、 人間は 立ったり、歩いたり、走ったりしています。
Humans can skillfully shift with the center of gravity, and do things such as stand, walk, and run.
あなたも この ふしぎな 力を ためしてみてくださいね。
Don’t you think you should also try and see these incredible powers?
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Section title was renamed to the last page - 48. We need a new thread, and hopefully the person who creates it, will be able to edit the title. I’ve stopped reading this book some time ago, and will be focusing on grammar alone for the next month. I plan to come back to this thread, since it is very helpful for grammar explanations, just over the top for my current grammar level.
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Thanks for doing that Sansarret. Hopefully you come back and join us for a bit later in the book. I don’t mind setting up the next thread, I’ll try and get it done this afternoon. I’ll be able to put the daily schedule in the OP so hopefully that will avoid the need to change the page number in the title each day.
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@IgorTheGreat, we have again some differences in our translations.
p. 48
吃驚。本当に右足は動きません。
Surprise. The right leg does not move.
これも秘密は重心です。
Once again, the secret is the center of gravity.
片方の足を上げるとき、私達は体を反対側に傾けてバランスをとります。
When we raise one leg, we keep the balance by leaning the body to the opposing side.
でも壁にくっ付いていると、それができないのです。
But if you cling to the wall, you can’t do that.
重心を旨く動かすことで、人間は立ったり、歩いたり、走ったりしています。
By skillfully moving the center of gravity, humans are standing, walking and running.
あなたもこの不思議な力を楽してみて下さいね。
Please enjoy trying out these mysterious powers.
(not sure about the last sentence)
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