John Wiley and Sons

Let me start by saying that this book is exceptionally good value for money, although it is designed as a text for university undergraduates I can easily see it being used at home by interested people with a basic understanding of biology. The better of my secondary school students love it and are always happy to look through when I trust it too them, although it goes way beyond the requirements of their course it does answer the sort of questions the more interested students tend to ask.

For students of all levels the consistently high quality of the imagery is very important, we all know that a picture speaks a thousand words and the images in this text feed human anatomy straight to the living mind without the need for any verbal middlemen. Having said that I should now stress that the text is also of a high quality and well arranged.

Reading through it you are struck by the effort that has gone into designing and producing such a work. The addition of topical and novel aspects in the Changing Images insets do well to link the student to the past and the world outside of England and the USA, emphasizing the huge strides that have been made in our knowledge and understanding in the last few centuries. Other points I liked are the good use of tables to clearly delineate the differences in comparable forms and concepts such as muscles, blood vessels etc.

The medical aspects relating to the different structures are discussed in appropriate places throughout the text, but they are also summarised towards the end of each section. In my personal opinion the inclusion of the images from prepared and dissected cadavers throughout the book, and therefore in their relevant sections, rather than at the end of the book as in my other texts, is also an improvement.

Each chapter starts with a clear contents list followed by a short and easily absorbed introduction to the subject being covered. The study outlines, critical thinking and self-quiz sections at the end of each chapter are well constructed and enhance the books functionality as a text. The book ends with a useful appendix to measurements, a glossary and a reasonable index.

All in all as you can tell I was quite impressed with this as a text and would recommend it to anyone studying human anatomy, or any library of an institution that teaches such a course.

This is a ring bound volume, that works excellently in conjunction with the later-published texts on human anatomy by the same author. Designed for university undergraduates and medical students in particular it has proven popular with my college level Human Anatomy Students.

The book contains images of living humans to display the external aspects of morphology and a mixture of cleaned and preserved specimens for the internal morphology. These whole, or part body images are accompanied by a selection of histological preparations for small and microscopic subjects, thus the whole human body is unveiled in its entirety.

The photographs are bright and sharp, and the labelling is clear and precise. The images are accompanied by small insets showing the plane of the photo as it relates to the body as a whole, a helpful addition for new students.

The cat dissections have an image of a cat on the page to be sure their is no confusion. The index is excellent and the book contains a cross reference guide A.D.A.M. Interactive Anatomy.

The book is divided into 15 units as follows:- 1)Orientation to the Human body; 2)Tissues; 3)The Skeletal System; 4)Articulations; 5)The Muscular System; 6)The Cardiovascular System; 7)The Lymphatic System; 8)The Nervous System; 9)The Senses; 10)The Endocrine System; 11)The Respiratory System); 12)The Digestive System; 13)The Urinary System; 14)The Reproductive System; 15)Surface Anatomy.

All in all this is an excellent production that will be of great value to human anatomy students all across the world.

Highly Recommended

I have written many reviews of books for this site, and I have developed a feel for the spirit of a book, I believe I can often tell if I will like a book or not just by holding it. This may seem a strange claim but in this case it was true, I felt that this book was good as soon as I held it and I still love. There is no doubt that it is a lovely book, well composed and intelligently thought out, the authors' clarity and deep understanding resonate throughout the book.

Although the book is aimed at undergraduates, and undoubtedly my joy of it is partially a result of what I already know and the pleasure of seeing science well explained, I would expect that it would be accessible to anybody seriously trying to understand, providing they have some basic biological knowledge.

The book is excellently illustrated with numerous B/W illustrations often offering for comparison the same structure from of 4 or 5 different vertebrate groups. Reading through the headings given below of the 30 chapters will give a good idea of the scope of the book. Aside form the central text there is an appendix on anatomical preparations, and a glossary, while I personally appreciated that the references are all collected at the back of the book.

Chapter Headings:-1)The Nature of Vertebrate Morphology; 2)Nature, Origin, and classification of Vertebrates; 3)Fishes; 4)Tetrapods; 5)Early Development; 6)Integumant and its Derivatives; 7)Teeth; 8)Head Skeleton; 9)Body Skeleton; 10)Muscles and Electric Organs; 11)Coelom and Mesentries; 12)Digestive System; 13)Respiratory System and Gas Bladder; 14)Cirulatory System; 15)Excretory System and Osmoregulation; 16)Reproductive System and Urogenital Ducts; 17)Nervous System: Spinal Cord, and Peripheral Nerves; 18)Nervous System: Brain; 19)Sense Organs; 20)Endocrine Glands; 21)Structural Elements of the Body; 22)Mechanics of Support and Movement; 23)Form Function and Body Size; 24)Running and Jumping; 25)Digging, and Crawling without Appendages; 26)Climbing; 27)Swimming and Diving; 28)Flying and Gliding; 29)Energetics and Locomotion; 30)Feeding.