Human Anatomy 2nd Edition

Book Preface

Human anatomy is a fascinating field that has many layers of complexity. The subject is difficult to teach, and students can often be overwhelmed by its massive amount of material. In many respects, studying anatomy is similar to studying a foreign language because students must understand the vocabulary before they can apply the material. As many instructors know, textbook selection
can either help or hinder student understanding. Throughout ourteaching careers, we have examined and reviewed many textbooks. Some texts provide relatively accurate terminology and description but are too difficult for the average undergraduate to read. Other texts are easier to read but not as thorough or accurate in their discussions. We have strived to develop a text that is accurate and in-depth in its anatomic descriptions and yet easy to understand and full of pedagogical elements to help the student. This is the vision of Human Anatomy .

Audience

This textbook is designed for a one-semester human anatomy course, typically taken in the second or third year of college, for students in pre-allied health professions, nursing, exercise science, kinesiology, and/or other pre-professional health programs. It assumes the reader has no prior knowledge of biology or chemistry, and so the early chapters serve as a primer for the history of anatomy, biological terminology, and cell biology. This text provides all the background the introductory student needs to learn the basics of human anatomy.

What Makes This Book Special?

Although several human anatomy books exist in the market, a variety of features make this text different from the rest.

Superior Illustrations and a Quality Art Program

Anatomy is a visual subject, and one of the best ways a student can learn it is by studying beautiful, accurate drawings. We have been dismayed in the past to see texts in which sound anatomic discussions were accompanied by weak or inaccurate illustrations. One of our prime goals in producing this book was that the illustrations be just as accurate as the text. To meet this objective, we worked with an experienced team of certified medical illustrators to produce a collection of anatomic images unsurpassed by other anatomy texts. These images are not only beautiful but also as accurate as possible. We painstakingly scrutinized each rendering, relying on our experience in human gross anatomy, cadaver dissection, histology, and A&P—as well as trusted anatomic bibles such as Gray, Grant, Clemente, Netter, and a host of photographic atlases—to make sure the art matches life. Every illustration also went through an intensive peer review during which dozens of fellow instructors gave us pointed feedback on how to clarify concepts and make the drawings even more accurate—welcome assistance for our sometimes-weary eyes! Finally, we have carefully labeled the illustrations to coincide with coverage in the narrative to ensure that the pictures and words work together to tell a cohesive story. We challenge you to compare the artwork in this text with that in other human anatomy texts, and see which you and your students prefer.

Human Cadaver Photographs to Complement the Illustrations

Sometimes even the most beautiful art cannot prepare us for what anatomic structures look like in a real human being or for the normal variations that occur among individuals. Whenever possible, we have paired illustrations with human cadaver photographs to provide two valuable perspectives of key views: an artist’s rendering that utilizes color and texture to make features stand out, and a photograph that demonstrates the appearance of real specimens. Furthermore, we have applied labels to complementary illustrations and photos so that they mirror each other whenever possible to make it easier for students to correlate structures between images. Christine Eckel of Salt Lake Community College tirelessly worked on the dissections and photographs of the cadavers. Her work is beautiful, and many of her dissections are presented in a way that is unparalleled in other texts. We suggest you turn to chapter 11 (Axial Muscles) and to chapter 15 (Brain and Cranial Nerves) and examine the photos. You will be impressed—and your students will appreciate their value as they are learning the laboratory material.

Writing Style: Blending Accuracy with Readability

Most, if not all, current undergraduate human anatomy textbooks are primarily “cut-down” versions of existing anatomy and physiology textbooks. Our text, Human Anatomy , was written exclusively for and with attention to the human anatomy course. Our text is not a “pared-down” version of an A&P text; we have designed it from the ground up to satisfy the needs of anatomy students and instructors.

Both authors have distinctive writing styles that, when combined in this text, provide the optimum balance between concise anatomic accuracy and user-friendly readability. We feel a text that is too condensed in its descriptions is more frustrating than helpful for students to use. Likewise, if a text is too verbose in its descriptions, students may feel they have read many pages that have said little. We have tried to strike a happy medium between these two extremes, so a student will feel that the text is easy to read and understand, while the instructor recognizes that the information is accurate, concise, and expertly written. We have been meticulous in our descriptions and level of accuracy.

In addition to making the text readable and accurate, we wanted to make it engaging and effective. To this end, we have incorporated many active learning techniques into the narrative. As we tell our students, you don’t lose weight merely by watching an exercise program; you have to do the exercises in order to get results. Therefore, throughout our text, we have provided opportunities for the student to be an active learner, not just a passive reader. For example, students are encouraged to palpate structures on their bodies, perform basic experiments to test anatomic principles, and observe certain features on themselves. As the students perform these anatomy “exercises,” their understanding will increase. Themes and Distinctive Topic Approaches Through our teaching experience, we have developed a few approaches that really seem to help students grasp certain topics or spark their interest. Thus, we have tried to incorporate these successful ideas from our own courses into our book.