human anatomy book review

Best Anatomy Books

Learn about the human body in detail with this compilation of the best anatomy books, highly regarded and frequently recommended by medical professionals and educational institutions..

20 Best Anatomy And Physiology Books For Medical Students

Get 100+ free tips i wish i got on my first day of med school.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links which means I may get a commission if you make a purchase through my link at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Since Anatomy and Physiology serve as foundations in medical school, you should acquire knowledge only from the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students. The two are not mutually exclusive as by knowing the body structure and their respective locations, determining the physiological relevance is equally important.

By mastering these two and knowing what is anatomically and physiologically normal, analyzing pathologic conditions and applying clinical approaches will surely be easier.

Choose the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students below.

Table Of Contents

10 Best Anatomy Books For Medical Students

Atlas of human anatomy by frank h. netter.

This is a personal recommendation and the one that’s frequently used in most universities. Anatomy is learned through visualization of body structures . Thus, being an atlas, Netter’s book is the best for learning anatomy in medical school.

Best-selling and most popular, it contains hundreds of illustrations of the human anatomy—from the smallest blood vessel and nerve to the largest organ. Almost all illustrations were painted by the great late American surgeon— Frank H. Netter . Though hand-painted, it is pretty incredible that these drawings are accurate and actual representations of the real-life appearance of human anatomy.

All were painted in great detail and his work has been compiled since 1989. Currently, it’s printed on its 8th edition and has been teaching anatomy to millions of medical students around the globe.

For more information, check it out on Amazon here .

Prices pulled from the Amazon Product Advertising API on:

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.

Thieme Atlas of Anatomy by Gilroy

Another student’s favorite, Thieme Atlas of Anatomy is also one of the best atlases for medical students. Like Netter’s, it has hundreds of detailed illustrations but what makes it different is they are supplemented with tables and boxes rich with various clinically relevant information.

If you have been struggling with memorizing the muscle’s origin, insertion, nerve innervation, and action or the so-called OINA while familiarizing the structures, the Thieme Atlas of Anatomy is your game. It also provides bonus techniques on how to easily remember some sections.

It comes on its 4th edition with 3 volume series which you may buy separately or in 1 single bind:

• General & musculoskeletal
• Head-neck and neuroanatomy
• Internal organs

Photographic Atlas of Anatomy by Rohen

While the first two books were made out of artistic well-detailed illustrations, Rohen’s Anatomy Atlas is created with a compilation of actual photos of dissected cadavers . Some students find it easier to study actual photos rather than hand-written illustrations. What you see in real life is what you get on paper as images are printed on high resolution.

However, since it’s a cadaver image, what you struggle about in real life may also be a struggle on paper. It might be pretty difficult to differentiate fine and subtle structures. Still, the structures were properly and colorfully labeled to help you identify them easily.

The book is already on its 9th edition . Though quite more expensive than the other atlases, this is definitely worth your money if you are looking for high-resolution photos of structures from actual cadavers.

[Free Download]   Want to have everything you need to be a top student on your medical journey? Get FREE access to our Med School Success Handbook to get 60+ tips including the best study, time management, mindset tips you need to be a top student. Download it here. 

Clinical Anatomy: Applied Anatomy For Students and Junior Doctors

The organization of this book is different from the regular anatomical atlases. It is grouped into regions for easier referencing: head and neck, thorax, abdomen, pelvis, and upper and lower limbs. It’s on its 14th edition with a special concentration on the nervous system. Suitable for both surgical and non-surgical medical students, this book is usually recommended to those who already have basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology. They could use this as a supplement for clinical works and examinations as the book also contains clinical case scenarios.

Aside from the atlas of body structures, the book also provides radiological images such as x-ray and CT scan for a better grasp of how they look like for diagnostic purposes. It also provides an access code to a website where learning is extended through flashcards and more images. If you intend to take the Royal College of Surgeons examinations, this book is a recommendation since it is patterned according to it.

The Anatomy Coloring Book

Didn’t think that studying anatomy could also be artsy and fun? For visual and kinesthetic learners, perhaps you may add this to the list of the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students.

Through the use of art, The Anatomy Coloring Book is a supplementary tool to help you in learning anatomical structures. It contains 162 black-and-white detailed images of the muscles, bones, nerves, and vasculature that are organized per organ system . In the beginning, there is an instruction to guide the users on how to color the images and labels properly to come out with the best results.

Aside from the images, there is supplementary information besides the images for additional understanding of the structures being colored. This coloring book is great for exam preparations. It helps visual and kinesthetic familiarizing human anatomy.

• Perfect for Human Anatomy cla

Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy

Getting a break from atlases, a clinical anatomy textbook will give you comprehensive information about human anatomy. In short, this is your handy book of theoretical foundation . Even if you reach more advanced medical specialization areas, you will find yourself going back to this book to refresh your mind with anatomic principles .

Clinical anatomy is a higher level medical course in which the knowledge in anatomy is applied in the clinical setting. Here, you’ll be relating anatomy with diagnosis differentials, imaging, emergency medicine , and general surgery. The book may be lengthy and provide a lot of must-know and nice-to-know information, but it has blue boxes at each end summarizing the learnings and highlights of a particular chapter.

Thieme Anatomy: An Essential Textbook

Aside from an atlas, Thieme also provides a textbook for more in-depth learning of anatomy . It provides extensive, comprehensive, and high-yield information about anatomic structures from head to toe. This 500-page book will give you knowledge more than the average medical school course. It contains diagrams, informative tables, and blue clinical boxes providing clinical significance.

The price is affordable, hence why it is also one of the students’ choices. If you are preparing for USMLE, this is a great choice as each chapter contains practice questions patterned according to USMLE.

Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body

If you need a guide during your dissection activities in medical school, this is what you need. It includes colored photographs of surface views and actual dissections, diagrams for additional information, and CT/MRT images . Images are organized by region. This is already its 7th edition. Black-and-white images were replaced with colored ones and old images had improved resolution.

• Used Book in Good Condit

Gray’s Anatomy for Students

If you fancied Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy, Grays Anatomy for Students will also be a useful tool for your early medical school training. The book is comprehensively supplemented with their corresponding clinical significance that are highlighted in “in the clinic” boxes throughout the book. It has sample case reports for a higher yield of learning which could benefit you all through your years in medical school and beyond.

Sobotta Atlas of Anatomy

This atlas comes in 3 volumes that cover general anatomy, musculoskeletal system, internal organs, and neuroanatomy . It includes a booklet of tables about muscles, nerves, and vasculature. You could also have an access card to its online version and exam coaching application. The images included in the electronic versions are printable and contain information guides for dissections. The book also features the Latin nomenclature of the body structures together with their descriptions in English.

Want Results Like This?

Download The Free Med School Success Handbook For The Best Step-By-Step Tips For Your Medical Journey!

10 best physiology books for medical students, guyton and hall textbook of medical physiology.

There’s no other reason why this is the number 1 medical physiology book but the fact that this is gold-standard since its first release in 1956 . It’s almost 1200 pages is jam-packed with in-depth and well-detailed discussions of different cellular and even biomolecular processes involved in human physiology .

There are 15 sections subdivided into 8 chapters. Though the book is massively textual, it also contains colored images, figures, and tables with high resolution. Buying the book will also give access to its electronic version, other additional resources of free video animations, and an online resource named Student Consult containing multiple-choice questions from each section of the book.

This is the medical physiology book I used in my first year. Though it’s lengthy, it has a comprehensive and timeless discussion of medical physiology, especially on Cardio. This is definitely a personal recommendation and one of the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students.

Boron & Boulpaep Concise Medical Physiology

Another bible in medical physiology, Boron & Boulpaep provides an in-depth and well-detailed discussion like Guyton. Aside from texts, it supplements them with several graphs and figures. It tackles physiology from the cellular level up to how all processes could be juxtaposed to be applied in clinical practice.

It contains 10 sections covering an organ system. Each section is subdivided into several chapters. It has a total of 62 chapters with more than 1300 pages.

Costanzo Physiology

If you are looking for an extensive review book for medical physiology, Costanzo’s is the thing. It is one of the most detailed review books that you could use for examinations. Comprehensive yet concise , Linda Costanzo’s masterpiece has 10 chapters subdivided into subtopics. Each chapter tackles a specific organ system. It also includes helpful diagrams and tables, clinical laboratory cases, and sample questions at the end of each chapter to test your knowledge.  

Since this is only a review book , all of these are squeezed into 500 pages so it won’t be overwhelming for the students. This is an ideal choice for those who are looking for a comprehensive review book yet makes every concept simpler and easier to understand.

Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology

Another medical physiology review, Ganong’s review of medical physiology has 8 sections each discussing a body system. Each chapter is further subdivided into multiple subchapters comprising a total of almost 800 pages. It’s quite lengthy than your other average pocket review books but it also contains helpful diagrams, tables, and figures for supplementary learning. It also includes clinical boxes highlighting clinical significance, a summary at the end of each chapter, and multiple-choice questions.

Berne & Levy Physiology

This book has 8 sections with 44 chapters with a total of 867 pages. Each chapter discusses deeply one organ system. The text is supplemented with numerous graphs, tables, and diagrams. The book features “in the clinical” and “at the cellular level” text boxes highlighting the clinical relevance and the actual cellular process involved, respectively.

At the end of each chapter, there’s a summary of key concepts to ease memorization. Like Guyton, it comes with a Student Consult giving you full access to the book online and a compilation of USMLE-style review questions.

BRS Physiology

Another Linda Costanzo masterpiece, the BRS physiology is also an extensive review book in preparation for your examinations. If you are looking for the most concise review resource , this is the one for you. It is only made of more than 300 pages. It may be shorter than any review books listed here, but mind you that it is enriched with straightforward and must-know information on medical physiology. This is your handy yet high-yield physiology review.

The structure is neat with clear headings and subheadings. Studying will be much easier as the key concepts in the text are already highlighted. There are also diagrams and tables for better comprehension. It’s on its 8th edition and I could say that this is also one of my personal recommendations.

Human Physiology

This is the physiology book for beginners . If you are a medical student whose pre-med major is quite far from the sciences, you may try this entry-level medical physiology book . The concepts are explained well yet simply and concisely. The book contains high-quality illustrations. It also contains a clinical application of various physiologic concepts. Buying the hardbound book provides you access to the Connect A&P website which offers visual demonstrations of anatomy and physiology using real cadavers.

• Human Physiology 16th Edition by Stuart Ira Fox, Krista Rompolski

Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach

This human physiology book features homeostasis and a biomolecular-based approach in explaining physiology. It starts with the basic cellular processes and advances to the more complex organ systems. You may also purchase an access card to the Mastering A&P website to serve as a supplementary learning tool containing video tutorials and coaching activities.

• **Spotless pages with tight binding. No access code. Some damage to the back covers that we have attempted to repair**Exceptional Quality. PLEASE NO RE-SELL

Ross & Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health Illness

Aside from books that offer anatomy and physiology separately, some books already offer both. All beginners and junior doctors could gain extensive clinical anatomy and medical physiology knowledge from this book. This could be one of the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students as it offers the following features: it covers a broad coverage from cellular processes to the most complex organ systems, each end of the sections provide self-check questions for knowledge evaluation, it provides you access to online tools and activities, and the book is concise and straightforward making it also a recommended reference for non-medical students.

Marieb Human Anatomy & Physiology

This book covers cell and tissue structures, human anatomy, physiological functions, and clinical case descriptions. The book is well-organized in a way that each introduction per chapter provides a blueprint of the main concepts. Each chapter includes “Focus” boxes and revision questions . You can also visit an online website that contains supplementary learning videos as you go along with the book. You may wish also to purchase access to the Mastering A&P Website.

The book comes in several versions: Kindle version, hardcover version, and Leaf version that comes with CD-ROMs and an anatomy atlas.

How To Choose The Good Anatomy And Physiology Book For Medical Students?

Choosing the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students is not that difficult provided that you know what type of learner you are.

Do you learn easily through visual illustrations? Would it be easier to comprehend by reading the bulk of texts? Do you prefer working on things with your hands?

When you know what type of learner you are, it would then be easier to look for the right anatomy and physiology book.

If you are a visual learner, then choose an atlas. However, atlases should also be supplemented with a textbook to gain theoretical knowledge and know more about how to apply these concepts clinically. Mind you, you will be using the atlas and textbook for the rest of your medical career. If you’re some kind of reader, then long texts might not intimidate you . After all, textbooks already include high-quality illustrations as a supplement. On the other hand, kinesthetic learners could make use of the coloring book or those books with guides during dissection.

Knowing what’s your learning style will make studying anatomy and physiology easier for you.

You can also check out my video on the top books for premeds and medical students if you want to supplement your anatomy and physiology readings! If you have liked this video, make sure to subscribe to our main channel as well!

Finally, here are the best anatomy and physiology books for medical students. Anatomy and Physiology are one of the main foundations of your medical knowledge. They are not mutually exclusive as you cannot study anatomy without physiology and vice versa.

If you want to learn an effective way to study anatomy, check out my step-by-step guide here .

And if online resources are your thing, you can read about my review on the best resource for studying anatomy .

Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1.   The Med School Handbook :   Join thousands of other students who have taken advantage of the hundreds of FREE tips & strategies I wish I were given on the first day of medical school to crush it with less stress. 

2. The Med School Blueprint :  Join the hundreds of students who have used our A-Z blueprint and playbook for EVERY   phase of the medical journey so you can start to see grades like these. 

3.   ​ Med Ignite Study Program :  Get personalized help to create the perfect study system for yourself so you can see better grades ASAP on your medical journey & see results like these. 

4. Learn the one study strategy that saved my  grades in medical school here (viewed by more than a million students like you). 

If you have enjoyed this post, how about checking out some of our other blog posts for more great content?

• Top 20 Books For Pre-Med Students
• Top 10 Best Books To Learn EKGs
• Top 10 Best Microbiology Books For Medical Students
• Top 10 Best Pharmacology Books For Medical Students
• Top 10 Best Biochemistry Books For Medical Students
• Top 10 Best Books To Learn Chest X-Ray
• 35 Best Medical Resident Gifts (Gift Ideas in 2021)
• A More Efficient Way To Study In Medical School
• Summer Before Medical School: What Should You Do?
• How To Be More Productive in Medical School
• A Typical Day of A Medical Student
• How To Quickly Learn Anything [Tree Method]

Again, thanks for stopping by!

Until next time my friend…

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is supported by our participation in affiliate programs. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. With this said, our opinions are always our own and we do not recommend products we do not like.

© 2024 All rights Reserved. Design by TheMDJourney

Get Access To Our FREE Library Of Video Courses, Books, And Strategies To Help Increase your Grades, Productivity, and confidence on your medical journey ASAP!

• Reference Manager
• Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Book review article, book review: understanding human anatomy and pathology.

• Physical Therapy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

A Book Review on Understanding Human Anatomy and Pathology: An Evolutionary and Developmental Guide for Medical Students

Rui Diogo, Drew M. Noden, Christopher M. Smith, Julia Molnar, Julia C. Boughner, Claudia Alexandra Amorim Barrocas, Joana Araujo Bruno, (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press), 2016, 330 pages, ISBN: 9781498753845.

This book is a welcome addition to the literature on human gross anatomy aimed at medical students. It's a combined text and atlas focused mainly on the head, neck, and limbs. This unique work pulls together our understanding on gross anatomy of these areas, evo-devo correlates, the evolutionary basis of some common pathologies, and informs the medical student (I would argue for dental students as well) of how some of these pathologies develop in an evolutionary light. The authors are highly qualified to put together this work. This sort of book will be useful for the medical and dental students who wish to be able to talk to their patients about pathologies, to be able to understand the appearance of various pathologies of the head/neck and limbs, and to gain a deeper understanding of human anatomy.

The organization of this book is clear and logical. Chapter 1 talks a bit about the impetus for writing this book and Chapter 2 gives a succinct yet informative background on how human anatomy and its associated terminology developed out of terminology used for quadrupedal animals. Terminology associated with human anatomy can be confusing for a variety of students, words such as “dorsal,” “ventral,” and the terms “extension” and “flexion” for various parts of lower limb joints. Diogo and co-authors do a good job of explaining lower limb joint movements by appreciating the evolutionary and developmental aspects of human development plus the inclusion of comparative anatomy. This chapter sets up the framework for the rest of the book. In my experience, medical and dental students who have a grasp on evolutionary and comparative anatomy do well in clinical rotations as well as research rotations and the material in this chapter would help them tremendously in setting up their understanding. The embryology plates accompanying this section are well done and informative.

Chapter 3 focuses on the Head and Neck, possibly the two the most daunting anatomical regions for students. The first section of this chapter does a good job breaking down the evolutionary importance of neural crest cells, what they do, and relatively new work that demonstrates developmental connections between the heart and musculature of the head and neck. Box 3.2 and Figure 3.1 are outstanding summaries of these connections. This chapter includes an exhaustive collection of osteological landmarks of the cranium, foramina and their contents, and a good but succinct review of the branchial arches and their derivatives. The plate showing branchial arch fates is well done and includes information on how Hox genes fit into the picture of head/neck development.

Cranial nerves cause most anatomy students to cringe. The sections in Chapter 3 dealing with cranial nerves is a detailed but meaningful summary of the nerves, their pathways through pertinent foramina, and their target structures. The plates accompanying this section are well drawn, easy to see, but for my taste the writing is a bit small. Given the compact, portable nature of this book, there's not much the authors could do about that. The authors also devote space in this chapter to the muscles derived from each branchial arch and their cranial nerve innervation. The rich tables in this chapter are helpful for organizing information. Similarly, the sections detailing vasculature of the head and neck are well organized, richly illustrated, and easy to understand.

Chapters 4, 5 deal with the upper limb and lower limb, respectively. These anatomical regions may not terrorize students as intensely as the head and neck, but the limbs have their challenges in any gross anatomy course. As in previous chapters, the section in Chapter 4 dealing with embryology of the upper limb (Box 4.2) goes a long way to explaining the functional anatomy of the limb. Most anatomy students are flabbergasted by the brachial plexus, at least for a little while. The authors do a good presentation of the brachial plexus in this chapter, giving “tricks” to remember origin, pathway, and targets of many of the terminal branches. Similar methodologies are used for describing the vasculature of the upper limb. The black and white figures in Chapter 4 are clear, concise, and well-labeled. The tables organizing upper limb musculature in evo-devo groupings may be especially helpful for students trying to figure out how to organize the information for studying purposes. My only complaint on Chapter 4 is that I wish the authors would have spent more time calling out the evolutionary anatomy of the carpal tunnel and how it relates to carpal tunnel syndrome.

The lower limb is presented in Chapter 5 and the authors similarly tightly organize musculature in tables. I would like to have seen a section in Chapter 5 devoted to the functional anatomy of the human gait cycle but that's a minor note in an otherwise tightly organized and informative chapter.

The final chapter in the book, Chapter 6, is devoted to the trunk. Muscles of the deep back are almost always a nightmare for anatomy students, due in part to their attachments to one another. The authors have succinctly described the deep back muscles with their functions but I would have liked to see some tie-in with evolutionary anatomy and how these muscles function in quadrupeds vs. us bipeds. There are great sections in this chapter on the evolution of Hox genes, their role in setting up the axial skeleton, and their part in development of various childhood cancers.

One problem in this book is the absence of information on the lungs as well as structures of the abdominal and pelvic cavities. What is present in the book is well done, valuable to any medical or dental student, and goes a long way toward helping student organize information related to the head/neck, limbs, and trunk. Given the compact size of the book, it would be a wise investment for students in gross anatomy.

Author Contributions

The author confirms being the sole contributor of this work and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Keywords: anatomy, pathology, evolution, textbooks as topic, development

Citation: Burrows AM (2016) Book Review: Understanding Human Anatomy and Pathology. Front. Ecol. Evol . 4:120. doi: 10.3389/fevo.2016.00120

Received: 07 September 2016; Accepted: 27 September 2016; Published: 13 October 2016.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2016 Burrows. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Anne M. Burrows, [email protected]

• Science, Nature & Maths
• Medical Sciences A-Z

Your Amazon Prime 30-day FREE trial includes:

Unlimited Premium Delivery is available to Amazon Prime members. To join, select "Yes, I want a free trial with FREE Premium Delivery on this order." above the Add to Basket button and confirm your Amazon Prime free trial sign-up.

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, you will be charged £95/year for Prime (annual) membership or £8.99/month for Prime (monthly) membership.

Buy new: .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } -24% £22.87 £ 22 . 87 FREE delivery Friday, 24 May Dispatches from: Amazon Sold by: Amazon

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. For a full refund with no deduction for return shipping, you can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition.

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Save with Used - Like New .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } £18.96 £ 18 . 96 FREE delivery Friday, 24 May Dispatches from: Amazon Sold by: Amazon Warehouse

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

The Complete Human Body: The Definitive Visual Guide (DK Human Body Guides) Hardcover – 6 April 2023

Purchase options and add-ons.

The definitive guide to the development, form, function, and disorders of the human body. The most detailed popular reference book on human anatomy available, this beautiful exploration of the human body is now in its third edition, revised with the latest medical knowledge. Although used by students and healthcare professionals, it is accessible enough for anyone to dip into and enjoy. Guided by Professor Alice Roberts, renowned academic, author, and broadcaster, and groundbreaking 3-D computer-generated illustrations, you will understand the human body as never before, explore human anatomy in incredible detail and clarity, and discover how the body works, how it changes from infancy to old age, and what can go wrong and why. Dive into the pages of this brilliant book on the human body, to discover: - A region-by-region anatomy atlas allows the reader to explore the body up close and almost life size from head to toe. - A functional section then shows how the body works, system by system. - Feature panels and spreads throughout explore fascinating aspects of the human body. - Diseases and disorders section includes easy-to-follow summaries of over 200 health conditions. The Complete Human Body begins with a region-by-region anatomical atlas, containing extra detail on the hands, feet, and major joints. It features a functional section on how the body works, system by system. Finally, the diseases and disorders section includes easy-to-follow summaries of over 200 health conditions The 3-D computer-generated illustrations are incredibly detailed, virtually life-size, and based on the 3-D scans of a real human body. But in addition, the book features hundreds of smaller illustrations, diagrams, and the latest medical and microscope imaging. The Complete Human Body is perfect for students and teachers of biology, anatomy, and physiology as well as health professionals.

• Print length 536 pages
• Language English
• Publisher DK
• Publication date 6 April 2023
• Dimensions 25.8 x 3.4 x 30.7 cm
• ISBN-10 0241600499
• ISBN-13 978-0241600498
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

From the brand

Shop cookbooks

Visit the store

Shop crafting and hobby books

Shop history books

Shop gardening books

Shop travel inspiration

Shop popular culture books

Shop nature's marvels

Shop encyclopedias for kids

Shop mythology for kids

From the publisher.

Product description

About the author.

Alice Roberts is an anatomist and biological anthropologist, author and broadcaster. She's interested in the evolution, structure and function of humans, and our place in the wider environment. She originally studied to become a medical doctor, before becoming a university lecturer, focusing on biological anthropology. She passionately believes that universities are about generating and spreading knowledge to the widest possible audience, and she has been Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham since 2012. Alice Roberts has presented a wide range of science and archaeology programmes on television. Her television debut came as a human bone expert on Channel 4's Time Team , in 2001. After presenting Coast on BBC2, she went on to write and present a range of BBC series, including The Incredible Human Journey , Origins of Us , Prehistoric Autopsy and Digging for Britain. Alice has written nine popular science books, including The Incredible Human Journey, Evolution: The Human Story, The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being, Tamed: Ten Species That Changed our World - and now this one.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK; 3rd edition (6 April 2023)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 536 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241600499
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241600498
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 25.8 x 3.4 x 30.7 cm
• 126 in Medical Reference (Books)
• 144 in Pre-clinical Medicine

About the author

Alice roberts.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from United Kingdom

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• UK Modern Slavery Statement
• Sustainability
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell on Amazon Business
• Sell on Amazon Handmade
• Sell on Amazon Launchpad
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect and build your brand
• Associates Programme
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Seller Fulfilled Prime
• Advertise Your Products
• Independently Publish with Us
• Host an Amazon Hub
• › See More Make Money with Us
• Instalments by Barclays
• Amazon Platinum Mastercard
• Amazon Classic Mastercard
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Payment Methods Help
• Shop with Points
• Top Up Your Account
• Top Up Your Account in Store
• COVID-19 and Amazon
• Track Packages or View Orders
• Delivery Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Amazon Mobile App
• Customer Service
• Accessibility
• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Cookies Notice
• Interest-Based Ads Notice

Book Title: Anatomy & Physiology

Subtitle: OpenStax

Authors: Lindsay M. Biga; Staci Bronson; Sierra Dawson; Amy Harwell; Robin Hopkins; Joel Kaufmann; Mike LeMaster; Philip Matern; Katie Morrison-Graham; Kristen Oja; Devon Quick; Jon Runyeon; OSU OERU; and OpenStax

Download this book

• Digital PDF
• Common Cartridge (Web Links)
• Common Cartridge (LTI Links)

Book Description: This work, Anatomy & Physiology, is adapted from Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax , licensed under CC BY . This edition, with revised content and artwork, is licensed under CC BY-SA except where otherwise noted. Data dashboard Adoption Form Data Dashboard (through 7/31/23)

Book Information

Book description.

This work, Anatomy & Physiology, is adapted from Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax , licensed under CC BY . This edition, with revised content and artwork, is licensed under CC BY-SA except where otherwise noted.

Anatomy & Physiology Copyright © 2019 by Lindsay M. Biga, Staci Bronson, Sierra Dawson, Amy Harwell, Robin Hopkins, Joel Kaufmann, Mike LeMaster, Philip Matern, Katie Morrison-Graham, Kristen Oja, Devon Quick, Jon Runyeon, OSU OERU, and OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Anatomy & Physiology is an adapted version of Anatomy & Physiology by OpenStax , licensed under CC BY .

Download for free at https://open.oregonstate.education/aandp/

Publication and on-going maintenance of this textbook is possible due to grant support from  Oregon State University Ecampus.

Suggest a correction

You must enable JavaScript in order to use this site.

• Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Try Prime and start saving today with fast, free delivery

Amazon Prime includes:

Fast, FREE Delivery is available to Prime members. To join, select "Try Amazon Prime and start saving today with Fast, FREE Delivery" below the Add to Cart button.

• Cardmembers earn 5% Back at Amazon.com with a Prime Credit Card.
• Unlimited Free Two-Day Delivery
• Streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with limited ads on Prime Video.
• A Kindle book to borrow for free each month - with no due dates
• Listen to over 2 million songs and hundreds of playlists
• Unlimited photo storage with anywhere access

Important:  Your credit card will NOT be charged when you start your free trial or if you cancel during the trial period. If you're happy with Amazon Prime, do nothing. At the end of the free trial, your membership will automatically upgrade to a monthly membership.

Buy new: .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } -27% $36.66 $ 36 . 66 FREE delivery Tuesday, May 28 Ships from: Amazon Sold by: PTP Flash Deals

Return this item for free.

Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges

• Go to your orders and start the return
• Select the return method

Save with Used - Acceptable .savingPriceOverride { color:#CC0C39!important; font-weight: 300!important; } .reinventMobileHeaderPrice { font-weight: 400; } #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPriceSavingsPercentageMargin, #apex_offerDisplay_mobile_feature_div .reinventPricePriceToPayMargin { margin-right: 4px; } $21.99 $ 21 . 99 FREE delivery June 1 - 6 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35 Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Pinnacle Awesome

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

The Complete Human Body, 2nd Edition: The Definitive Visual Guide (DK Human Body Guides) Hardcover – June 7, 2016

There is a newer edition of this item:.

Purchase options and add-ons

• Print length 528 pages
• Language English
• Publisher DK
• Publication date June 7, 2016
• Dimensions 10 x 1.75 x 12 inches
• ISBN-10 1465449183
• ISBN-13 978-1465449184
• See all details

Frequently bought together

Similar items that may deliver to you quickly

From the brand

Shop cookbooks

Visit the Store

Shop history books

Shop crafts and hobbies

Shop Travel Inspiration

Shop gardening books

Shop popular culture books

From the publisher.

Editorial Reviews

"The extraordinary detail of these pictures will give students an excellent understanding of the body's structure and organization…" — School Library Journal

About the Author

Dr. Alice Roberts is an anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, physical anthropologist, paleopathologist, television presenter and author. She is the Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. Dr. Roberts has written four popular science books including DK's Evolution: The Human Story and the first edition of The Complete Human Body . She writes a regular science column for The Observer in London. She lives in Bristol, England, with her husband and two children.

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ DK; 2nd edition (June 7, 2016)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 528 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1465449183
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1465449184
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 10 x 1.75 x 12 inches
• #52 in Medical Encyclopedias
• #106 in Medical Anatomy
• #131 in Anatomy (Books)

Videos for this product

Click to play video

Watch before buying The Complete Human Body by DK

NL_Hok Reviews

Would Ms Frizzle approve? Honest Review and peek inside.

Good homeschool resource? Honest feedback, flip through peek

About the author, alice roberts.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Reviews with images

• Sort reviews by Top reviews Most recent Top reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. please try again later..

Top reviews from other countries

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. It’s based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. How? By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers.

We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the world’s most-cited researchers. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too.

Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective

Want to get in touch? Contact our London head office or media team here

Our team is growing all the time, so we’re always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing.

Home > Books > Human Anatomy - Reviews and Medical Advances

Human Anatomy: A Review of the Science, Ethics and Culture of a Discipline in Transition

Submitted: 21 November 2016 Reviewed: 13 March 2017 Published: 21 November 2017

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.68524

Cite this chapter

There are two ways to cite this chapter:

From the Edited Volume

Human Anatomy - Reviews and Medical Advances

Edited by Alina Maria Sisu

To purchase hard copies of this book, please contact the representative in India: CBS Publishers & Distributors Pvt. Ltd. www.cbspd.com | [email protected]

Chapter metrics overview

2,760 Chapter Downloads

Impact of this chapter

Total Chapter Downloads on intechopen.com

Total Chapter Views on intechopen.com

Anatomy has undergone radical changes over its history, and even now its appearance varies between audiences. Within academia, it has frequently been seen as the bastion of medical teaching, even as a handmaid of surgery. To the general public over recent years, it is represented by the enormously popular public exhibitions of plastinated cadavers and body parts. Increasingly within medical teaching, it has acquired a far more humanistic face, epitomized by ceremonies at the start and end of dissection to connect the dead body with the once living individual and his/her families. Modern anatomy has also developed a strong research ethos. These movements can be traced in the many editions of Gray’s Anatomy, from 1858 to the present day. However, the humanistic side of anatomy reminds us that anatomy is not merely a science, since its ethical dimensions are legion as it has transformed from a dubiously moral and barely legal activity to one that now aims to manifest the highest of ethical standards. Nevertheless, it continues to have challenging dimensions, such as its ongoing dependence upon the use of unclaimed bodies in many societies. These challenges are reminders that anatomy does not remain stationary.

• Gray’s Anatomy
• culture of dissection
• humanistic face of anatomy
• commemoration ceremonies
• plastination
• Body Worlds
• ethical guidelines

Author Information

David gareth jones *.

• Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

*Address all correspondence to: [email protected]

1. Introduction

For some, the discipline of anatomy is characterized by formalin cadavers in sterile dissecting rooms and very large amounts of detailed anatomy. Within academia, it has frequently been seen as the mainstay of medical teaching, even as a handmaid of surgery. To others, it has a far more humanistic face, as demonstrated by ceremonies at the start and end of dissection to connect the dead body with the once living individual and their families. To the general public, it is represented by the enormously popular public exhibitions of plastinated cadavers and body parts. However, these descriptions amount too little more than facets of what constitutes anatomy in modern guise, with its strong research ethos and broad scope from biological anthropology and clinical anatomy to molecular biology and genetics. The one unitary theme across this broad swathe of biomedical endeavor is structure or organization, the fundamental thread that ties together all these approaches within modern anatomical science. These movements can be traced through the many editions of Gray’s Anatomy , from 1858 to the present day.

However, the humanistic side of anatomy reminds us that anatomy is more than merely a science. Its ethical dimensions are as numerous as its scientific credentials as it has transformed from a questionably moral and legal activity to one that now aims to manifest the highest of ethical standards, even though in many societies it continues to have challenging dimensions, such as its ongoing dependence upon the use of unclaimed bodies. In these and other ways, anatomy has entered uncharted territory with previously unexplored ethical dimensions.

2. Setting the scene: Gray’s Anatomy

The anatomists’ core text, Gray’s Anatomy , reflects the many dimensions of anatomy. The 41st edition of the English version, published in 2016, 156 years after the first edition, is both impressive and near exhaustive in its coverage. Its major sections range from Cells, Tissues and Systems, and Embryogenesis, to the regional subdivisions of the human body [ 1 ]. The visual impression made on the reader is of high-quality illustrations, with their dependence upon a range of contemporary techniques, from classic histology to immunofluorescence and immunolabelling. This is the traditional anatomists’ approach in contemporary form. But much of the detail is worlds removed from what was available 50 years ago, let alone 150 years ago. The moniker, ‘The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice’ appeared first in 2005 with the 39th edition, emphasizing that anatomy is to be viewed within a health sciences context, since this is a major driver for understanding and appreciating the anatomical organization of the human body. It is also important to note that from the 1973 edition onwards, there has been a willingness to admit that there are gaps in our knowledge of anatomy, including gross anatomy, and that our understanding of the human body is far from all-knowing [ 2 ]. In other words, ongoing research is vital if anatomy at all levels is to keep abreast of developments in allied biomedical disciplines, a thrust that subsequent editions of Gray’s Anatomy have attempted to continue.

While it is easy to be captivated by a modern edition of this classic text, its beginnings lay in the 1850s in mid-Victorian London. That was an era of immense cultural ferment in both literary and scientific fields [ 2 ]. Surgery, too, was making great strides now that anesthesia was becoming increasingly available. It was a time of excitement and ferment, when two young medical men, Henry Gray and Henry Vandyke Carter, who was also an accomplished artist, were getting together on the project that was to result in the publication of Anatomy Descriptive and Surgical [ 3 ]. Little is known about Gray himself, except that he was an up-and-coming surgeon, who died from smallpox 3 years after the publication of his Anatomy , at the age of 34.

Two points are worthy of note. The first is that Gray was a researcher [ 4 ]. He had published papers on the histology, embryology and comparative anatomy of the anatomical origins of the optic nerves, and later on the spleen. This latter work was published as his first book: The Structure and Functions of the Human Spleen . It is clear that research was an important foundation for the work he did a short time later on his magisterial text.

Second, Gray and Carter themselves carried out the dissections of bodies at St. George’s Hospital in London. The bodies would have been those of the poor from workhouses, prisons, and hospitals, whose remains had not been claimed by relatives. They were unclaimed, although since misconduct was rife and few formal records were kept, in all likelihood it was deception that led to some ending up as unclaimed. Nowhere in Gray’s Anatomy is their origin or predicament mentioned. While this is typical rather than atypical of anatomy texts, both in the mid-nineteenth century and much later, it points to a gap between the stunning illustrations of normal human anatomy and the sources of the bodies that provided the raw material for the illustrations. Historian Ruth Richardson [ 4 ] has commented: “In Gray’s , the legally sanctioned bodies of people utterly alone in the metropolis were the raw material for dissections that served as the basis for illustrations that were rendered in print as wood gravings. As mass-produced images, they have entered the brains of generations of the living—via the eyes, the minds, and the thoughts of those who have gazed at them.” (p. 139) There is no memorial to those whose bodies provided so much for generation after generation of anatomists and students of anatomy.

There is no evidence of wrong doing on the part of these two men. Nevertheless, they serve as a reminder that the culture in which modern clinical anatomy was born was far removed from the expectations of the twenty-first century. By the same token, they were also far removed from the culture in which anatomy as a modern enterprise was born three centuries earlier during the European Renaissance [ 5 ]. Anatomy is, therefore, an evolving discipline, much like any other. Anatomy today should look different from 50 years ago, and it will be different again in 50 years’ time. Anatomy also assumes different forms in different countries.

3. Anatomy and the culture of dissection

Anatomy as a science emerged during the Renaissance, as it strove to attain its own niche within the spectrum of emerging academic disciplines. If the verb ‘anatomize’ and the noun ‘anatomization’ were to be employed today, they would be used in a scientific sense. This is because the anatomization or dissection of a body reduces it to its component parts in an effort to construct a new body of knowledge. In light of that which is learned about specific bodies, the intention is to strengthen and broaden the science of anatomy in general [ 6 ].

Although the term ‘body,’ in its primary usage, refers to the body of human beings or of animals, it is an abstraction. We move continually between a particular body, somebody’s body, and the body in general [ 7 ]. Cadavers, body parts, tissues and bony remains always come from particular individuals, and even when these individuals lived in the distant past, they can never be completely dehumanized.

In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe, the culture of dissection emerged out of a bewildering array of competing cultural forces. Prior to the modern, dispassionate, scientific approach to the human body, anatomy was part of a popular culture fascinated by the interior of the body but unable to delve into this largely uncharted domain [ 5 , 6 ].

There was widespread fascination with the body, and this led to morbid curiosity with dissection, since this was the only way of exploring the interior of the body. However, since the bodies had come directly from the gallows, there was a close association between the anatomist and the executioner. The end result was that the criminal, the executioner, and the anatomist, each had a role to play in what has been termed ‘the culture of dissection’ [ 5 ]. The three were interlocked in this macabre process, in which there was neither the notion nor hint of clinical detachment.

Anatomists, therefore, found themselves active participants in the execution process, even appearing to be accomplices of the executioners. This was essential if the supply of human bodies was not to dry up. But this was a problem, since it sent a clear message to the general public that anatomists were much closer to criminals than to the respectable members of society. To overcome this, their activities were bestowed with divine significance, and so as they investigated the usually unapproachable realm of the interior of the body, they were looking into what was in effect a sacred temple [ 5 ]. In this manner, the status of anatomists was placed on a par with divine activities thereby elevating them above the level of criminals.

A related phenomenon was the category of self-dissection, epitomized by Andreas Vesalius among others [ 8 ]. As the name suggests, the dead body was depicted as being actively involved in the dissection process itself. This hinted that the body may not be as dead as one would suppose, since anatomy was animating the body and endowing it with a life of its own. The end result was the impression that knowledge of the (dead) body was actually knowledge of the living, thereby stressing the naturalness of dissection [ 5 ].

In spite of these subtle moves, the dissection of cadavers remained problematic. It still existed on the edge of living society, with dissected cadavers being seen as a disturbing community of the dead. In depicting cadavers like this, Vesalius and others were claiming that the anatomist was not disrupting the body, but was assisting the natural process of decay [ 5 ]. In their different ways, all were attempts to eliminate the gulf between the dead and the living, moves that have reappeared in recent times in the public displays of plastinated bodies (see Anatomy exposed to public gaze—plastination ). This suggests that societies’ unease at dissection and the use of the dead body continues to manifest itself, no matter how much the circumstances surrounding it have changed.

Creative as were these attempts to overcome concerns about the work of anatomists during the Renaissance period, doubts remained. The whole process of dissection was accompanied by horror and fascination, especially on the part of writers and poets. The result was the morbid eroticism of some Renaissance poetry and theatre, in which writers sought to explore the unknown mysteries of the body’s interior, with erotic dreams of dissection (such as the 1659 poems of Richard Lovelace; see Ref. [ 9 ]). Strange as these works appear to contemporary anatomists, they point to an abiding truth, namely, that anatomy is never carried out in a cultural and philosophical vacuum, regardless of the culture implicated (See Ref. [ 5 ] for examples from the Renaissance period in Europe, especially Chapters 3, 4 and 5).

The transition from these fascinating but perplexing times to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was fraught, as the demand for bodies for dissection continued to outstrip the legal means of supply. The stage was set for the unsavory next stage in the questionable beginnings of modern anatomy: use of the bodies of executed criminals, body snatching and occasionally murder [ 10 ]. The world of the so-called resurrectionists and the host of macabre stories about the indecent haste with which the recently buried were transported from graveyard and poorhouse to anatomy dissecting room are ethically foreign and deeply embarrassing to the world of contemporary anatomy [ 11 , 12 ].

The pivotal 1832 Anatomy Act in England proved ground breaking by introducing into the anatomical lexicon the concept of unclaimed bodies. It was both revolutionary and disconcerting, since it made available large numbers of otherwise inaccessible bodies, but in doing so ensured that most of these would be those of the poor [ 10 ]. The lack of any incentive to revisit this decision, by not considering the alternative of soliciting bequests, ensured that for many years into the future, there was widespread willingness among anatomists to make use of the bodies of the disadvantaged and dispossessed. This lack of ethical reflection legitimized the unclaimed paradigm as the normal source of bodies for anatomical investigation. This, in turn, opened the doors to widespread use of the bodies of the mentally ill, of African-Americans, and of those executed in concentration camps during the Nazi era [ 13 – 15 ].

The result for anatomists has been tension between the legitimate scientific desire to work on high-quality material (fresh material obtained shortly after death), and the ethical imperative of soliciting informed consent from a donor prior to death. While all uses of unclaimed bodies do not fit into the outrageous categories referred to above, and while there is ongoing debate about the precise nature of informed consent [ 16 , 17 ], lack of any reference to the centrality of informed consent has cast a pall over the ethical environment of anatomy as a discipline. This will only be rectified as anatomy explicitly argues for, and implements, the ethical superiority of body bequests over unclaimed bodies [ 18 ].

These historical allusions all attest to the assertion that anatomy, and especially gross anatomy, is not a self-justifying regime. It is not carried out in a cultural and philosophical vacuum, and this affects every aspect of human anatomy. Research on human embryos may be regarded as the face of this debate today. Subjecting human embryos to research procedures requires the assent of the communities in which these are being conducted [ 19 ]. This work is no more self-justifying than is the use of human cadavers as a source of organs.

4. The humanistic face of anatomy

The discussion so far has been concerned with the way in which anatomy has gained a foothold in the scientific arena, giving it a legitimate stake in investigations on the structure of the human body. This underlies its potential contributions in both research and teaching terms. Avenues open to anatomists in research investigations are entirely dependent upon its scientific credentials, and until more recent times, this has also been the case in teaching the fundamentals of anatomy, at both the gross and microscopic levels. However, it has become evident that to confine anatomy to its scientific dimensions in teaching health science students have limitations, since these students will be entering professions in which empathy with patients is paramount.

As this realization has increasingly taken root in the thinking of educators, there has been a major move in the direction of seeing anatomy as much a humanistic discipline as a scientific one [ 20 ]. This is not a rejection of the scientific basis of anatomy, but an attempt to place it within a patient-centered health science context. One manifestation of this is in the emergence of commemorations and memorials in association with the donation of bodies for medical education [ 21 – 24 ].

Holding ceremonies to acknowledge and thank the families of those who have donated their bodies to anatomical education is recognition that anatomists are an integral part of their communities and are dependent upon the goodwill of others [ 25 ]. This sends the message that anatomists are human beings dealing with the remains of fellow human beings, and that anatomy as a discipline takes account of this relationship. These ceremonies explicitly acknowledge that the bodies available for study have been donated for this purpose by people who gave their fully informed consent. This, in turn, emphasizes the centrality of body bequests in ethical thinking within anatomy [ 18 , 26 ].

The variety of terms used to convey the essence of these ceremonies include commemoration, thanksgiving, ceremony, service, and memorial (‘memorial ceremonies’ [ 23 , 27 ]; ‘Convocation of Thanks’ [ 22 ]; ‘Thanksgiving Service’ [ 28 ]; ‘cremation/burial ceremony’ [ 29 ]). In their different ways, each conveys the notion of remembrance, and of paying tribute to those who in their death have donated their bodies to a worthy cause, that of medical teaching and research [ 25 ].

The donors are remembered for what they have given, and a ceremony is one public manifestation of this gift of inestimable value. Their altruism is recognized and saluted, and their families are thanked for the support they have provided in enabling the giving of this gift. Giving something closer to oneself than anything else also signifies trust in the anatomy staff and students, in the expectation that their bodies will be treated with respect and dealt with it in a manner worthy of the donor’s memory.

Ceremonies point toward the humanistic face of anatomy, and the unacceptability of treating cadavers merely as research and teaching tools. Their social and cultural context frames all facets of anatomical study and of the display of human remains. If this is now recognized as a central feature of anatomy, it becomes important to ask where the large public displays of plastinated dissected human bodies fit. These, after all, have become an indelible face of anatomy but what message do they convey about the character of anatomy? Do they have a humanistic face as I have been arguing, or is their rationale purely scientific a la Gray’s Anatomy ?

5. Anatomy exposed to public gaze: plastination

These vast plastinated exhibitions and their place within the world of anatomy have been described and assessed by numerous commentators (see Ref. [ 30 ] for references). They are directed at the general public and not at medical and other heath science academics and students. They are intended to take anatomy out of the secretive dissecting room and into the public arena. This is what has been referred to by Gunther von Hagens, the founder of the Body Worlds empire, as the ‘democritization’ of anatomy [ 6 , 31 ], the release of anatomy from its privileged position within the halls of academia and into the wider world. Knowledge of one’s own body is seen as something that everyone should have access to, and displaying the body in its dissected state is the ideal way of accomplishing this. It is only in this way that people can begin to appreciate what organs look like, how they relate to each other, along with the vessels and nerves that supply them. But how is this to be done, since a replica of the dissecting room with its smell of formalin-impregnated death and lifeless preserved cadavers on slabs would hardly attract a wide audience?

The breakthrough came when von Hagens devised a new method of preservation of human tissues, plastination, in which tissue fluids are replaced with plastic [ 32 , 33 ]. This was a major step forward for use in teaching human anatomy to health science students, where it is used to preserve previously dissected body parts. Additionally, it proved beneficial for research purposes with the use of body slices. These uses of course are confined to academia.

The move to public displays came with the preservation, not of body parts, but of whole bodies that are referred to as ‘plastinates.’ But more significantly, rather than being displayed horizontally, they are shown vertically. Not only this, they can be depicted in a variety of stances, and to give the impression of running, walking and jumping, playing a variety of sports, and even having sexual intercourse [ 34 ]. Using these devices they appear to be ‘alive,’ far removed from the lifeless inactivity of the dissecting room. They may be dissected, but they give the impression of participating in the vigorous life of everyday existence. The effect is frequently dramatic and awe inspiring, and prompts reactions of wonderment at the beauty and complexity of the human body. For some, this positive side is matched by complete rejection on the ground that they are a travesty: disgusting, disconcerting, demeaning, and dehumanizing [ 30 ]. What has been fascinating is that initial objections to them have come mainly from anatomists [ 35 , 36 ] and religious leaders [ 37 – 39 ]. While more in-depth analyses have dispelled some of this negativity [ 40 – 42 ], the impassioned responses of some individuals have uncovered wellsprings of unease [ 43 ].

For others, it is their attractiveness and aesthetic beauty that have proved a drawcard for millions of people worldwide. Of these, Body Worlds is the best known on account of its leadership within the field, the high profile of its founder, Gunther von Hagens, its leading-edge technology and the very high quality of its dissections. Moreover, von Hagens’ philosophical claims regarding the status of plastinates have been the driving force for much academic comment [ 43 – 46 ]. In line with this, the exhibitions have occasioned a considerable body of scholarly work from many different disciplines, touching on the haunting ways in which the bodies are displayed, impressions left by the exhibitions, and the legitimacy of investigations on the human body as an object of scientific curiosity [ 47 – 50 ].

The question that looms large over plastinates is their nature. What are they? At one level, they are simply dead human beings, dissected in a variety of interesting ways. But this is a superficial response, since the method of preservation has fundamentally altered their tissue that now makes up no more than 30% of the body. The remaining 70% is plastic, raising the question of how this hybrid entity relates to the ‘normal’ human body. Ambivalence has crept in. The plastinate is more than a plastic model of a human body, as it still contains human tissue that mirrors important facets of that particular individual during life. No two plastinates are identical, any more than two individuals are identical. They have been modified to create a new entity, based on a human template but increasingly artificial [ 43 ]. The end result is an enigma, because while plastinates are allegedly about the dynamic and living body, the newly constructed plastinated body is far removed from that of the original living individual. They represent their own category of what may be described as ‘living deadness,’ occupying a ‘post-mortal world,’ part mortuary and part art gallery [ 43 , p. 191]. They are dead, and yet the process of plastination ensures that they will not decay; they are frozen in some intermediate state [ 51 ].

These quandaries are made far more troublesome by the way in which they are exhibited for the general public, as though they are experiencing some ongoing existence, a form of post-mortal existence [ 42 , 52 – 54 ]. How can you play basketball if you are dead, and yet some of these plastinates are depicted as doing just this? This can be dismissed as poetic license; this is merely an exhibition, and it is unlikely that any of those viewing them will think they are actually alive. That is true, and yet the apparent ‘immortality’ of plastinates has been plugged as an important aspect of the whole venture [ 52 , 55 ], an emphasis that has proved immensely problematic for anatomists and others [ 56 ]. Even though ‘immortality’ is an exaggeration, it seems to represent a new category of human body, separate from both fresh corpse and decaying remains [ 6 ].

King et al. [ 30 ] argue that plastinates do not occupy standard cultural binary categories such as interior or exterior, real or fake, dead or alive, bodies or persons, and self or other. This is because they transgress the usual boundaries by which we describe and understand the world. They refuse to be pigeon-holed, no matter how hard we try. Even the simplest designation of dead or alive escapes us [ 30 , 54 ]. They are representations of real bodies [ 46 , 57 ], having been modified to produce something that is an artificial representation of perfected nature [ 48 ]. The artistic component is essential to the success of the end-product, but this removes it from the sphere of vulnerability and imperfection that characterizes human existence, a vulnerability resulting from biological, environmental and social factors as well as from moral and spiritual ones [ 58 ].

This lack of clarity regarding their categorization surfaces repeatedly and has enabled Von Hagens to employ the description ‘post-mortals’ [ 6 , 53 ]. The lack of identification with the person who once lived, with no trace of their values, attitudes or ideas, reduces them to depersonalized bodies. Even the traces of memory by which someone lives on have been defaced, since in the absence of discernible external bodily features, there is no way in which relatives and friends can recognize the plastinated remains [ 58 ]. For one commentator, the absence of a personality, friends, family and history leaves a gaping and eerie vacuum that forcefully calls into question what it is to be human and reminds us of what few of us like to dwell on—our mortality. They are ‘bodies with no soul’ [ 59 ].

What emerges very clearly from this discussion is the impression created by the exhibitions, namely that anatomy is science, no more and no less, with the bodies on display representing the generalized and abstracted body. It has nothing to do with the humanistic trends increasingly being manifested in contemporary anatomy. Neither the basketball and football players, nor the ballerinas, in the exhibitions are real people; they are representatives of these sports and activities. We do not know whether the individuals represented by these bodies ever indulged in these activities. They are being portrayed to tell a story that, in all probability, has nothing to do with the people prior to their death and plastination and subsequent display in these exhibitions. In other words, they tell us nothing about real people with real life histories. This is far removed from the humanizing trajectories that seek to enhance students’ relationships with the bodies they are dissecting [ 60 ]. Students cannot develop a relationship with a plastinate, no matter how useful it is in helping them follow nerves and blood vessels [ 61 ].

Far from humanizing the body, these public exhibitions appear to distance themselves from the people who have been plastinated, and in doing this, they objectify the body. They dislocate the body from a clinical and relational base, since they have removed them from the environment that nurtured them and of which they were an integral part. Plastinates do not represent the bodies of somebody, but have been generalized to represent bodies in general. This is acceptable as anatomy per se , the traditional anatomy of Gray’s Anatomy , presenting the data that medical students and others have to learn, but it fails to engender any humanistic element in the anatomy. It is misleading therefore to label any of the exhibitions as depicting ‘real’ people; they are real dissected bodies, useful in some ways but only part of the story of anatomy.

6. Anatomy and its ethical dimensions

The developments in anatomical thinking over many years, and especially over recent ones, have led to concerted efforts to raise the profile of ethical thinking as a basis for anatomical thinking and investigations. While this has been undertaken by individual anatomists, it has also been taken on board by anatomical societies representing anatomists from across the globe. These societies are represented by the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) that has formulated a set of ethical guidelines with a view to overseeing the donation of human bodies [ 62 , 63 ].

Procedures of the highest ethical standards are required, in order to give donors full confidence in their decision to donate. This in turn demands trust on the part of the public. The guidelines are as follows. The underlying premise is that bodies have been bequeathed for teaching and research purposes.

Informed consent from donors must be obtained in writing before any bequest can be accepted. Consent forms should take into account the following:

Donors must be entirely free in their decision to donate, this excludes donation by minors and prisoners condemned to death.

Although not essential, good practice is encouraged by having the next of kin also sign the form.

Whether the donor consents to their medical records being accessed.

There should be no commercialization in relation to bequests of human remains for anatomical education and research. This applies to the bequest process itself, where the decision to donate should be free from financial considerations, and also to the uses to which the remains are put following bequest. If bodies, body parts, or plastinated specimens are to be supplied to other institutions for educational or research purposes, this may not yield commercial gain. However, charging for real costs incurred, including the cost of maintaining a body donation program and preparation and transport costs, is considered appropriate. Payment for human material per se is not acceptable.

There needs to be an urgent move toward the establishment of guidelines regulating the transport of human bodies, or body parts, within and between countries.

Specimens must be treated with respect at all times. This includes, but is not limited to, storing and displaying human and non-human animal parts separately.

The normal practice is to retain donor anonymity. Any exceptions to this should be formally agreed to beforehand by the bequestee and, if appropriate, the family.

Limits need to be placed on the extent to which images, or other artifacts produced from donations are placed in the public domain, including in social media, both to respect the privacy of the donor (and their surviving relatives) and to prevent arousing morbid curiosity. No individual should be identifiable in images.

A clear and rigorous legal framework should be established on a national and/or state level. This legal framework should detail:

The procedures to be followed in accepting bequests of human remains for anatomical examination, including who is responsible for human remains after death.

The formal recognition of institutions which may accept bequests, which in some jurisdictions may involve licensing.

The safe and secure storage of human remains within institutions.

The length of time such remains will be retained by the institution.

The procedures to be followed in disposing of remains once the anatomical examination is complete and they are no longer required for anatomical education and research.

Institutional procedures should be formally established by an oversight committee, which shall review the body donation program at regular intervals. Such procedures should include the following:

Copies of the bequest should be retained both by the donor and by the institution for whom the bequest is intended.

Records should be kept for a minimum of 20 years from the date of disposal to ensure that human material can be identified as originating from a specific donor.

Good conservation procedures should be employed throughout the entire period during which the human remains are retained to ensure that the most effective use is made of any bequest received.

Efficient tracking procedures should ensure that the identity and location of all body parts from an individual donor are known at all times.

Facilities where cadavers are used must be appropriate for the storage of human remains and secured from entry by unauthorized personnel.

There needs to be transparency between the institution and potential donors and their relatives at every stage, from the receipt of an initial enquiry to the final disposal of the remains. The clear communication of information should include but not necessarily be limited to the production of an information leaflet (hard copy and/or digital), which could also help publicize anatomical bequests and increase the supply of donors. This should set out the following:

The procedures relating to registering bequests, acceptance criteria, the procedures to be followed after death (including under what circumstances a bequest might be declined), and the procedures relating to disposal of the human remains. Sufficient grounds for rejection could include, but need not be limited to:

the physical condition of the body.

the virological or microbiological status of the donor in life.

the existence of other diseases (e.g., neurological pathology) that might expose staff or students handling the body to unacceptable risks.

body weight or height over a specified limit.

the possible over-supply of donations at that institution at that time.

place of death outside the designated area from which bodies are obtained.

The range of uses of donated bodies at that institution.

Possible costs, if any, that might be incurred by the bequestee’s family in making a bequest, and the costs to be met by the institution accepting the bequest.

Whether the donor’s anonymity will be preserved and whether their medical history accessed.

Whether the body or body parts might be supplied to another institution.

The maximum length of time the body will be retained, including any legally sanctioned possibility of indefinite retention of body parts. The relatives of the donor should be given the option of being informed in due course of the date when the remains will be disposed of.

Donors should be strongly encouraged to discuss their intentions with their relatives to ensure that their relatives are familiar with their wishes and that as far as possible those wishes will be carried out after death.

Special lectures/tutorials in ethics relating to the bequest of human remains should be made available to all students studying anatomy. This is to encourage the development of appropriate sensitivities in relation to the conduct and respect that is expected of those handling human remains used for purposes of anatomical education and research.

Institutions should be encouraged to hold Services of Thanksgiving or Commemoration for those who have donated their bodies for medical education and research, to which can be invited relatives of the deceased, along with staff and students.

The guidelines should not be regarded as having been set in concrete once and for all and are to be modified in light of ongoing ethical reflection. For instance, the anonymity of cadavers has been raised as a matter for discussion [ 64 ], while commercialization requires further nuancing in societies where there are for-profit groups alongside not-for-profit ones [ 65 ]. Similarly, the transport of human tissue across countries’ borders remains a grey area.

Human Tissue Acts that govern the practice of anatomists when dealing with human material have been re-written over recent years in response to a series of organ and body parts scandals. These expectations are now set out in one Act after another and regard informed consent by appropriate parties as a crucial ethical driver (HTAs).

One might have hoped that scandals involving the misuse of dead human bodies would have been consigned to history. However, this has not been the case as epitomized in the most extreme fashion in Germany and allied territories during the Nazi regime [ 14 ] and in less extreme ways by organ donor scandals in pathology departments in a number of countries from the 1960s onwards and brought to light around the year 2000 [ 66 – 69 ].

In summarizing the findings to emerge from her magisterial study of anatomy during the Third Reich, Hildebrandt [ 14 ] referred to research on the ‘future dead,’ as one ethical value after another was dispensed with and the profession was converted into ‘an agent of evil through the convergence of their own reductionist view of human life, the National Socialist exclusionary medical ethics, and the new “opportunities” provided by the regime’ (p. 307). This trajectory involved what she describes as the ‘destruction of memory’ and the complete annihilation of any professional ethics. For Hildebrandt [ 14 ], the take-away message is that ‘the benefit for the individual must remain at the center of medical ethics, not the potential benefit for the society as a whole. In that respect, the medical practitioner will always have to take a political stance’ (p. 325).

Scandals, let alone rampant examples of evil tarnish the reputation of all who are dependent upon the goodwill and support of the public to obtain the material they require for both teaching and research. Hence, ethical practice assists the profession as a whole by cementing its standing in the eyes of society through recognizing the humanity and individuality of deceased individuals [ 70 ].

7. Future dimensions of anatomy

The pivotal contributions of Vesalius and Gray among many others need to be constantly recognized for their seminal contribution to what anatomy is today. And yet they were children of their times, who worked in vastly different environments from each other and from the ones encountered in the twenty-first century. We cannot understand either them or their contributions if we ignore their respective contexts. In the same way, we ourselves cannot be understood apart from our contexts, and we have the ability to change them in at least some respects.

Anatomy does not remain stationary, and neither can the expectations of any one society remain isolated from those of similar and very dissimilar societies. Further, the lessons of history may prove far more relevant to current challenges than could ever have been foreseen. For instance, today, it has to contend with the pressures and opportunities opened up by cyberspace.

One of my dominant concerns is the way in which the availability of anatomical dissections on media, such as YouTube, may normalize public perceptions of anatomy in ways over which the anatomical profession has no control [ 71 ]. Whether this will have an effect on the trust that is integral to the relationship between institutions, donors, families, and communities, and crucial for the existence of healthy donor programs, has to be seen. Technology is having profound implications for anatomy as it is for every other health science discipline. Among these are ethical implications, and if its practitioners at large fail to grasp this, the consequences could be deleterious to human welfare.

• 1. Standring S, editor. Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. 41st ed. London: Elsevier; 2016. p. 1151
• 2. Richardson R. Historical introduction. In: Standring S, editor. Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. 40th ed. London: Churchill Livingstone, Elsevier; 2008. pp. xvii–xxi
• 3. Gray H, with drawings by Carter HV. Gray’s Anatomy: Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical. 1st ed. London: JW Parker and Son; 1858
• 4. Richardson R. The Making of Mr. Gray’s Anatomy. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2008. p. 322
• 5. Sawday J. The Body Emblazoned. London: Routledge; 1995. p. 327
• 6. Jones DG, Whitaker MI. Engaging with plastination and the Body Worlds phenomenon: A cultural and intellectual challenge for anatomists. Clinical Anatomy. 2009; 22 :770-776
• 7. Kass LR. Thinking about the body. Hastings Center Report. 1985; 15 :20-30
• 8. Vesalius A. De Humani Corporis Fabrica. 1543 www.vesaliusfabrica.com/en/original-fabrica/the-art-of-the-fabrica/newly-digitized-1543-edition.html
• 9. Wilkinson CH, editor. The Poems of Richard Lovelace, Clarendon Press: Oxford; 1930. p. 132
• 10. Richardson R. Death, Dissection and the Destitute. 2nd ed. London: Phoenix Press; 2001. p. 426
• 11. MacDonald H. Human Remains: Episodes in Human Dissection. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press; 2005. p. 220
• 12. MacDonald H. Possessing the Dead: The Artful Science of Anatomy. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press; 2010. p. 289
• 13. Hildebrandt S. Anatomy in the Third Reich: An outline. Part 2. Bodies for anatomy and related medical disciplines. Clinical Anatomy. 2009; 22 :894-905
• 14. Hildebrandt S. The Anatomy of Murder: Ethical Transgressions and Anatomical Science during the Third Reich. New York: Berghahn; 2016. p. 374
• 15. Jones DG. The anatomy museum and mental illness: The centrality of informed consent. In: Coleborne C, MacKinnon D, editors. Exhibiting Madness in Museums: Remembering Psychiatry through Collection and Display. New York: Routledge; 2011. pp. 161-177
• 16. Wilkinson TM. Respect for the dead and the ethics of anatomy. Clinical Anatomy 2014; 27 :286-290
• 17. Jones DG. Using and respecting the dead human body: An anatomist’s perspective. Clinical Anatomy 2014; 27 :839-843
• 18. Jones DG, Whitaker MI. Anatomy’s use of unclaimed bodies: Reasons against continued dependence on an ethically dubious practice. Clinical Anatomy. 2012; 25 :246-254
• 19. Jones DG. Where does New Zealand stand on permitting research on human embryos? The New Zealand Medical Journal. 2014; 127 (1399). http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/127-1399/6236/
• 20. Stekalj G. Humanistic Anatomy: A New Program for an Old Discipline. New York: Nova Science Publishers; 2016. p. 69
• 21. Hildebrandt S. Developing empathy and clinical detachment during the dissection course on gross anatomy. Anatomical Sciences Education. 2010; 3 :216
• 22. Pawlina W, Hammer RR, Strauss JD, Heath SG, Zhao KD, Sahota S, Regnier TD, Freshwater DR, Feeley MA. The hand that gives the rose. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 2011; 86 :139-144
• 23. Jones TW, Lachman N, Pawlina W. Honoring our donors: A survey of memorial ceremonies in United States Anatomy programs. Anatomical Sciences Education. 2014; 7 :219-223
• 24. Bolt S. Dead bodies matter: Gift giving and the unveiling of body donor monuments in the Netherlands. Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 2012; 26 :613-634
• 25. Jones DG. Bioethical aspects of commemorations and memorials. In: Strkalj G, Pather N, editors. Exploring the Human Face of Anatomy: Commemorations and Memorials in Anatomy Programs. World Scientific Publishing. 2017, in press
• 26. Jones DG. Use of bequeathed and unclaimed bodies in the dissecting room. Clinical Anatomy. 1994; 7 :102-107
• 27. Zhang L, Wang Y, Xiao M, Han Q, Ding J. An ethical solution to the challenges in teaching anatomy with dissection in the Chinese culture. Anatomical Sciences Education. 2008; 1 :56-59
• 28. University of Queensland. UQ body donor Thanksgiving Ceremony [Internet]. 2015. Available from: https://www.uq.edu.au/sbms/thanksgiving-ceremony [Accessed: 2015-09-02]
• 29. Lin SC, Hsu J, Fan VY. “Silent virtuous teachers”: Anatomical dissection in Taiwan. British Medical Journal. 2009; 339 :b5001
• 30. King MR, Whitaker MI, Jones DG. I see dead people: Insights from the humanities into the nature of plastinated cadavers. Journal of Medical Humanities. 2014; 35 :361-376
• 31. Institute for Plastination. Donating Your Body for Plastination [Internet]. 2007. Available from: http://www.bodymobil.de/Downloads/Englisch/BD_brochure_ENG_low 120208.pdf [Accessed 2008-10-01]
• 32. von Hagens G. Impregnation of soft biological specimens with thermosetting resins and elastomeres. The Anatomical Record. 1979; 194 :247-256
• 33. von Hagens G, Tiedemann K, Krit W. The current potential of plastination. Anatomy and Embryology. 1987; 175 :411-421
• 34. Body Worlds images [Internet]. 2016. Available from: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=body+worlds+imnages&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=pfS8V4T-Fc_r8AemoYKoCA [Accessed 2016-08-24]
• 35. Boyde A, Fraher P, Morris JF, Moxham BJ, Bennett JP, Newell R, Soames RW, Dangerfield P. Letter: Dissections in display [Internet]. The Independent, 16 March 2002. Available from: http://findarticles.com/ p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020316/ai_n12600707 . [Accessed: 2009-01-21]
• 36. Kuhnel W. Statement by the Anatomische Gesellschaft on the Infamous Body-World Show of Dr Gunther von Hagens. Plexus: Newsletter of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists, December 2004. Available from: http://www.ifaa.net/PLEXUS_DECEMBER_2004-FINAL.pdf [Accessed: 2009-01-21]
• 37. Dolce L. Injustice perpetrated on the dead. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. 2010; 10 (4):667-676
• 38. Coulson C. Cadaver art: A chamber of horrors, The Colson Center Library. 1998. Available from: http://www.colsoncenter.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries…/13/12904 [Accessed: 2016-05-16]
• 39. Metaxas E. Ghoulish ‘Art’: The Body Worlds Exhibit, The Christian Post. 2012. Available from: http://www.christianpost.com/news/ghoulish-art-the-body-worlds-exhibit-75158/ [Accessed: 2016-05-16]
• 40. Morriss-Kay G. Bodyworlds: Exhibition at the Atlantis Gallery London. Journal of Anatomy. 2002; 200 :535-536
• 41. Burr DB. Congress considering plastination import ban. American Association of Anatomists News. 2008; 17 :2-5
• 42. Rudolph JN, Perlov D. Body Worlds: An anatomical exhibition of real human bodies, Summary of ethical review [Internet]. 2009. Available from: http://www.bodyworlds.com/Downloads/englisch/Media/Press%20Kit/BW_LA_SummaryofEthicalReview.pdf [Accessed: 2016-05-16]
• 43. Jones DG. The Peril and Promise of Medical Technology. Oxford: Peter Lang; 2013. p. 280
• 44. von Hagens G, Whalley A. Anatomy Art – Fascination Beneath the Surface. Heidelberg: Institute for Plastination; 2000. p. 284
• 45. Moore CM, Mackenzie Brown C. Gunther von Hagens and Body Worlds part 2: The anatomist as priest and prophet. The Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist. 2004; 277B :14-20
• 46. Stern M. Dystopian anxieties versus utopian ideals: Medicine from Frankenstein to The Visible Human Project and Body Worlds . Science as Culture. 2006; 15 (1):61-84
• 47. Scott R. Body Worlds’ plastinates, the human/nonhuman interface, and feminism. Feminist Theory. 2011; 12 (2):165-181
• 48. Jespersen TC, Rodríguez A. Forced impregnation and masculinist utopia. In: Jespersen TC, Rodríguez A, Starr J. editors. The Anatomy of Body Worlds: Critical Essays on the Plastinated Cadavers of Gunther von Hagens. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co; 2009. pp. 166-175
• 49. Hirschauer S. Animated Corpses: Communicating with Post Mortals in an Anatomical Exhibition. Body & Society. 2006; 12 (4):25-52
• 50. Linke U. Body Shock: The political aesthetics of death. Social Analysis. 2010; 54 (2):80-98
• 51. Linda S-S. Advise and consent: On the Americanization of Body Worlds. BioSocieties. 2006; 1 :369-384
• 52. von Hagens G. Gruselleichen, Gestaltplastinate und Bestattungszwang (On gruesome corpses, gestalt plastinates and mandatory interment). In: Wetz FJ, Tag B. Schöne, editors. Neue Korperwelten: Der Streit um die Austellung (Brave New Body Worlds—The Question of the Exhibition); Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta; 2001. pp. 260-282
• 53. PRNewswire. Anatomist Dr. Gunther von Hagens Reiterates His Mission of Public Health Education to Press Corps in Guben, Germany. 30 November 2006. Available from: www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=185453 . [Accessed 2010-09-20]
• 54. Jones DG, Whitaker MI. Engaging with plastination and the Body Worlds phenomenon: A cultural and intellectual challenge for anatomists. Clinical Anatomy. 2009; 22 :770-776
• 55. Stern M. Shiny happy people: ‘Body Worlds’ and the commodification of health. Radical Philosophy. 2003; 118 :2-6
• 56. Linke U. Touching the corpse: The unmaking of memory in the body museum. Anthropology Today. 2005; 12 (5):13-19
• 57. Desmond J. Postmortem exhibitions: Taxidermied animals and plastinated corpses in the theaters of the dead. Configurations. 2010; 16 (3):347-378
• 58. Jones DG. The artificial world of plastination: A challenge to religious perspectives on the dead human body. The New Bioethics. 2016; 22 (3):237-252. DOI: 10.1080/20502877.2016.1238580
• 59. Nicholls EH. Selling anatomy: The role of the soul. Endeavour. 2002; 26 (2):47
• 60. Montross C. Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab. London: Penguin Books; 2007. p. 295
• 61. Riederer BM. Plastination and its importance in teaching anatomy. Critical points for long-term preservation of human tissue. Journal of Anatomy. 2014; 224 :309-315
• 62. IFAA. Recommendations of good practice for the donation and study of human bodies and tissues for anatomical examination. Plexus (Newsletter of the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists). Available from: http://www.ifaa.net/index.php/plexus/viewdownload/3-plexus/7-plexus-2014 [Accessed 2014-08-20] See also: Ifaa.net [Accessed 2017-02-20]
• 63. Jones DG. Searching for good practice recommendations on body donations across diverse cultures. Clinical Anatomy. 2016; 29 :55-59
• 64. Jones DG, King MR. Maintaining the anonymity of cadavers: Historic relic or educational and ethical necessity? Anatomical Sciences Education. 2017; 10 :87-97
• 65. Champney TH. The business of bodies: Ethical perspectives on for-profit body donation companies. Clinical Anatomy. 2016 ;29: 25-29
• 66. Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry. Learning from Bristol: The Report of the Public Inquiry into Children’s Heart Surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984-1995. Bristol: Crown Copyright; 2001
• 67. Department of Health. The Removal, Retention and Use of Human Organs and Tissue from Postmortem Examination. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office; 2001
• 68. The Royal Liverpool Children’s Inquiry. The Royal Liverpool Children’s Inquiry Report. London: House of Commons; 2001
• 69. Retained Organs Commission. A Consultation Document on Unclaimed and Unidentifiable Organs and Tissue, a Possible Regulatory Framework. London: National Health Service; 2002
• 70. Jones DG, Whitaker MI. Speaking for the Dead: The Human Body in Biology and Medicine. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate Publishing; 2009. p. 296
• 71. Jones DG. YouTube anatomy education: Source of ethical perplexity. Anatomical Sciences Education. 2016; 9 :500-501

© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Continue reading from the same book

Human anatomy.

Published: 21 November 2017

By Pascal Fallavollita

2483 downloads

By Slavka Flesarova and David Mazensky

1519 downloads

By Zamzuri Idris, Faruque Reza and Jafri Malin Abdull...

1938 downloads

Advertisement

Supported by

Piecing Together God’s Body, From Head to Toe

• Share full article

• Barnes and Noble
• Books-A-Million

When you purchase an independently reviewed book through our site, we earn an affiliate commission.

By Karen Armstrong

• Jan. 25, 2022

GOD An Anatomy By Francesca Stavrakopoulou

“Immortal, invisible, God only wise / In light inaccessible hid from all eyes” — so goes the hymn that neatly encapsulates some of our modern problems with divinity and its relation to humanity and the natural world. In a long, detailed and scrupulously researched book, “God: An Anatomy,” Francesca Stavrakopoulou digs into this dilemma; as corporeal creatures, she argues, we must somehow reincarnate this arcane deity, see him as our ancestors did and bring him down to earth. She then proceeds, in 21 chapters packed with knowledge and insight, to “anatomize” the divinity from head to toe, starting with the “standing stones” that marked the footsteps of deities in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age and ending with images of God that enabled people to imagine that they were somehow communing with him “face to face.”

This communing could be an overwhelming physical experience. When in the ninth century B.C. the king of Babylon came into the presence of a cult statue of Shamash, “his heart rejoiced, and shining was his face.” Moses did not merely see Yahweh, the God of Israel, he also talked and communed with him on Mount Sinai for 40 days — but it was the corporeal, visual intensity of his bond with Yahweh that transfigured Moses’ own face when he came down from the mountain.

People yearned for this divine contact. “My throat thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water,” the psalmist cries. And Yahweh himself longed to be seen: “Seek my face!” he called to his worshipers. “Come before his countenance!” cried the ritual singers. Looking at the beauty of God’s face was the very purpose of the temple, and it was his face that would continue to entrance his worshipers.

Today we take it for granted that God has no body. But the psalmists had other views. “Praise Yahweh, for he is lovely looking!” cries one psalmist; another longed to live in the Jerusalem temple all the days of his life, “to behold the beauty of Yahweh … your face, Yahweh, do I seek.”

Yahweh certainly had feet; they were thought to rest on a stool that placed him on a higher, more commanding level in which he embodied the order and hierarchy of the universe. But he also enjoyed taking a solitary evening walk in the Garden of Eden and later spent time with the patriarchs Enoch, Noah and Abraham. Yahweh was an intensely physical being; it was his “strong hand” and “outstretched arm” that smashed the Egyptian army in the Sea of Reeds. But his touch could also be gentle. When the psalmist “lifted up his hands to God,” Yahweh responded by holding out his own hands “all day long,” like a lover or a parent. Later the rabbis would claim that when God prayed with them, he covered his head with a prayer shawl as they did, and dressed his arms in Torah texts.

But the gods’ bodies were of course superior to our own. In their ancient temples, their radiant luminosity was manifest in the polished gold, silver and bronze skin of their statues, which were thought to have been crafted in the celestial sphere and filled pagan worshipers with fear and awe. Yahweh too, the psalmist tells us, was “clothed with glory and splendor.” When he marched through the world of men, his gleaming weapons eclipsed even the sun and moon: “His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his radiance.” Rays come out “from his hands.”

The prophet Isaiah was instructed to “hide in the dust” to protect himself from this terrifying radiance. Later Jesus’ disciples would have the same experience when he was transfigured before them: “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.” But above all, it was God’s face that entranced his worshipers. The Hebrew Bible describes God as tob (“handsome”) and na’im (“lovely looking”), which, with our more spiritualized notion of divinity, are now translated as “good” and “gracious.”

In 597 B.C., the armies of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, descended upon the little kingdom of Judah and subjugated the region in three brutal military campaigns. The young king was deported with 8,000 exiles, including members of the royal family, the aristocracy, the military and skilled artisans. Ten years later, after another rebellion, the Babylonians destroyed Yahweh’s temple, razed the city of Jerusalem to the ground and carried off 5,000 more deportees, leaving only the poorest people to remain in the devastated land. When a small group of Judahites were finally permitted to return to their homeland in 539 B.C., they brought a very different religion back with them and Yahweh never fully recovered his body. Without the temple rites that had made him a living, breathing reality, he became the distant, spiritualized deity that we know today.

This, Stavrakopoulou argues, was a tragedy. Yahweh, she complains, was transformed by Jewish philosophers such as Maimonides into a timeless, changeless, immaterial deity, wholly unlike anything in the earthly realm, while Christians developed the incomprehensible conundrum of the Trinity: “Three in one and one in three!”

Instead, she believes, we should return to the ancient Israelite mythology. But this is not how religion works. At its best, it demands that, as circumstances change, we respond creatively and innovatively to the present. After the Romans destroyed the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70, the rabbis rediscovered the divine presence in a highly inventive study of Scripture. The medieval mysticism of the kabbalah depicted the inscrutable divine essence emerging successively in 10 sephiroth (“stages”), each more perceptible than the last, in, as it were, a divine evolution. Later in the 18th century, Polish Hasidim would develop techniques of concentration that enabled them to become vividly aware of the divine presence, “as though it were flowing all around them and they were sitting in the middle of light” — an experience that made them dance and sing.

This reminds us that religious belief becomes a reality to us only when accompanied by the bodily gestures, intense mental concentration and evocative ceremonial of ritual. Because it imparts sacred knowledge, a myth is recounted in an emotive setting that sets it apart from mundane experience and brings it to life. Because they could no longer perform the impassioned rites of the Jerusalem temple, the traditionally vivid experience of Yahweh became opaque and distant to the Judean exiles in Babylonia. And the complex doctrine of Trinity devised by Greek theologians in the fourth century was not something to be “believed” but was the result of a mental and physical discipline that, accompanied by the rich music and ceremony of the liturgy, enabled Eastern Christians to glimpse the ineffable.

It is probably because most Western Christians have not been instructed in this exercise that the Trinity remains as obscure to them as it does to Stavrakopoulou, who longs for a divine face or hand to which she can turn.

Karen Armstrong is the author, most recently, of “The Lost Art of Scripture: Rescuing the Sacred Texts.”

GOD An Anatomy By Francesca Stavrakopoulou Illustrated. 608 pp. Alfred A. Knopf. $35.

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

An assault led to Chanel Miller’s best seller, “Know My Name,” but she had wanted to write children’s books since the second grade. She’s done that now  with “Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All.”

When Reese Witherspoon is making selections for her book club , she wants books by women, with women at the center of the action who save themselves.

The Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro, who died on May 14 , specialized in exacting short stories that were novelistic in scope , spanning decades with intimacy and precision.

“The Light Eaters,” a new book by Zoë Schlanger, looks at how plants sense the world  and the agency they have in their own lives.

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

Human Anatomy: Self-Assessment Review Questions

(3 reviews)

Michael F. Nolan, Roanoke, VA

John P. McNamara, Roanoke, VA

Copyright Year: 2022

ISBN 13: 9781957213309

Publisher: Virginia Tech Publishing

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Christopher Roman, Adjunct Professor, Butler University on 4/3/24

This is a review of all body regions and the structures contained therein. While it does not (and realistically could not) ask about every single detail, it provides a good cross-section of essential knowledge for pre-clinical students. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This is a review of all body regions and the structures contained therein. While it does not (and realistically could not) ask about every single detail, it provides a good cross-section of essential knowledge for pre-clinical students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Anatomy is a very established subject with clear right/wrong answers to most questions. This book provides straightforward questions and accurate answers.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Anatomy is a stable area of knowledge with relatively little change over time.

Clarity rating: 5

Questions are concise and clear, with a useful answer key.

Consistency rating: 5

The Q&A format of this book is very consistent.

Modularity rating: 5

Well-divided by body region.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Interface rating: 5

Very straightforward document that is readable and can be written into by learners either electronically or in printed form.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No errors observed.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Since this is strictly a collection of fill-in-the-blank questions about human anatomy, there is no cultural presence in the book.

Reviewed by Cassie Gohn, Associate Professor, Manchester University on 11/14/23

The book does a good job covering a basic level of human anatomy. Would work well for undergrad students. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book does a good job covering a basic level of human anatomy. Would work well for undergrad students.

Uses traditional anatomical terms.

Can be used for years to come.

Clarity rating: 4

Diagrams would add to the clarity.

No issues found.

Divided into body regions.

Overall, a good resource. It would be useful for students in a regional-based anatomy course. I plan to use this with my students.

It would be helpful to have more variety in types of questions, as all are free response. However, that does not detract from the quality of the text.

Reviewed by Andrea Perez, Instructor, Lane Community College on 11/14/22

Has fourteen detail sections and has good questions. read more

Has fourteen detail sections and has good questions.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

See complete review

Having an answer key is good so students can check their answers.

Consistency rating: 3

A student would need a traditional Anatomy Textbook if they had to review any terminology.

The organization of the section compared to the human body has good.

Yes I believe it is.

Has far has I could tell.

These is nothing culturally insensitive about the human body.

This is a good companion workbook or Study guide to supplement a Traditional Anatomy Textbook. A good feature of the book is that Instructor can print out pages that are useful for their class for the students. Even though this book has fourteen detail sections to help review the Human Anatomy unfortunately there are no drawings of the body to go along with the questions which would be helpful. This textbook would also be helpful if a student would like to refresh or test their knowledge of Human Anatomy because the book does have an answer keys to the questions. I would use sections of this book in an Human Anatomy as a study guide and use some of the questions in quizzes or exam.

Table of Contents

• 1 Back and Spine
• 2 Upper Limb
• 3 Lower Limb
• 4 Thoracic Wall
• 5 Pleura and Lungs
• 6 Mediastinum
• 8 Pelvis and Perineum
• 9 Head and Face
• 10 Mouth and Pharynx
• 11 Neck and Larynx

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Human anatomy is one of the foundational disciplines in the training of health care professionals. Knowledge of human structure at both the macroscopic and microscopic levels serves as a framework for the study of normal function and dysfunction. This workbook presents a series of questions related to a particular area of anatomy. Answers to those questions are included at the end of the book. This approach to self-assessment in basic human anatomy will be helpful to students in preparing for clinical-based learning activities as well as for other types of knowledge assessment and evaluation.

About the Contributors

Michael F. Nolan,  Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

John P. McNamara, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine

Contribute to this Page