The Complete Human Body + DVD »

Editor-in-chief Dr. Alice Roberts is a doctor, anatomist, osteoarchaeologist, and anthropologist. She teaches clinical anatomy, embryology, and physical anthropology at Bristol University and has hosted a number of television programs, including "Dr Alice Roberts: Don't Die Young", "Coast", and, most recently, "The Incredible Human Journey." She is the author of Don't Die Young: An Anatomist's Guide to Your Organs and Health and The Incredible Human Journey.

We inhabit it, we are it, and we are surrounded by 6.8 billion examples of it on the planet - the human body. Some parts of it are still mysteries to science and much is a mystery to the average person on the street. But we've come a long way from the sketches and diagrams drawn by the first anatomists in Ancient Greece.

Making full use of new medical procedures and imaging techniques, The Complete Human Body is the definitive guide to the development, form, function, and disorders of the human body, illustrated with unprecedented clarity by new computer-generated artworks and the latest medical and microscopic imaging. Exploring the body's form and function in greater depth than any other popular reference, from muscle structure and activity to motor pathways within the brain, The Complete Human Body will have great appeal to students and a broad range of healthcare professionals, as well as families. Includes an interactive DVD and website!

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Incorporating hundreds of stunning images and a clearly written text, Roberts's hefty volume begins with an overview of the body covering such topics as human evolution, the human genetic formula, the cell, and body composition. It then moves on to systems, devoting most of its pages to an atlas of human anatomy. Starting from the head and neck and ending at the lower leg and foot, this section illustrates seven regions of the body, primarily employing computer-generated illustrations, but also incorporating cutaway diagrams and clear photos and microscopic and x-ray images. For each designated section of the body, double-page renderings of the skeletal, muscular, nervous, cardiovascular, and lymphatic and immune systems are presented, each clearly introduced and extensively labeled. The extraordinary detail of these pictures will give students an excellent understanding of the body's structure and organization, depicting, layer by layer, the organs that are normally "packed closely together and nestled into cavities, with nerves and vessels twisting around...." Other sections focus on "How the Body Works," "Life Cycle," and "Diseases and Disorders," offering the same graphic detail. There's more text in these chapters, which devote two pages each to a multitude of topics ("Nerve Cells," "Taste and Smell," "Blood Cells"); the images are smaller, but well chosen and more numerous. The DVD offers a selection of pictures from the book. While not all libraries may need such extensive mapping of the human body—Steve Parker's The Human Body (DK, 2007) may suffice for many—there is nothing that rivals Roberts's singular volume.—Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal