Difference between revisions of "Physiology (book)"

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* The book only skims the surface of each organ and system it discusses. The information is educational, but it only offers 101 level descriptions.
 
* The book only skims the surface of each organ and system it discusses. The information is educational, but it only offers 101 level descriptions.
 
* The read-from-anywhere structure often backfires by using terms or principles the reader won't know unless they've read from several other sections first. Also, the authors frequently use specified  medical jargon without explaining it first which makes several of the sections too complex for beginners.
 
* The read-from-anywhere structure often backfires by using terms or principles the reader won't know unless they've read from several other sections first. Also, the authors frequently use specified  medical jargon without explaining it first which makes several of the sections too complex for beginners.
 +
* The book is completely lacking citations. For well-established information, this is expected, but the book makes several esoteric claims that I would expect at least a basic description of the study, but everything is simply presented as fact.
 
* The paragraph descriptions often describe organelles that are not displayed on the accompanying diagrams. This makes it difficult to picture what they've written about.
 
* The paragraph descriptions often describe organelles that are not displayed on the accompanying diagrams. This makes it difficult to picture what they've written about.
 
* Though the diagrams are on point, a lot of the photos are just stock photos; they're related to the topic, but they don't convey any useful information.
 
* Though the diagrams are on point, a lot of the photos are just stock photos; they're related to the topic, but they don't convey any useful information.

Revision as of 13:22, 4 March 2020

2009 paperback reprint.

Physiology: All You Need to Know About How Your Body Works is a nonfiction popular physiology book edited by Peter Abrahams and published in 2007.

I bought this book on a clearance shelf. The heavy use of illustrations and diagrams convinced me to buy it.

Status

I own a 2009 reprint paperback and am currently reading it.

Review

Good

  • An amateur-level description of scores of the body's organs and systems are describe.
  • The book is full color and fully illustrated with hundreds of diagrams and photos.
  • The book uses a magazine style layout which allows you to easily flip to any page and read about any topic without any prerequisite knowledge.

Bad

  • The book only skims the surface of each organ and system it discusses. The information is educational, but it only offers 101 level descriptions.
  • The read-from-anywhere structure often backfires by using terms or principles the reader won't know unless they've read from several other sections first. Also, the authors frequently use specified medical jargon without explaining it first which makes several of the sections too complex for beginners.
  • The book is completely lacking citations. For well-established information, this is expected, but the book makes several esoteric claims that I would expect at least a basic description of the study, but everything is simply presented as fact.
  • The paragraph descriptions often describe organelles that are not displayed on the accompanying diagrams. This makes it difficult to picture what they've written about.
  • Though the diagrams are on point, a lot of the photos are just stock photos; they're related to the topic, but they don't convey any useful information.
  • The section "How we smell" has dubious claims about pheromones, menstrual synchrony, and the evolution of human smell with citing any references.
  • I spotted the rare spelling error, missing punctuation, and typo. For example, in the section on lungs, the book says the average lung capacity is not 5, but 55 liters!
  • It's minor, but the cover is a terrible clip-art mess.

Ugly

  • Nothing.

Links

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