Alan J. Watson, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry

Flesh and bones of anatomy is the book undergraduate medical students have been waiting for! An introductory chapter covers the reasons for learning anatomy and a short but concise chapter covers the anatomical jargon often dreaded by students! Major organ systems are covered in sufficient detail with useful summary tables highlighting key points. The use of simple colour diagrams throughout makes learning more enjoyable and relevant clinical cases demonstrate the anatomical system of each chapter. On the whole this book gets straight to the point and is therefore ideal for the student with little time to learn the vast amount of anatomy required. Although it does not cover anatomy in as much detail as Gray’s anatomy for students or other leading textbooks it does contain a great deal of useful facts in its 184 pages (which incidentally makes this book easy to carry around!)

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Emma Jackson, University of Manchester

I initially found the layout of this book quite hard to get used, but with perseverance I found the layout easier to get grips as it was very different to the other textbooks I had been used to using. The one thing I particularly liked about the book was its diagrams. They provided very clear explanations of anatomy, which were easy to understand and put many structures into context. I found it very useful as it went through a lot of basic information about anatomy e.g. types of movement, basic planes and terms relating to the anatomical position that having never studied before I had originally found quite bewildering. I found the way section 3 (the fleshed out parts of anatomy) was arranged was logical and relatively easy to navigate around. My main criticism is that there are no direct answers to the questions on each page, which I think would have been useful. I think that for revision purposes this book is excellent as it provides clear concise facts that are easily digestible.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Faye Sharpley, University of Cambridge

Whiten has achieved an amazing feat: a summary of the entire human anatomy in under 200 pages! Although the ‘fleshed out’ sections are still mere summaries of each anatomical region, the essential concepts are not missed. The learning of this complex subject therefore appears both simple and feasible. A must read for students embracing the start of a course in medicine, or for panic-stricken first year medical students, as a revision aid. The compromise in both depth and detail, perhaps makes this series unsuited to those already introduced to anatomy, or for those seeking more than just the ‘flesh and bones’ of this topic area.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Pauline Law, University of Dundee

Anatomy has to be one of the most demanding parts of the medical course. There is no easy way but to work through the systems or regions of the body methodically. This book’s first chapter makes challenging reading for anyone brand new to anatomy as its starts straight away with the Big Picture which is full of strange new words while the next section of High Return Facts is in more digestible chunks. However it is in the Fleshed Out section that the book comes into its own. The diagrams and tables make this book absolutely essential for putting into perspective the layout of muscles, nerves and blood vessels. The treatment of nervous system was particularly good at simplifying and explaining a very complex system. The use of colour made the illustrations easy to read and the tables were clear and concise. A great revision book.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Sherif Khalifas, Cardiff University

Susie Whiten’s book is a continuation of the online series and has a similar format to the successful ‘Crash Course’ books.
Susie Whiten has presented the dry and usually mind-numbingly complicated subject of anatomy in an easily readable and digestible style. It is divided into 3 sections. The first, ‘The Big Picture’, gives the basic anatomy of each region and tips on how to study this essential subject successfully. ‘High Return Facts’ contains short and essential facts about each region. The final section, ‘Fleshed out’, contains the ‘detailed’ anatomy of each region, interspersed with clinical relevance, and each region ends with a review of its clinical testing.
Colour. This is what makes this book stand out from the crowd and attempts to make learning anatomy less daunting. This book would make a great introductory or revision text or just a supplement to a more detailed textbook, such as ‘Gray’s Anatomy for Students’

Posted 1st Jul 2008