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Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Anatomy and Physiology textbook.
Review: Kevin Patton and Gary Thibodeau's love of biology, thorough understanding, and gift for explaining complex ideas comes through in this cohesive, crystal-clear, yet richly detailed book. It is well-organized, with vivid color illustrations and diagrams by a team of skilled medical illustrators, as well as color photographs for healthcare applications. The authors' lifelong skill and passion for their subject make this book not just a great textbook, but a masterpiece, especially for student who is a biology major/biochem minor. (This review refers to the 1999 4/e of this book.)This 1000 + page text explains the structure and function of the complicated, detailed human body in a logical manner. The first unit of the tome is on the levels of organization in the body, such as chemical basis, then cell structure & diversity. After that, the book averages two to four chapters devoted to each of the body systems (digestive, endocrine, respiratory, etc.). The first chapter explains the gross and fine anatomy, and the second chapter meticulates the system physiology. The book does a good job explaining how the different body systems are integrated, such as the respiratory and cardiovascular systems interrelating. Also, there is an entire chapter on metabolism, aptly placed with the digestive system, as well as one on fluid and electrolyte balance, appropriately put right after the urinary system chapter. There are several other chapters similar in theme as well (don't worry, these are counted into the two to four chapters). The material is quite tough throughout the book, but with re-reading and reference to other texts, students should quickly get a handle on the material. This text is, after all, for a two-semester college level A&P course. The book does a good job in organizing the chapters, as in what order it puts the various body systems and related topics. I've heard of some A&P classes that start off with the digestive and circulatory systems in 1st semester, then stave off discussion of the skin and muscular systems for 2nd semester. Trust me - this book's way (and thankfully, the same method used by my professor and school curriculum) is much better. The book is very good at speaking to students in a way they will understand - addressing common sources of confusion students might have, but absolutely NOT condescending/patronizing students. The illustrations are excellent in presenting the hierarchical structure of body tissues where appropriate - for example, the relationship from muscle, to fascicle, to muscle fiber, to the submicrocopic level. I have to say, however, some of the full-body illustrations in the book seem too anatomically correct, but they don't really go overboard. Well, this is an anatomy book for college-level reading, so they can get away with it, and it does that equally for both males and females, so I guess it's somewhat okay. Near the appendices there is a full-color "mini-atlas" of the human body, i.e., pictures of live healthy humans as well as cadavers. These are a bit graphic but not offensive, and you don't necessarily have to refer to these if you don't want to. There are numerous features throughout that are extremely useful for reference, such as medical applications - common diseases are overviewed in the appropriate chapter, for example epilepsy is discussed in the neural integration chapter. Also, there is a CD-ROM with links to the publication company's website of this edition. What I definitely appreciated (in addition to the entire text) was a little booklet called a "survival guide" that accompanies every copy; this was written by Mr. Patton and had study tips and note-taking tips, and was personable and funny also. Overall, an excellent book.
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