Anatomy of Anatomy in Images and Words [Paperback]

Meryl Levin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0970274408 | ISBN-13: 978-0970274403 | Publication Date: November 15, 2000 | Edition: 1st

Author is a social documentary photographer, New York City, NY. Combines superb photographs of a group of medical students during their dissection of cadavers in Gross Anatomy class with excerpts from journals they kept during the course. Photographs and journal excerpts are presented chronologically to reflect the documented dissection process. Softcover.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

With the publication of ANATOMY OF ANATOMY, Third Rail Press seeks to enlighten medical students, and all those whose lives they touch. By reaching medical students early in their training, ANATOMY OF ANATOMY will challenge them to learn more than simply the names and actions of the muscles and nerves in the body. It will encourage students to come to terms with the mortality of others—as well as their own. In this way, the power of this unique tool will be experienced by those within the medical school setting and far beyond.

The affordable price of $20 US / $29 CAN makes this a must for those with interest in medical education, doctor / patient relationship development, medicine and the humanities, and medical ethics, among others. Of course caring and concerned friends and family members might consider this book the perfect gift for those they know considering careers in medicine.

From the Author

Over the past decade, I have focused my camera on issues of health and social welfare. During that time, I've experienced the delivery of medical care from the patient side—in my own life, and in the lives of those I've portrayed. Long curious about ‘the other side,’ I yearned to explore the making of a physician. In the spring of 1998, I had the opportunity to document students at Cornell University’s Weill Medical College during their Gross Anatomy course. By working in collaboration with eleven First Year medical students, I've assembled an intimate and powerful exploration of the training of these doctors-to-be, highlighting both the technical and the emotional hurdles faced by those dealing daily with life and death issues. The students’ writing is honest and open, providing a narrative framework for the reader.

Currently, most medical curricula are so intense that little time remains to process the emotional impact of confronting mortality. Starting with First Year Gross Anatomy, and only exaggerated during medical clerkships and the hundred-hour work weeks of internship and residency, there is frighteningly little time to reflect on end of life issues—to learn how to listen to patients and to find comfort with one’s own relationship to life and to death. Gross Anatomy offers one of these early moments to introduce students to these sorts of critical issues, and ANATOMY OF ANATOMY offers a window into that aspect of medical education.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 133 pages
• Publisher: Third Rail Pr Inc; 1st edition (November 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970274408
• ISBN-13: 978-0970274403
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Slice of Life, December 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Anatomy of Anatomy in Images and Words (Paperback)

Through the insightful journal entries of 11 first year medical students and the vivid photographs by Meryl Levin, Anatomy of Anatomy allows us to attend Gross Anatomy class. What we find there is far more that tissue and bone.

As someone not involved with medical education, I was fascinated by how the dissection of their cadavers heightened the students' awareness of every day life and by the openness of their writings. After completing the hand and wrist dissection, Rajiv picks up his daughter from school. He writes:" Her hand is soft and warm despite the January cold. This is what life feels like, I say to myself. I have learned something about the human touch. I will never hold someone's hand the same, old, ignorant way again." These simple, human connections occur throughout the book as the students and reader confront issues of the living and the dead.

Clearly, a must-read for all medical students, their family members, and professors. And for the rest of us? A compelling glimpse into the educational process that shapes those who will be treating us in the future.