Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor [Hardcover]

Steven Giegerich (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0684862077 | ISBN-13: 978-0684862071

A fascinating exploration of the medical student's most decisive course -- gross anatomy -- and of the intellectual, emotional and spiritual transformation that turns young men and women into doctors

Medical Gross and Developmental Anatomy is a course every medical student dreads. As one future physician told the author, Steve Giegerich, passing the notoriously difficult course is "paying your dues for medicine. It's the bridge you have to cross if you want to become a doctor."

More students leave medical school during this course than any other. Now "Body of Knowledge" puts readers in the classroom as potential doctors come face-to-face with their first human cadaver and dissects the factors that determine whether they succeed or fail.

In January 1999, 181 students at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark, began a course in gross anatomy. Among them were Sherry Ikalowych, a former nurse and mother of four; Jennifer Hannum, an ultracompetitive jock; Udele Tagoe, a determined Duke graduate of Ghanian descent; and Ivan Gonzalez, a Nicaraguan refugee and unlikely medical student. For these four lab partners, Tom Lewis, the cadaver lying on the stainless steel table, remains anonymous during dissection; but for the reader, Lewis springs to life. As the students grapple with love, hate, power and awe, Giegerich explores Lewis's life and his generous decision to donate his body to science. Ultimately, as the students gain reverence for medicine, they too develop gratitude for Lewis's thoughtful gift.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1999, journalist Giegerich accompanied four medical students at Newark's University of Medicine and Dentistry through a semester of gross anatomy, the pivotal course that brings first-year students face-to-face with a human cadaver. Those months in the lab, as well as considerable secondary research on physiology and the history of anatomy, have borne fruit in this sensitive, provocative book. A number of excellent medical school memoirs already exist, such as William Nolen's classic The Making of a Surgeon and Perri Klass's more recent A Not Entirely Benign Procedure. Nolen and Klass have the advantage of firsthand insight, but neither zeroes in on so novel and so critical an aspect of the medical school experience as Giegerich does. His observer status, by no means a handicap, allows him to sketch impassively yet compassionately the divergent lives of his four subjects, and his excellent reportage delivers the psychological and emotional trials of gross anatomy with razor precision. Novel also is Giegerich's account of the once-living person who shares this journey, Tom Lewis, a public school administrator and ardent Roman Catholic who donates his body to science. The reader comes to know him well, but to the anatomists, who must rely on the scalpel and their own wits to learn his identity, he is simply cadaver #3426. Giegerich makes a strong case for gifts to science by showing how Tom, a social activist while he was alive, profoundly affects the lives of these four medical students after he is dead. Like Nolen's classic memoir, Giegerich's sensitive study will be essential reading for anyone considering a career in medicine.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Completing the freshman course, Medical Gross and Developmental Anatomy (GA), is one of the first bridges one crosses to become a physician. Journalist Giegerich succeeds admirably in taking readers through the five units of GA (head and neck, thorax, abdomen, and upper and lower extremities) at Newark's University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey so that the curious emerge with their imaginations satiated, their hands clean and odor free, but, alas, sans medical degree. Giegerich introduces the body donor, the embalmer, the school secretary who arranges for body donations, the students, and the anatomy faculty, letting us share in the experience all the way up to the memorial service that terminates the course before the dissected cadavers are sent to the crematory. Depending on his or her disposition, the reader is likely to be mesmerized, appalled, or emotionally depleted by these comprehensive and engrossing insights into the first-year med student's exposure to the complexity of the human body with its myriad Latinized structures, the unremitting pressures of memorization and ever-present exams, and a sprinkling of "cadaver juice" and practical jokes added to ease the tension. Human dissection is a fascinating and complex topic, and Meryl Levin's Anatomy of Anatomy (Third Rail, 2000) provides a pictorial complement to Giegerich's compelling text. For popular medical collections. James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (July 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684862077
• ISBN-13: 978-0684862071
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,714,501 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening, February 13, 2002

By 

c_leong73 "c_leong73" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor (Hardcover)

I have to confess that I originally picked up this book to satisfy an intrinsically human morbid fascination with death, and what happens to bodies afterward. In the end, this book did much more than that.

BODY OF KNOWLEDGE records the myriad of emotions experienced by four main characters, all first-year medical students at the New Jersey Medical School, as they struggle through the notoriously difficult course mandatory for all aspiring physicians, Gross Anatomy. These four students were assigned to each other as lab partners throughout the entire course, sharing one cadaver to work on. Although the identity of the cadaver remained anonymous to the students, Giegerich gives us an important glimpse into the life of the person who chose to donate his body to science, helping the readers know him as much more than just a science project.

Having no involvement with the medical profession, this book allowed me a rare glimpse into the trials and tribulations faced by would-be doctors as they slave through medical school's toughest course. It also demystified the medical profession, enabling me to see physicians as people who are not so different from you and me save for their extra knowledge of the workings of the human body. For those who have dreams of going to medical school someday, this book also provides great encouragement when you discover the obstacles faced by the various characters prior to being accepted into NJMS.

Most importantly, after reading this book, I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who have willed their bodies to science, so that future generations may benefit from the knowledge gained. Considering all the things done to their bodies in a gross anatomy lab, being a donor is, in the words of one of the characters in the book, the ultimate "selfless act".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Biography of a Cadaver, May 22, 2002

By 

Tim Smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: Body of Knowledge : One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor (Hardcover)

Steve Giegerich has written a book about a subject matter not only fascinating and mysterious but for some bordering on the gruesome and macabre. He takes us along with four first year medical students as they journey through the Medical Gross and Developmental Anatomy course and lab at the University of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark.

The book focuses on the four students who work at the same lab table and upon Lewis, the cadaver they have been provided to dissect. Despite the difficulty of learning to identify tissues, organs, veins and nerves, muscles and bones, they must also overcome their innate fear and resistance to dissect a fellow human. To make it easier for them, the identity of the cadaver isn't given to the students. However, readers are introduced to Lewis and learn about his life and personality and the human qualities and characteristics that made him unique and special, more than merely a lab subject. Even though the students don't know the specifics about Lewis, most seem to develop a profound respect for the person who has been so generous by donating his body to science. In fact, by the end of the semester, each student has developed a personal relationship and enduring memories of their experiences with Lewis, culminating in a formalized good-bye to this special person.

For the reader, this unique book provides insight into the rigors of medical school and creates a different perspective on the meaning of "donating your body to science". It also traces the origins and history of dissection and of the illustrations used in the ATLAS OF HUMAN ANATOMY and GRANT'S DISSECTOR. Most importantly, BODY OF KNOWLEDGE helps the reader gain an understanding and respect for the generous people who donate their bodies so others can learn. For those reasons this book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Focuses on four medical students who enter an anatomy class, November 8, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor (Hardcover)

Most students finish any experimentation with physiology with a high school biology course: Body Of Knowledge focuses on four medical students who enter an anatomy class in which they must dissect a human cadaver. Narration of these students' school lives and challenges blend with personal histories and accounts of what it takes to dissect a human body in this revealing account.