Customer Reviews

Fundamentals of Physiology: A Human Perspective (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This text was informative for the student just begining their anatomy and physiology education. However I believe it was put to best use when combined with another anatomy text (i.e.Tortora's Principles of Human Anatomy). These two texts are a powerhouse of information. They play well off of eachother. Where Tortora lacks in technical explanation and precise description Sherwood excells. Where Sherwood fails in graphic visual description Tortora more than makes up the difference. As a visual learner it was difficult to fully grasp certain concepts without another text to refer to. I believe for someone who learns best from verbal description this book would be incredibly beneficial. I used this text in a community college, pre-nursing, anatomy and physiology course and although it was helpful, it provided more of a complete picture when combined with the other text (Tortora). Overall I did find it more helpful as a reference resource than a teaching tool.

Underlying the broad study of physiology lies several important principles; unless these are appreciated, studying physiology can prove to be difficult, time-consuming, and ultimately an experience you'd rather forget.

Often in the hope of gaining a complete understanding of physiology, students will make the mistake of trying to attack the bigger/detailed texts such as guyton, ganong, and berne& levy. Unfortunately these books (particularly the latter two) are quite advanced and detailed, possessing a lot of minutiae. These books are useful for postgrads in science or for those sitting medical specialty exams. What you need if you're starting out in physiology is a book that clearly emphasises the principles, and avoids swamping you with detail that will quickly erase your appreciation of the big picture (your examiners will reward such perspective, and not the regurgitation of random facts! - the same is true for all areas of study). Sherwood does an amazing job of providing this information at just the right level for the beginner, laying down a solid foundation for further learning. I recommend using this as a primary text and consulting the other heavy weights for the fine print if your course syllabus (or thirst for knowledge!) requires this.

This is a very simple textbook. The content is clearly geared toward the beginner in biology, and the text could even be well-recieved and understood by nonscientists. That said, I think the book functions best (oddly) as material for upperclassmen in biology. The scarcity of detail - intended to make the book easier for the lay reader - actually serves the advanced student nicely by avoiding repitition of concepts already thoroughly covered in other courses. This is a physiology text which covers exactly that: physiology. It gets tiring after several years of schooling in biology to deal with all the overlap between classes (I cannot count the number of times I have had to memorize the reactions of the glycolytic pathway, for example), and this book avoids that. Overall, its a great rundown of the important concepts in human physiology, and would probably make a nice refresher for someone who took physiology in the distant past.

The book was in a very nice condition. Although I forgot to ask if it comes with a CD(which it didn't). But overall I am satisfied with my purchase.

This textbook was less than half the price that was offered in my university book store, so I jumped on buying it. It arrived within 5 days of ordering it, and appears to only have highlights in the first chapter. The rest of the book seems unmarked and in pretty good shape. The text itself is excellent for an intro to human physiology course, very easy language to understand, organized in a way that makes sense to the amateur human phys. student.

The author defines words as he goes, repeats concepts, has a great chapter summary for each chapter, the illustrations are really good, and there is even a CD-Rom to go with it! I found this text to be really thorough and interesting, without being too detailed and needlessly complex. Highly recommend.

The book arrived early and in perfect condition. thanks to the seller. I would buy from this buyer again..

It is a well written book and fairly easy to understand the wording and diagrams. If you are taking a physiology class I would definately consider getting this book.

Product had lots of writing as well as highlighting. Could not read some parts. For most part in ok quality but was advertised as being in very good quality.

In retrospect, I wish I had hung on to this book. It is a great book with a nice companion CD. It is very thorough and well written. Now as a nursing student, I would like to refer back to it as I know it very well. Oh well... next time!