Customer Reviews

Vander's Human Physiology The Mechanisms of Body Function

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The best aspect of this text is the quality of the writing. The writers have a clear excitement about the subject, and for the most part, this makes reading the text pleasant rather than dry.

The book opens with an introduction to homeostasis and provides a theoretical backbone for the study of human physiology. The second chapter is the obligatory introduction to fundamental chemistry (atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, etc.) that seems to be in almost every basic science book. Chapters three, four, and five are typical of almost all texts about life - cell structure and function, proteins, metabolism, and chemical messengers.

It's not until chapter six, "Neuronal Signaling and the Structure of the Nervous System," that the text begins to move away from an introductory biology book. Chapter six serves as a model for the rest of the book and the central principle of physiology: The human body wants to be in balance, and there are competing chemical and electrical pathways fighting for and against this balance. The final chapter, which my professor skipped, is medically oriented. The student is asked to consider what they have learned and apply it to a case study narrative, to essentially diagnose a patient.

Throughout the text there are numerous figures, tables, key words, and end-of-chapter study guides (the guides are very helpful for organizing information when studying for a test). Yet the diverse presentation of information is a bit overwhelming sometimes. For example, some chapters have far too many bolded key words in a row, which can be distracting to read.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this text. There's a lot of information in this book, but if you take the time to read and reread the text, you'll have a very good understanding of basic human physiology.

Subjects of each chapter:
1. Homeostasis
2. Basic chemistry
3. Cell structure and function
4. Cell membranes
5. Chemical messengers
6. Nervous system
7. Sensory physiology
8. The brain
9. Muscle
10. Control of body movement
11. Endocrine system
12. Cardiovascular system
13. Respiratory system
14. Kidneys
15. Digestion
16. Metabolism
17. Reproduction
18. Defense mechanisms of the body
19. Clinical cases

I haven't had any exposure to biology-related topics for quite some time, but Vander's Physiology brings it back with enough depth and breadth to understand without getting lost in the details. This is not the most recent edition but still very useful for those of us not going much further in our study of physiology.

Book is what you need for any intro physiology class and goes even more in depth then my prof does

This is a really good book for an introduction to physiology. The book summarizes a lot of the main points into useful, condensed tables. Great book for college students.

Not an easy subject to begin with anyway...some great illustrations.....some are without explanation so you will be lost...especially the kreb cycle area....and too expensive. Why do texts books cost so darn much! Its crazy how much this book costs brand new!

This is a very good textbook. If you are a premed, this book is quite useful.

This book was required for my human anatomy and physiology course. This book in my opinion is much better than other books that I have use to help me understand medical physiology topics (and a large portion of the biology section for the MCAT). The online quizzes were excellent practice for my exams and I found that the book was much more helpful than the notes that were provided in class. Yes, there are some topics that are not as detail as I would have liked but there is no perfect book.

I used this book for a quantitative physiology class. While the class itself wasn't too good, the text was invaluable when studying and the information was presented well enough that I was able to pick things up even when they weren't covered in lecture (which is usually very difficult for me).

Its a text book so what can I say! The shipping was incredibly fast and it was packaged well. The contents of this paperback textbook was exactly like that of the hardcover book. I needed it for a 300 level physiology course, I got an 'A'. So all is well! I recommend this book and this seller to anyone! 5 stars :)
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I ordered a book and then realized later in the day after the order was already being processed that I needed a University specific custom version. I received a prompt and accommodating reply to my request to cancel the order.