This is an excellent anatomical atlas of the human body, lushly visualized through large, full-color medical illustrations (not photographs). It’s organized by 11 functional systems (e.g. skeletal, muscular, cardiovascular, reproductive), each section beginning with a system overview and then delving deeper -- in Dorling Kindersley (DK) style, meaning mostly images and minimal text. That said -- "functional systems" -- keep in mind that this is a book on anatomy (structure), not physiology (function), and it's geared to a lay (vs. a health professional) audience.

I have a special interest in the digestive system so I turned to that section first, and was discouraged that the first page I read defined the appendix as a “dead-end tube attached to the last part of the large intestine, with no function in modern humans.” Actually, it’s attached to the first part of the large intestine, and its function is unknown but thought to be involved in the immune system. Both of those errors are corrected on a subsequent page, but that put me on high alert for other errors; I’m happy to report that I didn’t find more.

An Index and a significant Glossary complete the book. The illustrations are never morbid; rather, they inspire profound awe at how fabulously everything comes together. An excellent resource.

*NOTE for readers who have other anatomy books and don’t want to duplicate: the cover and copyright pages note that this book’s content was previously published in “The Complete Human Body.”

(Review based on a copy of the book provided by the publisher.) ( )