A.D.A.M. Student Atlas of Anatomy Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not a medical professional or studying to be one. I do have a body, however, so this atlas did not seem altogether outside my interest.

So what does A.D.A.M. stand for? I saw on the back cover that the domain name "adam.com" was associated with this book so I went to the web site "www.adam.com. There in the F.A.Q. I learned that "A.D.A.M. is an acronym for Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine". Clever, isn't it? The company A.D.A.M. Inc. developed what it claims to be the world's first "digital human" (aka Adam) for interactive anatomy learning. There's evidentially a CD available but along with the book what I've received apparently is a free one year online subscription to a cool anatomy application.

I never looked at any other anatomy books so I can't compare. If this is indeed elementary than I can't imagine what an advanced anatomy atlas looks likes. In order to feel I was doing a thorough review, I did at least glance at every plate (page). Other than some X-Rays, it's all color. Overwhelming detail for me but it seems to be well-laid out and with effective use of color so I'm sure a medical student would appreciate the detail ... and hopefully by the time they finished training not feel overwhelmed by the detail - especially the surgeons!

I spent more time on those parts of the body that were of more interest to me, for what that's worth: I'm going to need doctors in any event. But I was so impressed that any doctor would be learning all this, meaning I was so impressed just how much is inside my body, I've honestly never seen it at all once and from some many views as this. Muscles, arteries, veins, nerves, bones, you name it (if you can, the names are mostly a mouthful). It made me thankful for my doctors and for medical scientists in general. It also gave me an incredible feeling of appreciation of just what might be going on inside of me right now - and this (anatomy) is just the static presentation and hardly fine-grained. When you add to this, as the preface of the book mentions, such dynamics as celluar, sub-celluar, molecular and biochemical processes that even first-year medical students are taught, how not to appreciate anyone willing to take on this much for our benefit?

But then, when I got to the end of the book, I happened on the inside back cover to the one year free online subscription offer. I don't see that in the Product Description at Amazon but I do now see it in some of the user reviews. I've signed up and spent a little time at the online site, it complements the book well, it's fun to "play" and be able to seemale or female presentations of parts of the body, rotate views, click on parts to see the name of that part, see it in color if I choose, zoom in ... too bad I'm too old and too poor for medical school :-) Here I am right now looking at the "Anastomosing vein", I can adjust the depth to see deeper under the skin. To say it is impressive would be an understatement. I was impressed enough by the book but it is not as easy to "get into" something that isn't interactive. Now, as much as I choose to for the next year at least, I can online get to now my anatomy and supplement it by going to the book (which also includes the cadaver photographs and some X-rays).

My doctors may find out I have become a real pest! But at least how much is going on inside of me and how much many doctors, nurses and other medical personnel have done now and in the past so that I can lead a good life. Thanks be to people, to science, and to A.D.A.M. Inc.

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