Customer Reviews
WHAT A FABULOUS MACHINE WE ARE!!! - By: Adam Jackson, 30 Aug 2008 
A beautiful book, VERY informative, with state of the art illustrations & interesting text, & clear & concise.
Very comprehensive, & also detailed - but not to the point where one needs a PHD!
Reallly good as reference, or as a book for pleasure!
A very informative book on the body - By: M. Eagle, 14 Aug 2008 To start with I would like to clear up a comment a previous reviewer said about misinformation in this book. I was surprised to think a book written by medical people could get something supposedly so wrong. Having done some research of my own I have found that saliva can contain the HIV virus, not always & in very smalll amounts, usuallly fragmented RNA. The book didnt mention transmission by saliva, just that bodily fluids such as saliva can contain the virus. The reason HIV isnt transmitted through saliva is that there are enzymes in saliva that are reported to break down the viral RNA.
Now that has been cleared up I can say that the book is a great reference source for students, school children, medical people or anyone with an interest in human biology. There are plenty of well detailed pictures that go along way towards explaining how the body works along with text explanantions. This is further enhanced by the DVD-ROM which alllows you to move your mouse cursor over different areas of the body to tell you what they are. I was particularly impressed with the muscular system as pointing your cursor at each muscle not only gave their name but what effect they had on movement.
There are a few animations on the DVD-ROM that look at a nerve impulse, beating heart, immune response & conception. I felt a voice over narrative would have finished these off better.
To summarise this book is by no means an exhaustive look at alll body functions but is good at explaining alll the basics alongside some great looking diagrams. As an aside & like others have said, the dust jacket of the book is quite clever.
Brilliant book with a great price - By: Jaimie Oldham, 15 Jun 2008 At the price of this book is the level of detail is unmatched. Diagrams are clear & engaging to help you understand & the detail is quite in depth, though not completely thorough. The approach & layout is also very good, with information about every major system in the body, including how it works followed by common problems. One slight problem is it doesn't help with medicine to much as it does not give remedies to problems, only what the problem is & how it affects the system & person. A great read for anyone interested in the body & reccommended fully!
You may well be disappointed with accompanying DVD-Rom - By: Avid Reader, 11 Mar 2008 
I purchased this book recently & the book itself is lavishly illustrated. In fact the illustrations are great. One of the reasons that I wanted the book was the accompanying DVD, but that is a major disappointment. It will not play at alll on my computer (where I wanted to view it from). Windows Media Player comes up with error message CooD1199, "Cannot read the file". Additionallly another error code 80040265. The DVD rom will not play on a Daewoo player that plays alll other discs in my collection. When I go to play the DVD on a portable DVD/TV/Video player - it will only show 4 mpeg movies.
It's a fine book, but the DVD may disappoint you. It is frustrating not being able to access what is describe on the dustjacket of the book as "A spectacular DVD-Rom adds an extra dimension to the book, with dramatic, state-of-the-art animations & fully-interactive renderings of each body system."
Brilliant, clear, concise, a must have! - By: A. Pedliham, 14 Feb 2008 I have found this book to be one of the best human body books around. DK have done it again with amazing illustrations, design & clear explanation. The process diagrams are excellent & the DVD attached to the book brings the described processes to life. It reallly does have everything from core anatomy to diseases plus a highly eye catching jacket!! - A must have in anyones book collection.
