Anatomy and Physiology [Hardcover]

On the whole I have found this to be an excellent book. The illustrations are fantastic, the text is clear and easy to read, and the font is relatively large (!). I have found some of the descriptions/explanations to be inadequate, but using the lab manual and the online resources have clarified all of the concepts that I had questions about. In addition to the numerous illustrations, the book also contains electron and photo micrographs as well as photos of cadaver dissections which give a far more realistic idea of what the anatomical features actually look like. The book also contains photos of things like tumors and skin diseases and includes "clinical applications." The chapters are arranged as follows:

1. Major Themes of Anatomy and Physiology
2. The Chemistry of Life
3. Cellular Form and Function
4. Genetics and Cellular Function
5. Histology
6. The Integumentary System
7. Bone Tissue
8. The Skeletal System
9. Joints
10. The Muscular System
11. Muscular Tissue
12. Nervous Tissue
13. The Spinal Cord, Spinal Nerves, and Somatic Reflexes
14. The Brain and Cranial Nerves
15. The Autonomic Nervous System and Visceral Reflexes
16. Sense Organs
17. The Endocrine System
18. The Circulatory System: The Blood
19. The Circulatory System: The Heart
20. The Cirulatory System: Blood Vessels and Circulation
21. The Lymphatic and Immune Systems
22. The Respiratory System
23. The Urinary System
24. Water, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balance
25. The Digestive System
26. Nutrition and Metabolism
27. The Male Reproductive System
28. The Female Reproductive System
29. Human Development

Also, my professor has compared the fourth and the fifth editions (both the textbook and lab manual) and said that there are only minor changes. In addition, there are students in the class who have used the fourth edition without a problem.

I bought this book on Amazon for my college classes, because they had the cheapest "new book" price that I could find. This book is great. The pictures and diagrams throughout the book are superior! I haven't even started my class yet, and I can't help but flip through this book looking at what all it has to offer. I am very excited to be using it this year.

If you are a college student and need this particular book for class, the only thing I recommend is making sure you get the right book listed for your class. This one is the Fifth Edition, Copyright 10 of Saladin's books and it is the US Version (not international). I didn't know that there were different versions until my husband pointed it out to me.

Let me first say this book is great.. Everything is explained well and the illustrations are amazing.

But seriously, can you make the questions actually be a test of my knowledge not an attempt to trick the student.....This goes for EVERYTHING, the "think about it questions", the "image questions" and the "end of chapter" questions. Even the "Student study guide" (which is 60$ extra) is filled with these puzzling questions.(not that they're impossible, just really odd questions)

If your teacher uses the "Testbank" that is supplied by the author !BEWARE! There are so many questions that will leave you scratching your head. Once you think you fully understand the material and then BAM a critical analogy question about the last sentence of one of the image captions. Fully confident about the exam and then BAM an analytical thought question referencing chapter 4 (when you are in chapter 13) covering that last sentence you didn't pay much attention to.

Most of the questions he(the author) ask want us to recall obsolete facts that have nothing to do with the "learning objectives" thus not really testing our knowledge of the big concepts.