McMurtrie's Human Anatomy Coloring Book: A Systemic Approach to the Study of the Human Body: Thirteen Systems

Arrived on time Good book

Most people will be familiar with the Wynn Kapit and Lawrence M. Elson "Anatomy Coloring Book" which has been around for a while now, and has inspired several spin-offs and knock-offs from various publishers. While that book is very good, this offering from Hogin McMurtrie is my personal favorite i the category. Unlike the Kapit/Elson book, McMurtrie's book is a complete course in anatomy. He begins with basic orientation, general anaomical terminology, and then progresses onto a systematic outline of the various body systems. When I first opened the book, I was initially surprised by how thorough it was. One thing you will notice is, there is a whole lot more TEXT in this book, compared with others of its type. The author takes his time to go through and describe the function and positioning of each example. What's more, there is a thorough treatment of lever systems, the bundling of muscle fibers, and joints unlike anything I have ever seen before in any other book. The one major problem with this book, however, is that, while the diagrams are beautiful in their own right, one gets the sense that this was not intended to be a coloring book at all. The benefit of the Kapit/Elson volume is that it focuses specifically on the color-association. With this book, coloring seems to be somewhat of an afterthough. As a result, the diagrams tend to be a little too detailed for their own good, making coloring a bit of an effort. What's more, the binding is sturdy, but very stiff - the book does not lie flat at all, like the newer edition of the Kapit/Elson. That said, I still highly recommend this book for those who want a more through treatment than the typical coloring book. For beginners, however, the Kapit/Elson edition might be the better choice, at least to begin with.

Not the prototypical anatomies with crayolas... Very thorough and detailed guide, especially well laid out. An excellent primer before a course in A & P at any level. The plates were of such detail that I didn't think to color them, but found myself engrossed in study. Caveat: the plates are not consistently the best for coloring, due to the use of shading for detail and depth. I don't regret that, as I compared it to several others available. I bought this in-store for the practical examples and explanations for joint types, overview of systems, etc. Good 'brass tacks' guide and a nice, clean, detailed one to supplement other texts. BTW, Liked how the text referred to what color types I am to use. Perhaps the authors were being mnemonically pedagogical. Perhaps.