Through the insightful journal entries of 11 first year medical students and the vivid photographs by Meryl Levin, Anatomy of Anatomy allows us to attend Gross Anatomy class. What we find there is far more that tissue and bone. As someone not involved with medical education, I was fascinated by how the dissection of their cadavers heightened the students' awareness of every day life and by the openness of their writings. After completing the hand and wrist dissection, Rajiv picks up his daughter from school. He writes:" Her hand is soft and warm despite the January cold. This is what life feels like, I say to myself. I have learned something about the human touch. I will never hold someone's hand the same, old, ignorant way again." These simple, human connections occur throughout the book as the students and reader confront issues of the living and the dead.
Clearly, a must-read for all medical students, their family members, and professors. And for the rest of us? A compelling glimpse into the educational process that shapes those who will be treating us in the future.
