A book about books that demonstrates the development and transmission of knowledge about the human body. Colin Slater's The Anatomists' Library is a visually rich chronology of the history of anatomy from the ancient world through to the present.

Divided into eras linked to specific time periods or key scientific breakthroughs, the reader journeys through the surviving writings and art works that display understandings of the human body. Highly detailed studies, artistically inspired tableaus and in later periods near photographic illustrations. Slater offers brief biographies of many important figures with an emphasis on their training, discoveries and contributions to anatomy. Alongside the entries, there are frequently excepts showing representative illustration prints, the title pages of the published work or portraits.

While predominately focused on Europe, Slater does take moments to include other geographic regions and their practices and understandings. Slater also does not shy from controversies that arose in the quest for knowledge such as the risks of being burned alive for disagreeing with the church or difficulties in acquiring bodies leading to the illegal 'resurrection' industry. It clearly asks the reader to consider the cost human cost of learning our our interiors. In general the bulk of the book looks to the centuries of greatest discovery, the Renaissance to the Age of Industrialization.

Highly recommended for scholars or readers of the history of medicine, also of interest to librarians or those researching the distribution of knowledge.

*I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

This is an interesting and fun reference / coffee table type book. As a medical student, this was fun to skim between classes, though I didn't get to read it as in-depth as I might have liked before my file expired. This is probably most interesting to someone with some amount of science / healthcare background, or with an interest in the history of medicine.

A very useful and beautifully illustrated collection of anatomical books from across six centuries. Many thanks for the read.

The Anatomist's Library by Colin Salter is a tour through medical history. Divided into six chapters, Salter explores medical texts from the ancient world of Galen and Hippocrates to today's modern world.

The book is full of beautiful illustrations, primarily with informative captions, making for engaging reading. It was quite fascinating to see the evolution of medical knowledge. And some of these pics are pretty wild! Overall, Salter's The Anatomist's Library is perfect for aspiring anatomists, medical personnel, and even for students of art history.

***Many thanks to Netgalley & Quarto for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Book reviews are new to this site, and in the back to school tradition of September, I decided to kick things of with some nonfiction reviews.

I appreciate receiving ARC copies from NetGalley in exchange for honest reviews.

Goth

A follow up to Lol Tolhurst’s 2016 biography Cured, Goth is a more expansive look at the music and literary influences of the goth subculture. I really appreciates how this book also offers a window into how those looking for music outside the mainstream found it in a pre-internet world.

Perfect for music buffs, poets, and anyone interested in the goth sub-culture.

Goth will be released September 26th

The League of Lady Poisoners

Lisa Perrin’s volume is a beautifully illustrated compendium of woman who have welded poison throughout history. A highlight for me was how this book’s chapters are organized by the various motives of the titular lady poisoners, as it gives more context and nuance to their stories.

A great fall follow up to a summer of Barbenheimer, this book is perfect for true crime fans, feminists, and dark history enthusiasts.

The League of Lady Poisoners will be released September 19th.

The Anatomist’s Library

Colin Salter’s compilation of medical books spans six centuries and and is brimming with beautiful illustrations. I had no idea what to expect going into this book, and was happy to find some familiar names (da Vinci!) and again, all of the gorgeous images.

Perfect for art lovers, history buffs, and researching writers.

The Anatomist’s Library is available now.

Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People

The fourth book published by Lindsey C Gibson, this effort is designed to be a workbook used in conjunction with talk therapy. I really appreciated that Lindsey dedicates space to redefine the terms she uses despite this book being part of a series, and the thoughtful questions at the end of each chapter.

A helpful guide for anyone dealing with difficult people in their lives.

Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People is available now.

The Death Doula’s Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared

A death literacy advocate, Francesca Arnoldy’s thoughtful book is designed assist readers in not only preparing for end of life arrangements, but fostering self-awareness and compassion. I found her discussion points thought provoking and designed help readers live a balanced life while preparing for the inevitable.

Any reader can benefit from this book.

The Death Doula’s Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared is available now.

It's a great book even without any verbiage. There is an obvious deep dive into extant illustrations faithfully rendered from past prints which show the progression of knowledge about the human body through time. I geek history and work with damaged human bodies, so of course I appreciate the efforts of the author/historian and happy that he did all the work!
I requested and received an EARC on Adobe Digital Editions from Quarto Publishing Group/Ivy Press
via NetGalley. Thank you!

Important note about my rating below**
I guarantee that you will learn something new from this book and that you will see illustrations you've never seen before, and you'll definitely notice the shifting sands of time and history, rise and fall off cultures and morality.
Unless I missed it, there's not much critique/comment about the differences between the way women's bodies are portrayed vs men's, especially when it comes to reproductive organs/sex characteristics. I've previously read that the clitoris hadn't been identified in medical illustrations and yet I see it popping up on several early illustrations (without comment from the author), so that's piqued my interest. Note that if you're looking for 20th century illustrations, you won't find much here.

**
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for access to a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review, but unfortunately, I could only skim it before archiving. The illustrations alone are worth the price of admission, though I'm not entirely convinced of the author's credentials & by the writing. So please take my 4* review with a grain of salt.

✨E-Arc provided by the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.✨

- 'Looking in detail at human anatomy; I'm always left with two practically irreconcilable thoughts: our bodies are wonderful, intricate masterpieces; and then they are cobbled-together, rag-bag, sometimes clunking machines.'

Ive never really read much non fiction like this, so it was a big step outside my comfort zone and I’m happy for it! It was a fascinating little romp through the science of the human body.

I had to take an Art History class (along with a music class) to fulfil undergraduate requirements. The art class required that we write a short paper about an artist. Because I was interested in anatomic artwork, I chose Andreas Vesalius, who really wasn’t an artist, but an anatomy professor at the University of Padua.

Vesalius’ monumental 1543 De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (“On the Fabric of the Human Body in Seven Books”) was a groundbreaking work of human anatomy. I don’t recall my art history teacher rejecting my request and subsequent paper on Vesalius and I likely received a high mark (given that I received an “A” for the course).

I love anatomical artwork. I own the complete set of books published by Ciba-Geigy of the works of Dr. Frank Netter (known as the “Green Books”). Dr. Netter’s illustrations, to me, represent the pinnacle of medical illustrations.

And now I come to this book, The Anatomists' Library—The Books that Unlocked the Secrets of the Human Body but conspicuous by its absence is any exploration of medical art of the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. To leave out any mention of Netter’s work is criminal as he created over 4,000 illustrations, many of them included in the Ciba-Geigy tomes that I mentioned above.

This isn’t to say that this isn’t an excellent book. In fact, the author does a masterful job of explaining the history behind the illustrations that are included in the book.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in anatomical art prior to the Twentieth Century.

4/5 stars

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

Colin Salter's "The Anatomists' Library" is a fascinating chronological collection of the best anatomy books from the last six centuries, demonstrating to the reader the evolution of medical knowledge and illustrated publishing.

Interesting points made in the text that snagged my attention:
1. books are like time capsules - they preserve the knowledge and attitudes/mores of their age
2. to know anatomy is to know our real selves

What one can expect to learn from this book:
1. what we view as modern science of anatomy began in the 16th century
2, anatomy has been taught in art schools since the Renaissance
3. earliest written texts about anatomy date back 5000 years (amazing!!)
4. the stories of some famous figures and their roles in the development of the study of anatomy, i.e, Imhotep; Hippocrates; Galen; Avicenna; Leonardo da Vinci; Henry Gray; Franz Joseph Gall; Robert Hooke; William Cowper
5. macroscopic understanding of anatomy was virtually complete by the end of the 19th century
6. at the start of the 20th century, the work of the 18th century pioneers regarding the microscope is now the driving force behind medical research
7. how the steady march of technological progress in the 20th and 21st centuries has made present society far more literate scientifically than before

One will also enjoy the abundant illustrations that show the evolving knowledge about the human body and what it looks like inside. The images go from being crude to becoming extremely detailed. I particularly enjoyed the images dating from the Renaissance to the end of the 1800s, probably because that span is my favorite time period in history.

The book concludes by pointing out the fact that our fascination continues on, as evidenced by the abundance of books (both academic and secular), study aids, and a plethora of medical shows (both fictional and factual).

Overall, an interesting book for anyone interested in history and medicine and art. Thanks to Quarto Publishing - Ivy Press and NetGalley for this arc, which I voluntarily read and reviewed.

I loved this book. The writing is crisp and clear. The images are stunning. Not only is this a great book to read, it would make a great gift for anyone interested in the history of books or in the history of medicine. Thank you to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Ivy Press for the digital review copy.

The Anatomists' Library by Colin Salter is an enjoyable survey of anatomical books from the 15th century to the 21st century. I found it interesting both for the ways that the human body has been understood through sixth centuries and also the way that the body has been illustrated. This book is as much a history of the book as it isa history of anatomy. I thought I would engage with it as a reference book, flipping between different sections depending on what caught my eye, but the narrative was compelling and I read it straight through. I will certainly purchase a copy for my library as we have a small collection of rare books related to anatomy and this will help me with collection development.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC; all opinions expressed are my own.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I was completely drawn into the topic and could not stop reading it.

Arc netgalley review

This book was so over whelming in the best kind of way. The author didn’t miss a thing, from the content to the photography content to support everything. I learned so much from this book. Highly recommend this to anyone who collects this content or interest in this topic.

If you are like me, and when you read non fiction you like to know who is writing it, please find information about the author here: www.Colinsalter.co.uk

It seems Colin is a full time non fiction writer, when immediately reading the book I did not know this. If you are like me and want to know on what authority the author stands when telling you this information, please read below.

"I've been a full time non-fiction writer and researcher since 2006. Click on the subject areas above to see recent commissions. I write on a wide range of topics, and I've never missed a deadline. My strength is my ability to research a given subject thoroughly and quickly, and to present it clearly and entertainingly for the general reader.
I am based in Edinburgh, ten minutes walk away from the National Library of Scotland, one of Britian's six legal deposit libraries with access to a vast body of research material. Edinburgh has a very active literary scene thanks to its status as UNESCO's first ever City of Literature. For four years 2012-16 I was the co-ordinator of Stranger Than Fiction, an Edinburgh non-fiction writers' group which meets monthly for mutual support and feedback on current projects."

The book overall was informative, and the illustrations were great. A fascinating read and would suit anybody with an interest in history, culture or anatomy.