Human Physiology: A Very Short Introduction by Jamie A. Davies

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS:
-Print: Paperback only- COPYRIGHT: August 3, 2021; ; ISBN: 978-0198869887; PUBLISHER: ‎ Oxford University Press; LENGTH: 168 pages
-Digital: COPYRIGHT: May 27, 2021; ISBN: 0198869886; PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press; LENGTH: 168 pages; FILE SIZE: 3051 KB
*Audio: COPYRIGHT: September 27, 2021; PUBLISHER: Tantor Media, Inc.; DURATION: Approx. 4 hours; Unabridged (Libby LAPL MP3)

SERIES: Very Short Introductions

SUMMARY/ EVALUATION:
Selection: After reading a little about Anatomy, it seemed prudent to read a little about Physiology
About: How the body works.
Liked: The book is well organized; it covers a lot while being brief.
Disliked: The narration was a little challenging to adjust to.
Overall: It was fascinating and educational.

AUTHOR: (From Wikipedia)
Jamie A Davies : “Jamie A. Davies is a British scientist, Professor of Experimental Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, and leader of a laboratory in its Centre for Integrative Physiology.[1] He works in the fields of Developmental biology, Synthetic biology, and Tissue engineering. He is also Principal Investigator for the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology database.”

NARRATOR: (From Tanto Media)
Bruce Mann: “Bruce Mann is an award-winning voice artist and actor. He was born in the UK and now lives in California. His awards include several AudioFile Earphones Awards, two Audie nominations, and an AudioFile Excellence Award.
Bruce began his audiobook career in 2001 with a recording of the classic Red Badge of Courage. His audiobook highlights include Two Crafty Criminals by bestselling author Philip Pullman, Tales of the Peculiar by Ransom Riggs (with Simon Callow) and Equilateral by the award-winning Ken Kalfus. Of all his recordings, his personal favorite is the classic Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Bruce trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and has also studied with several eminent voice and acting teachers. In addition to his voice-over work, Bruce is also a busy theater and film actor and has appeared in theaters throughout the UK, Europe, and in the USA. He has featured on both British and American television and has appeared in several feature films. He has also directed and produced a variety of audiobooks by authors including George R. R. Martin, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman, Terry Brooks, Tanith Lee, and Janet Evanovich.
When not acting, Bruce is a keen musician, and has played Hammond Organ or bass guitar in many rock and blues bands. He is also a published songwriter with numerous credits. Bruce holds three degrees from the University of Cambridge, and more recently received his PhD. He is an experienced and skilled editor and proofreader of academic texts.‎”

GENRE: Nonfiction; Science; Medical

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Human Physiology; Energy; Homeostasis; Sensation; Reacting & Thinking; From Thought to Action; Defense; Reproduction

EXCERPT: (From Chapter 1)
“The scope of human physiology
Human physiology is the science of how the body works. As a science, physiology helps us to understand what our bodies are and to enrich our knowledge of what it is to be alive, of what it is to be human. As well as telling us how our bodies work, physiological knowledge is important to keeping them working in the event of injury or disease. Physiology is one of the four intellectual foundations of modern medicine, the others being anatomy, biochemistry, and pathology.
Anatomy and biochemistry focus on the material nature of the body, anatomy concerning itself with parts and their arrangements, and biochemistry with the molecules of life and how they interact. The subject matters of anatomy and biochemistry exist whether the body is living or freshly dead; that is why anatomists can do their research by examining cadavers and biochemists can perform useful analyses on liquefied extracts of tissues.
Physiologists, on the other hand, deal with processes that exist only in the living, because they work not so much on what body parts are, as on what they do. In that sense, physiology has a greater claim to being the science of life than any other field. Generally, physiology is taken to be the study of the workings of a healthy body, the processes associated with ill-health and disease being the province of pathology. The boundaries between these two subjects are often indistinct, especially when they consider the interaction between diseases and the natural defences of the body (Chapter 7). There are also very strong links between physiology and biochemistry, because the functions and systems that underlie physiological actions depend ultimately on the interactions between the chemicals of which living things are made. Similarly, many physiological processes work only because tissues exist in a precise anatomical arrangement, and anatomy and physiology can often be understood only together. There will be several examples of this later in this book. Physiology as a topic and as a method of working can be applied to any living organism and, while this book limits itself to human physiology, there are plenty of researchers who devote their lives to the physiology of trees or mushrooms or cuttlefish. In these organisms, too, they find much that is fascinating and important.”

RATING:
5 stars

STARTED READING – FINISHED READING
4/12/23 to 4/21/23 ( )