The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy

( 6 )

Overview

“A wonderful writer, Bill Hayes tells the multi-layered story of the two extraordinary young men who produced the most famous medical text of all time - a turning point in medical history, and a continuing influence and inspiration for artists, doctors and anatomists a century and a half later. Part memoir, part biography, part guided tour into the marvels of the human body, The Anatomist deserves a place on every bookshelf. And if you do not already have a copy of Gray's Anatomy, Bill Hayes's remarkable ...

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The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy

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More About This Book

Overview

“A wonderful writer, Bill Hayes tells the multi-layered story of the two extraordinary young men who produced the most famous medical text of all time - a turning point in medical history, and a continuing influence and inspiration for artists, doctors and anatomists a century and a half later. Part memoir, part biography, part guided tour into the marvels of the human body, The Anatomist deserves a place on every bookshelf. And if you do not already have a copy of Gray's Anatomy, Bill Hayes's remarkable account will surely inspire you to get one.” - Oliver Sacks, author and neurologist

“All laud and honor to Hayes. In perusing the body's 650 muscles and 206 bones, he has made the case that we are . . . 'fearfully and wonderfully made.'”—The Washington Post

“Prose both lucid and arrestingly beautiful.”—Publishers Weekly

The classic medical text known as Gray's Anatomy is one of the most famous books ever created. In this masterly work of creative nonfiction, Bill Hayes uncovers the extraordinary lives of the seminal volume's author and illustrator while providing a “scalpel's-eye” view into the ingenuity of the human body.

Bill Hayes is the best-selling author of Sleep Demons and Five Quarts.

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Editorial Reviews

Louis Bayard
To enter into the proper spirit, Hayes spent a year taking gross anatomy classes at the University of California-San Francisco, and his descriptions of the experience evoke the legacy of Gray and Carter more forcefully than any dusty diary could.
—The Washington Post
D. T. Max
It's [his] gentle, inquiring approach that finally binds Hayes's somewhat disjointed Anatomy together. I wanted to hear a bit about, say, the "resurrection men" whose job it was to supply doctors up until Gray's era with fresh corpses often stolen from graveyards. But that is not Hayes's style. When we turn green, he is there to remind us to calm down. Traditionally, anatomy professors have left their mortal remains to the lab. One suspects that when his time comes, Hayes will join their ranks and this engaging book will not be his only tribute to the profession.
—The New York Times
Kirkus Reviews
Science writer Hayes (Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood, 2005, etc.) combines a you-are-there account with interesting biographical details about the men who put the human body on the map. The map is Gray's Anatomy, the reference work, originally titled Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical, used by generations of medical students since its first edition was published in 1858. Curious to know more about the brilliant teacher who had the revolutionary idea of writing an anatomy text to assist surgeons, the author learned that there wasn't much to tell: Henry Gray died young and horribly of smallpox. The meticulous illustrator of Gray's text, however, had a long, extraordinary life, and Hayes found a trove of diaries and letters to flesh it out. Henry Vandyke Carter, a few years younger than Gray, was a diffident figure, confident in his drawing skills but given to dark moods, self-blame and anxieties about religious faith. Nevertheless, the two Henrys worked well together and produced to glowing acclaim a revolutionary volume. Gray did well financially, but many of Carter's duties were unpaid. He finally moved to Bombay, where he conducted research, taught anatomy and practiced medicine. His exemplary career was blighted by a scandalous love affair with a woman who bore him a child. Hayes unfolds a Hollywood-like plot, complete with a (sort-of) happy ending. Interspersed with this story, the author relates his personal experiences in gross-anatomy classes, conveying a sense of wonder at the beauty and complexity of the human body and the evolutionary compromises that have shaped it. No dull required course here-a vivid tale populated with flesh-and-blood characters, from thetwo Henrys to the cadavers themselves. Agent: Wendy Weil/Wendy Weil Agency
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780345456892
  • Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  • Publication date: 12/26/2007
  • Pages: 272
  • Sales rank: 685,335
  • Product dimensions: 5.89 (w) x 8.29 (h) x 0.87 (d)

Meet the Author


Bill Hayes is the author of the national bestseller "Sleep Demons: An Insomniac's Memoir" and "Five Quarts: A Personal and Natural History of Blood." His work has been published in The New York Times Magazine and Details, among other publications. He has also been featured on many NPR programs as well as the Discovery Health Channel.
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 6 )
Rating Distribution

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(3)

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Sort by: Showing 1 – 7 of 6 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 16, 2008

    Fun and thoughtful (in a journalistic way)

    This book was fun. It isn't really about Gray, but mostly about a combination of the experience of the author (Bill Hayes) while studying anatomy at UCSF and the life of H.V. Carter, the often-overlooked illustrator of Gray's Anatomy (the binding on the book originally read: Gray Anatomy Carter) Recommended for semi-light semi-science reading!

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted March 26, 2009

    I Also Recommend:

    The BFG
    Crooked

    Fun stuff about Anatomists

    I thought The Anatomist was very enjoyable. It doesn't have very much information about Gray in it, but a lot of information about the illustrator of Gray's Anatomy named Henry Carter. Most of the book is Hayes explaining what information he got out of Carter's journal. But what made the book interesting is how he was able to participate in some lab classes with medical students. They would operate on real bodies from people who donated them for learning. I liked learning the history of Anatomy and what anatomists believed they could get information from at the time and why they couldn't just examine a human body. I also found it fascinating that there are places in my body with names that I will probably never be able to pronounce.
    My first instinct was that I was going to read a book about a man who made extraordinary discoveries about the human body and how it operates but it turns out that it was only about a man with extraordinary talent for Anatomy and he and his best friend was able too write a book with very liable information. Gray's Anatomy became one of the most popular books for students and the logic in it is still undeniable today.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Posted March 28, 2012

    An interesting story by a talented writer. It doesn't get any be

    An interesting story by a talented writer. It doesn't get any better than that.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

  • Anonymous

    Posted June 5, 2012

    :)

    Awesome

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 21, 2010

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted February 15, 2013

    No text was provided for this review.

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 1, 2011

    No text was provided for this review.

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