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Dissection Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880 1930

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Looking into an avoided topic.
This is an interesting examination of a subject that I’d not read about, and one that I probably would not have chosen to pursue, except that the irreverence of the cover illustration attracted me and aroused my curiosity about this phase of medical training. Once I began to read the text I was quite caught up with the different aspects of this topic and how they have changed. Very thought provoking. Too bad that the picture quality is quite uneven.

5 Stars The quintessential book for everyone who wants to know about how doctors learn(ed) about the human body
This book is perfect for the research that I am doing on the history of medicine, the history of the body and the history of dissection. I have been reading the Flexner Report which relates the sad state of medicine in the early 20th century. Few medical schools were able to provide bodies for their students in order to learn about anatomy. I think that one must understand the exuberence in being able to overcome the taboos regarding death and nudity. These are the first students who were able to see what the books described. Many morgues have signs that say “here is the place where the dead teach the living.” This book has epigraphs that say “She lived for others and died for us.” From a social standpoint, the book is instructive: there are few female M.D. medical students. Other than the porter (who was probably the diener), most of the “negroes” are subjects of study. Now, look at pages 58 and 59. The University of Pennsylvania segregated dissecting teams.

I could write about this book all day but instead, I encourage others to get this book. In addition to the photographic value, if you are interested in the social history of medicine, or medical anthropology, this book is a must.

5 Stars Medicollectible
Enthralling and fascinating collection of photos that offers insight into a little known segment of medical history.

5 Stars Grotesque and Funny Souvenirs of Medical Initiation
If I could choose to take one class again from back in medical school, it would be an easy choice. I’d do gross anatomy again, the cadaver lab. It was in many ways the most interesting of the courses, learning about the details of the complex cosmos of innards that each one of us carries about. It was a social learning process; my cadaver partners and I were all new to medical school, and we were helping each other in taking apart our specimen, and exposing structures we had never before seen. It was certainly a rite of passage, an initiation that only upcoming doctors got, gaining arcane knowledge that few others needed (or wanted, for that matter). To that end, my gross anatomy lab, with around eighteen tables in it, each containing a tank of formaldehyde into which the cadaver could be lowered at the end of the day’s cutting, was a restricted area. No one except us medical students, and our instructors, were supposed to be in there. I did, one time, sneak my wife in, so that she could see where I was spending all that time. There was also a strict rule: there were never to be any cameras in the lab. As far as I know, there never were. Yet this was not always the case, as demonstrated by a strange, morbidly entertaining, and enlightening volume _Dissection: Photographs of a Rite of Passage in American Medicine 1880 – 1930_ (Blast Books) by John Harley Warner and James M. Edmonson. Both authors are medical historians, and Edmonson is curator of the Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum of Case Western Reserve University from which most of these photographs come. The pictures are not anatomical studies, but document students at work (and play) as well as giving visual demonstration of social attitudes within medical education at the time.

There are over a hundred photographs here, laid out in a glossy and handsome volume. Usually the photos were taken by the students themselves, or their professors. The pictures here show students not in candid activity, but posed and ready to be recorded. In groups, one student might have a big volume open, obviously reading about the current exploration, and perhaps reading aloud to the fellows around the table. The cadavers were stolen from graveyards or confiscated by the state because their “class, ethnicity, race, or poverty made them vulnerable to dissection.” Their status is indicated in the photographs in different ways. In only some of the photographs of dissected bodies is it possible to tell the race of the person on the table. In one of them, a slogan has been written on the table that indicates by offensive language that all of the cadaver’s racial group “smell alike to us”. Other tables have been chalked to indicate the sentiment, “He lived for others but died for us,” a phrase that seems to have been a standard for these young anatomists. Many of the photos display a disrespect for the cadaver (and Warner makes a correct analogy to lynching photos of the time) that is easily interpreted as racially motivated. Also, however, the photos display the sort of dark humor used by students who were not completely comfortable with what they were doing. A grinning skull atop a skeleton might be equipped with a pipe, or posed with a card-playing skeleton buddy. The most bizarre photos here are classic displays of humor trying to overcome anxiety. It seems that many students found relief and amusement by posing the partially dissected cadavers standing around a live student lying on the table: “A student’s dream.”

The photos here are strange souvenirs from a distant time. Dissection was even more important in their day than now, although experimental physiology and chemistry were making inroads into the beginning curriculum. Nowadays, not all medical schools have gross anatomy labs, with students learning from pre-dissected specimens or from computer-modeled cadavers. Within the traditional labs, the biggest change is the source of the cadavers. The disassembled bodies in the bizarre, funny, and grotesque pictures in this book belonged to people who never wanted to be there; cadavers now more often come from those who have specifically made the contribution of their own bodies so that future doctors can learn from them. There are rules now that the bodies must be treated with the respect due to the generous donors, but such rules must be superfluous to any medical student who understands the nature of the donation. However, some rules change and still remain the same: Edmonson writes that now, “Photography is expressly forbidden, and rules today often ban cell phones with cameras.”

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National Geographic The Photographs National Geographic Collectors Series

This stunning volume was the gift book of the year when it first published, and the images that grace its pages remain iconic. From the famous Afghan girl whose haunting green eyes stare out from the book’s cover, and her poignant story that captured the world’s interest, to award-winning photography culled from the Society’s vast archives, The Photographs offers readers an inside look at National Geographic and a sharp-eyed view of the world. The book showcases the skill and imagination of such notable Geographic photographers as David Doubilet, William Albert Allard, Sam Abell, Jim Stanfield, Jodi Cobb, Jim Brandenburg, David Alan Harvey, and many more. They share their techniques, as well as personal and colorful anecdotes about individual images and their adventures in the field—sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying, always vividly compelling. Author Leah Bendavid-Val writes about the photographers’ achievements from technical, journalistic, and artistic perspectives.

Five chapters cover core National Geographic themes—wildlife on land and water; cultures in the United States and around the world; and science, from astronomy to archaeology to the human senses. The photographs in each chapter capture rare moments in nature and the lives of animals, along with defining events in the lives of people everywhere. This exquisite collection is as elegant as it is timeless.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars It is what it is.
It’s a collection of National Geographic photos that were printed in previous issues. It is what you expect, fantastic. Interesting narrative laced throughout the book as well, about the history of the organization and its photojournalists. It may be hard to locate but well worth the money. Add it to your cart.

5 Stars Te quita el aliento, absolutamente increible
Pagina tras pagina, una experiencia, te hacer sentir, un gran libro, un trabajo sublime que uno amante de la fotografia no puede dejar pasar.

Lo recomiendo con lagrimas de felicidad

4 Stars Mesmerizing picture
The cover caught my attention. Always been impressed by this picture. The size of the book was small. I had not paid attention to that when I made the purchase.

4 Stars Manna on mulch
The strength of the photographs in National Geographic is that they are often gorgeously-shot and expertly composed by professionals who clearly know their craft. Their weakness is that their perfection sometimes masks a banality of subject matter and narrative, often sinking them beyond the level of illustration. “National Geographic: the Photographs” embodies both aspects of the magazine’s photography.

While more than a few photos barely rise above the snapshot level, most are thoughtfully (if a bit too artfully) composed, though a few are absolutely standouts. Steve McCurry’s haunting 1984 shot of Sharbat Gula, the green-eyed Afghan refugee girl, is the classic example. The girl’s haunted expression speaks volumes about the hardships she has experienced. The photo graces the book’s cover, while her updated portrait, shot 18 years later, adorns the back. Now a wife and mother, the same hauntedness appears in Gula’s eyes, now encased in a face grown older and wearier. Another standout — an overhead shot of camels traversing the wastes of Djibouti — is disconcerting until one recognizes the camera’s vantage point. The straightforward grace of some photos belies the difficulty with which they were taken. It takes only a second to flip past an underwater picture of an approaching hippo; but the photograph cannot capture the hours of patience and luck it took to take it.

“National Geographic: The Photographs” includes the expected pictures of wildlife, nature and human cultures from around the globe as well as several topical spreads — Spain, sleep, and the Titanic. The book’s large format helps many photos communicate the grandeur of their natural subjects. When the subject and composition coincide, the photographs are strikingly beautiful.

4 Stars Good Collection!
“The Photographs” provides an inside look at National Geographic’s (NG) award-winning photographs, the facts behind them, and the inside stories of those who took them. Three themes are depicted (using five chapters): Wildlife on Land and Underwater, Cultures Around the World, and Science.

The front cover is a 1984 photo of “the Afghan girl” – taken at a refugee camp in Pakistan, while the back cover is the same person 17 years later (incredible that she was found again), with children of her own and obviously worn from the hard years in between. However, she still has those haunting eyes that made the original photograph so famous.

Readers are also given a short history of NG’s use of new photography equipment as it became available – eg. replacing bulky b&w cameras having large tripods, grainy color, etc.

The book takes readers through exploring China before WWII, behind the scenes with John Paul II, into Australia to depict aborigines, the first published photo of a snow leopard, white wolves in Canada hunting musk ox calves, the Titanic, etc. around the world.

Unfortunately, the photos of U.S. culture are rather mundane and not nearly as impactful as the rest of the book.

Overall, however, there is a lot of good dialogue and photography.

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Drawings of Mucha 70 Works by Alphonse Maria Mucha Including 9 in Full Color

large-size illustrations trace Mucha’s skills as a draftsman over more than 40 years. Among the more famous examples are original plans and drawings for “The Seasons,” sketches for the Sarah Bernhardt poster, studies from Mucha’s stunning and innovative stylebooks, and a sketch for the St. Louis World’s Fair poster.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars A Brief but Decent Introduction to Brilliance
This affordable and brief work to the works of Alphonse Mucha offers an introduction to the artist. Includes some early works, preliminary drafts, and finished products. Useful for those who are studying technique–you can see how he drew (pencil–a few in ink). About 60 illustrations in all, 8 of these in color. I remain fascinated with Mucha’s perspectives on beauty. Very inspirational!

5 Stars What a joy to behold!
What charm & grace does the man bring forth! Its things like this that make life worth living and makes us all just that much better.

4 Stars Inside the mind of the artist
I appreciated this book as it gives a different perspective on Mucha’s works. Being mostly a collection of pencil drawn sketches, it lets you enter the creative process of the artist, while other books I own just present the finished work.

Really useful for who’d like to understand his approach to drawing.

4 Stars i want more
when i first picked it up it felt like a colouring book (cover, thickness and line style of mucha’s work). he’s the man and there’s some awesome drawings to study where you really get the feeling of his hand. but at only 70 drawings i’m still hungry for more.

5 Stars Mucha beautiful!
I am a porcelain artist and this book has been so inspirational. I think we should have heard more of this artist.

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Kara Walker My Complement My Enemy My Oppressor My Love

Kara Walker is among the most complex and prolific American artists of her generation. Over the past decade, she has gained international recognition for her room-sized tableaux, which depict historical narratives haunted by sexuality, violence and subjugation and are made using the paradoxically genteel eighteenth-century art of cut-paper silhouettes. Set in the antebellum American South, Walker’s compositions play off of stereotypes to portray, often grotesquely, life on the plantation, where masters, mistresses and slave men, women and children enact a subverted version of the past in an attempt to reconfigure their status and representation. Over the years, the artist has used drawing, painting, colored-light projections, writing, shadow puppetry, and, most recently, film animation to narrate her tales of romance, sadism, oppression and liberation. Her scenarios thwart conventional readings of a cohesive national history and expose the collective, and ongoing, psychological injury caused by the tragic legacy of slavery. Deploying an acidic sense of humor, Walker examines the dialectics of pleasure and danger, guilt and fulfillment, desire and fear, race and class. This landmark publication, which is sure to win international design awards, accompanies Walker’s first major American museum survey. It features critical essays by Philippe Vergne, Sander L. Gilman, Thomas McEvilley, Robert Storr and Kevin Young, as well as an illustrated lexicon of recurring themes and motifs in the artist’s most influential installations by Yasmil Raymond, more than 200 full-color images, an extensive exhibition history and bibliography, and a 36-page insert by the artist.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Kara Walker Genius
Kara Walker is the artist who has something to say in every medium. First I have viewed her sensational installations which include her trademark silouhettes which remind me of huge versions of cameos from time gone by. Second her messages are loud clear with a poetic flow . She translates her ideas about abused women,slavery,possession and if possible redemption into paper cut outs which can fill a room along with paintings drawings film and text. Her book ebodies the foundation of these images. I highly recommend it.

5 Stars Kara Walker , Woman, Artist and Mac Arthur Genius
Kara Walker’s Art currently exhibited at the UCLA Hammer Museum is so powerful I often think about the Art exhibit during my day it has become my companion,a stimulating and welcomed friend I recommed this book and urge all within a hundred miles of Los Angeles to visit the Hammer before June 8,2008

5 Stars how do we read race
Kara Walker’s work has many suggestions,social; ones where you need some “code” to interpret what you see, how can you come to see eyes like yours; what you see; we come to comprehend the montrous system of slavery that supported the USA for on-going decades; her approach utilization of the ante-bellum South with silhouttes often surreal imagery,with odd icon as Marcus Garvey running with an ax,Return?, Return!?We need liberation in any form;Walker’s narrative is intentionally distanced,like the subject itself;as if race can only seen, by not really being seen; white man’s narrative discourse is the only one Walker seems to be saying;So no one can even tell their own story; Do we simply need more enlightenment? I don’t think that will do it; hypocrisy will still reign supreme, the system needs it;here there are events you can’t come to believe,a woman vomiting, a mother looking up the anus of her child or someone else’s child abandoned; yet as you walk through this ir-reality are you in it,Are you awake now,the

plantations that American still visit,visit in horror, or what? or do you simply want the “Dream” to continue; When do we get back to profit-taking? Her work still has a narrative discourse, you come to read it,yet you still don’t understand; it is within a post-modern subject; spatiality is utilized to scatter the subject, forwards and backwards in his/herstory, but a storyline with no beginning or end, much like current reality with odd assortments of slaveries occuring,smuggled immigrant workers, “maquil” workers, sex slave trade; its all with us,next door; people still need to be saved from imperial systems of globalizations,concrete walls and pre-emptive wars.Do we still look at “Ol’ Hannah” through a lens of what, our own existence, contemplating the self-conceit of our own portfolios now stolen by Wall Street;

the issue of race,prejudice is still a very open question despite all the millions of dollars$$$ on holocaust museums and commissioned works of art, how much do we really comprehend of our “neighbor” Do we care?,or do we simply go on in our own hypocrisies,saying “we have ours, now let them get theirs” where’s that “universalizing” trope humanity needs to survive and get their heads around the subject. Walker’s work certainly triggers all these contemplations.

5 Stars Brown Band Cover
I probably would not have purchased this book if I knew what was under that brown band. But it was exactly what I needed to do research for my paper on Kara Walker. It’s detailed and graphic.

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Fine Woodworking Design Original Furniture from the Worlds Finest Craftsmen

Fine Woodworking Design Books provide the best work in wood from craftsmen around the world. Woodworkers the world over have been waiting for the latest edition of Tauntons Fine Woodworking Design Book since 1996. In response to overwhelming reader requests, Volume Eight is finally here and its been significantly fine-tuned to meet the demands of todays woodworkers. Unlike previous volumes, this new release focuses on a single aspect of woodworking design furniture with over 100 incredible pieces in an amazing variety of styles: tables, chairs, desks, cabinets, bookcases, home entertainment centers, beds, and bureaus. The series has also been enhanced by in-depth design discussions, which reveal the secrets behind the masterful techniques of the worlds leading furniture designers. The selections are shown in detailed photographs. Technical details are explained in 20 illustrations.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars I was disappointed
I was disappointed because a lot of the furniture in here has been covered in other places, most notably in a magazine produced by FWW about 6 months ago. I’ve seen probably seen half of the furniture in other publications.

However, if you’ve never seen this furniture before, you will be quite happy if you like contemporary styles. The authors decided that the book would cover new styles and not cover old styles that have been covered in many other places.

Some of the pieces have sidebars regarding construction techniques and others are sorely lacking in detail (a point that is acknowledged by the authors). The photos are superb but several pieces would benefit from having multiple views of the piece shown.

In conclusion, I pre-ordered this book because I really enjoyed volumes 1-7. But when I read this book, there was a huge sense of deja vu because this furniture has been published before. Actually, the more I think about it, I’m really quite disappointed in the re-hash of their magazine from six months ago.

BTW, the book focuses on furniture and shies away from stuff like musical instruments, abstract art and boxes.

4 Stars Design book eight review
A new design book from Taunton Press continues a long tradition of Fine Woodworking documenting the Studio Furniture movement. Lots of good pictures and interesting commentary from makers; good for collectors, aspiring makers and students. Nice addition to design and craft section of your library/bookshelf.

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