Anatomy Essentials For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2019 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2019932065
ISBN 978-1-119-59015-6 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-59007-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-59021-7 (ebk)
Congratulations on your decision to study human anatomy and physiology. The knowledge you gain from your study is of value in many aspects of your life.
A little background in anatomy and physiology should be considered a valuable part of anyone’s education. Health and medical matters are part of world events and people’s daily lives. Basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology gets you started when trying to make sense of the news about epidemics, novel drugs and medical devices, and purported environmental hazards, to name just a few examples. Everyone has a problem with some aspect of his or her anatomy and physiology at some point, and this knowledge can help you be a better parent, spouse, caregiver, neighbor, friend, or colleague.
Knowledge of anatomy and physiology may also benefit your own health. Sometimes, comprehension of a particular fact or concept can help drive a good decision about long-term health matters, such as the demonstrated benefits of exercise, or it may help you take appropriate action in the context of a specific medical problem, such as an infection, a cut, or a muscle strain. You may understand your doctors’ instructions better during a course of treatment, which may give you a better medical outcome.
Anatomy Essentials For Dummies guides you on a quick walk-through of human anatomy and physiology. It doesn’t have the same degree of technical detail as a textbook. It contains relatively little in the way of lists of important anatomical structures, for instance. We expect that most readers are using this book as a complementary resource for course work in anatomy and physiology at the high-school or college level. Therefore, the goals of this book are to be informal but not unscientific, brief but not sketchy, and information-rich but accessible to readers at many levels.
We use the following conventions throughout the text to make the presentation of information consistent and easy to understand:
If you’re using this book as a supplement to an assigned textbook, note that your course materials may name structures and physiological substances using a different nomenclature (naming system) than the one we use in this book.
We’re guessing that you fall into one of these categories:
The little round pictures that you see in the margins throughout this book are icons that alert you to different kinds of valuable information.
This icon serves to highlight information we think you should permanently store in your mental anatomy and physiology file.
The bull’s-eye symbol lets you know what you can do to improve your understanding of an anatomical structure.
If you’re currently enrolled in (or planning to enroll in) a formal course in human anatomy and physiology, you may get the most benefit by becoming familiar with this book a week or two before your course begins. Peruse the book as you would any science book: Look at the table of contents and the index, read the Introduction, and then start reading the chapters. Look at the figures as you read. You’ll probably be able to get through the entire book in just a couple of sittings. Then go back and reread chapters you found particularly interesting, relevant, or puzzling. Study the illustrations carefully. Pay attention to technical terminology; your instructors will use it and expect you to use it, too.
If you’re a casual reader (you’re not enrolled in a formal course in anatomy and physiology and have little or no background in biology), why not head to the chapters that sound the most interesting to you? Don’t sweat too much over terminology; for your purposes, saying “of my lungs” communicates as well as “pulmonary.” (If you also enjoy word games, though, you can get started on a whole new vocabulary.) Keep the book handy for future reference the next time you wonder what the heck they’re talking about in a TV drug ad.