Anatomy and Physiology Companion Website: The Unity of Form and Function, 5/e
Kenneth S. Saladin,
George College and State University
ISBN: 0073525693 Copyright year: 2010
Letter to the Students
Letter to the Students
(78.0K)
When I was a young boy, I became interested in what I then called “nature study” for two reasons. One was the sheer beauty of nature. I reveled in children’s books with abundant, colorful drawings and photographs of animals, plants, minerals, and gems. It was this esthetic appreciation of nature that made me want to learn more about it and made me happily surprised to discover I could make a career of it. At a slightly later age, another thing that drew me still deeper into biology was to discover writers who had a way with words—who could captivate my imagination and curiosity with their elegant prose. Once I was old enough to hold part-time jobs, I began buying zoology and anatomy books that mesmerized me with their gracefulness of writing and fascinating art and photography. I wanted to write
and draw like that myself, and I began teaching myself by learning from “the masters.” I spent many late nights in my room peering into my microscope and jars of pond water, typing page after page of manuscript, and trying pen and ink as a medium. In short, I was the ultimate nerd. My “first book” was a 318-page paper on some little pond animals called hydras, with 53 India ink illustrations that I wrote for my tenth-grade biology class when I
was 16.
Fast-forward about 30 years, to when I became a textbook writer, and I found myself bringing that same enjoyment of writing and illustrating to the first edition of this book you are now holding. Why? Not only for its intrinsic creative satisfaction, but because I’m guessing
that you’re like I was—you can appreciate a book that does more than simply give you the information you need. You appreciate, I trust, a writer who makes it enjoyable for you through his scientific, storytelling prose and his concept of the way things should be illustrated to spark interest and facilitate understanding.
I know from my own students, however, that you need more than captivating illustrations and enjoyable reading. Let’s face it—A&P is a complex subject and it may seem a formidable task to acquire even a basic knowledge of the human body. It was difficult even for me
to learn (and the learning never ends). So in addition to simply writing this book, I’ve given a lot of thought to its pedagogy—the art of teaching. I’ve designed my chapters to make them easier for you to study and to give you abundant opportunity to check whether you’ve understood what you read—to test yourself (as I advise my own students) before the instructor tests you.
Each chapter is broken down into short, digestible bits with a set of learning goals (Objectives) at the beginning of each section, and self-testing questions (Before You Go On) just a few pages later. Even if you have just 30 minutes to read during a lunch break or a bus ride, you can easily read or review one of these brief sections. There are also numerous self-testing questions at the end of each chapter, in some of the figure legends, and the
occasional Think About It questions dispersed throughout each chapter. The questions cover a broad range of cognitive skills, from simple recall of a term to your ability to evaluate, analyze, and apply what you’ve learned to new clinical situations or other problems.
I hope you enjoy your study of this book, but I know there are always ways to make it even better. Indeed, what quality you may find in this edition owes a great deal to feedback I’ve received from students all over the world. If you find any typos or other errors, if you have any suggestions for improvement, if I can clarify a concept for you, or even if you just want to comment on something you really like about the book, I hope you’ll feel free to write to me. I correspond quite a lot with students and would enjoy hearing from you.
Ken Saladin
Georgia College & State University
Milledgeville, GA 31061 (USA) ken.saladin@gcsu.edu
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Letter to the Students
(78.0K)
2010 McGraw-Hill Higher Education