Human Body Knowledge Encyclopedias DK Reviews Summary

Illustrations and Design

Pros:

• "The illustrations are clear and colorful."
• "Very informative, great illustrations, not babyish at all but reads much easier than my husband's old college textbook that she was using before."
• "Nice pictures and accurate labels and descriptions."
• "The human body illustrations on this one encyclopedia are amazing! And the explanations are truly scientific and in depth."
• "The pictures are tactful and the information is very scientific and an excellent resource for kids (or anyone!)."
• "The photos and diagrams were extremely detailed, clear and utterly fascinating!"
• "Exquisitely illustrated! A fascinating learning experience!"

Cons:

• "Why the f$^@*!& does a book by Smithsonian have an anatomically incorrect illustration of the human body?"
• "However *all* of the images of human anatomy depict a male body, with the exception of a single disembodied image of the uterus."
• "I don't think it's necessary to color the two lobes of the brain into a blue lobe and a green lobe."
• "Sometimes, I find that the coloring of the drawings is somewhat simplistic."
• "The thing I don't like is on page 153 it talks about the pelvis and 'how we evolved from four legged ape like creatures'... Excuse me, WHAT??"

Educational Value

Pros:

• "This is the best book for human anatomy. It explains everything from the 12 body systems to a cell's structure."
• "It keeps kids interested while learning about the human body."
• "It's very easy to understand, information is distilled to get to the point without unnecessary fluff text you'll often find in textbooks."
• "Teaches the basic of the human body."
• "LOVE this book! My husband and I are both in the medical field and we both think it’s a great anatomy book!"
• "It is chock full of excellent illustrations and informative snippets of information!"
• "The Eye catching and detailed illustrations provide a great hook to get them interested as well has complementing the text and explaining the topic."

Cons:

• "This book explains about reproductive subjects. Not appropriate for 7 years old. May be an useful book for 16-18 years old."
• "But it does not contain about the RNA but everything else."
• "The wording is a little small in some areas of the book that he couldn’t even read."
• "The publisher says the book is for 9 and up. There are a lot of kids who don’t learn sex ed at home and aren’t taught until middle school. I feel terrible. Shame on DK for the inappropriate age listing."
• "With all the good things in this book, it missed SPLEEN totally! Spleen is an important organ and how did they miss?"
• "The age range listed here is 4+ however this book is not for a 4 year old. More like 9-12."

Quality and Durability

Pros:

• "Everything about this book demonstrates quality."
• "The book is also made to last and still reads like new after a couple months of owning it."
• "Well made book which will last for many years."
• "The quality of the pages are immaculate."
• "The book is well constructed with a dust cover, heavyweight semi-glossy paper, and clear and contrasting text."
• "The book itself is made up of good quality thick paper so that the pages won’t tear easily and seems like a book that will hold up for many years to come!"
• "Great book & great quality."

Cons:

• "My quibble is the font size. Much of the book is written in a fairly small font size that, admittedly, allows more explanatory text. However, it's also harder for young eyes to read (and old eyes, too)."
• "I love the book, but it arrived warped. I am wondering if it was water damage or in a damp warehouse."
• "Book arrived in horrible condition! Dented and torn corners and had a dirty appearance to the cover and some pages."
• "The cover has a few dings and marks from storage and delivery but nothing worth complaining about too much."
• "Was pretty disappointed that I paid for a new copy and it came with marking on it like a kid had taken a crayon to it or something."