Knowledge Encyclopedia Human Body! (DK Knowledge Encyclopedias)

As an artist, I come from a family of doctors, scientists, pathologists, and even a medical illustrator! This book is really wonderful! - It’s not only thoroughly informative, but so dynamically presented in size and lavish color, that it serves as such a wonderful tool to inspire not only young readers but grown ups alike! -It definitely brings excitement to learning about science and the human body! -I highly recommend this book!

My 4 year old is obsessed with the human body. She asked me to teach her the names of all the bones (which I already knew from my training as an EMT when I was younger) so I have (I made up a silly song to sing and she loves it and it worked super well). I got her a kids' book about bones but it just doesn't have enough to keep teaching her so I went out on a limb and bought this. What I love is that it's so picture based so even though there's more than enough information here to keep her busily learning for years, the pictures grab her attention now in her pre-reader years. Being that she is only 4, my husband and I were a little concerned about how much detail they would go into on reproductive systems but I feel like it's totally kid appropriate for parents that wish to make sure their kids know the difference in male bodies and female bodies and aren't ready to go into much else yet. It does have illustrations of babies in utero but doesn't go into how they get out much to my relief. My daughter was born via c-section so she knows a doctor had to cut her out of my body but we haven't gone into the more traditional way babies are born yet. She didn't even notice the male anatomical photos yet and since there are no "external" genitalia photos (just cross sections to show the anatomy), I don't think she'll notice for a while. We have just decided to be very matter of fact about how our bodies are different when it comes up. There is a bit another reviewer mentioned about evolution so if you're a creationist, you may want to be prepared to discuss the differences in beliefs. What she has really focused on in her first 24 hours of having the book are the skeleton so she can show off how she knows the names of the bones already and she is very intrigued about the muscles and of course, how her food turns into waste through the digestive system and the urinary system. She is also fascinated by the blow up of the human head and all that is inside it. She also found the bit in the back of the book about how zero gravity affects the body because the other thing she is fascinated by are astronauts and space and she saw the astronaut in a space suit and got super excited. I think we're going to learn the digestive system and urinary system next since that is where her obvious fascination lies at the moment. But this is a really awesome book. I'm upstairs working and can hear her asking her dad if they can look at her new "skeleton book". To her, all internal anatomical diagrams are skeletons still, but we're working on it. I absolutely can't wait for her to be in preschool next year telling a teacher she banged her patella on something. Now if I could just get her to practice writing and sounds of the ABCs with the same enthusiasm she has for anatomy. After about 2.5 minutes of ABCs, she's off to the science and math sections of her pre-k workbooks. I've tried painting, writing with pencils, crayons, markers, white boards, magnets, play dough, videos and games on her tablet. The kid just cannot be entertained into learning phonics. I may have the only 4 year old that can tell you that your xiphoid process is the cartilage at the tip of your sternum in the middle of your chest but can't sing her ABCs all the way through yet and would rather do pretty much anything than trace or practice writing letters.

Beautifully illustrated, this book is a perfect introduction to anatomy and physiology for young students. The text accompanying the illustrations is peppered with interesting details and is clear, concise and basic enough to hold the attention of readers young and old. My 9-year-old grandson loved receiving this book. An age-appropriate degree of caution may be required regarding the section on Reproduction, but overall the book is a great reference for the bookshelf and will be useful for years to come. Highly recommended!

Gorgeous, informative, high quality.

I bought this for myself (adult age). It's very easy to understand, information is distilled to get to the point without unnecessary fluff text you'll often find in textbooks.The graphics are beautiful, clear and help cement the topics and definitions especially if you dont already have a background in medicine and biology, and are simply reading it for recreational purposes such as myself.The quality of the pages are immaculate. The cover has a few dings and marks from storage and delivery but nothing worth complaining about too much.The book is large and reads from the left of the left page to the right of the right page, at least in the first 20 pages I covered so far.I'm surprise this book is marketed to kids, but we have to give them credit for being knowledge-spongesI got this at a Black Friday sale of about $14, but it's worth the retail price of $25-$30 that it is now

I buy these Smithsonian books for my 3 nephews (all <10yrs old). THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM. They read and look at these every night. I even love looking at these books! They are very educational and they have wonderful pictures. I was... I guess worried about the reproductive section in this book and what information and pictures would be included. The pictures are tactful and the information is very scientific and an excellent resource for kids (or anyone!). Incase anyone else is wondering the same thing before buying for their kids: the info is tactful anatomical pictures with the body parts identified (male and female, along with female breasts) and a page on what the egg and sperm are and what happens when they meet (no sexual pictures or pictures of intercourse) . As an L&D nurse myself I can say the pregnancy section is excellent!!! It offers amazing illustrations of a pregnant woman and illustrations of how a fetus grows (no pictures of birth). My nephews did say the pictures of the eyeballs were 'creepy' but other than that, they love it.

Good overview

Great little book! My daughter is super interested in the human body and she LOVES it! Great color and pictures. It is beautifully done!