Human Physiology: From Cells to Systems

Great hardcover! Can’t wait to read!

This book is very well written. It really helps understand the broad picture and doesn't confuse the reader with too many other details. It is also written in a language that is easy to understand and isn't difficult to follow or keep your attention.

Thorough, clear, great figures/diagrams. I've used this textbook for 2 classes and refer to it periodically when I have questions about health and the body's workings. Gives a good overview of topics, as well as useful details.

Underlying the broad study of physiology lies several important principles; unless these are appreciated, studying physiology can prove to be difficult, time-consuming, and ultimately an experience you'd rather forget. Often in the hope of gaining a complete understanding of physiology, students will make the mistake of trying to attack the bigger/detailed texts such as guyton, ganong, and berne & levy. Unfortunately these books (particularly the latter two) are quite advanced and detailed, possessing a lot of minutiae. These books are useful for postgrads in science or for those sitting medical specialty exams. What you need if you're starting out in physiology is a book that clearly emphasises the principles, and avoids swamping you with detail that will quickly erase your appreciation of the big picture (your examiners will reward such perspective, and not the regurgitation of random facts! - the same is true for all areas of study). Sherwood does an amazing job of providing this information at just the right level for the beginner, laying down a solid foundation for further learning. I recommend using this as a primary text and consulting the other heavy weights for the fine print if your course syllabus (or thirst for knowledge!) requires this.

The text material is superbly organized and illustrated with great models, comprehensive tables, and wonderful photographs. It is a thorough work and, although not easy reading, explained about as clearly and completely as humanly possible. P.S. The review above does not seem to pertain to this book, but to a teacher's manual?

Agree with the previous two readers: a bit wordy. Most textbook writers assume too much on the part of the reader and are thus overly brief. Sherwood seems to take the opposite stand. We have to remind her that students who take a physiology course are supposed to have some kind of knowledge and intelligence: they are simply not six-year olds or aliens from Mars. To give the book due credit though, it helped me out with the MCAT (scored a 12 in the biological).