Musculoskeletal Anatomy Coloring Book

As a student of massage therapy I have found this particular "coloring book" an excellent supplement to the standard assigned textbooks for learning musculoskeletal anatomy. When I first picked up the book, I thought, "How corny....a coloring book to learn the bones and muscles of the human body." However, my thinking changed rapidly as I started to use it. I found that coloring the bones I was assigned to learn that week not only reinforced my classroom and textbook learning, but that it was really fun to take colored pencils and fill in the various parts. At age 55, my brain was not just learning the endless and bewildering names of all these body components, I was smiling at a coloring book, actually enjoying the otherwise tedious process! I might add that the organization of this book and the numerous "views" of the same muscles and bones is another great learning feature of this coloring book - unlike the small sketches and limited views in the Kapit/Elson anatomy coloring book which I also have.

In addition to presenting multi-dimensional information from "need-to-know" to "nice-to-know", this book combines visual and kinesthetic, through coloring, learning styles. It is well organized and is the perfect companion to Dr. Muscolino's textbook, "The Muscular System Manual". This is an important point as a previous learning experience with Kapit's, "The Anatomy Coloring Book" was a pleasant enough, yet left me feeling as if I had barely scratched the surface, his information falling short of sating my curiosity. Dr. Muscolino's texts provide the reader/user with plenty of data. The bones, bony landmarks, muscles, their actions and attachments are labeled clearly in perspectives that are described explicitly. Do not look for attachments to carry "origin" and "insertion" labels as some schools still may require, as this coloring guide subscribes to the expectations of the national certification exam which does not make those designations. Be certain to read the "Introduction": Part 1 guides the user briefly through body systems, and Part 2 ("Learning How Muscles Function") lays down axioms and corollaries of muscular structure and function. Then pick up your Venus Coloring Pencils, find your sharpener, let your inner artist out to play and learn!

This book has been very helpful to my studies as a massage therapy student and occupational therapist. The book provided information on how muscles function, muscle actions and attachments and precise illustrations. The book was easy to understand and very thorough.