Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology - Australian Edition

Reviewed by Jorge Canchola, Lecturer II, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 5/15/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

All areas are covered. A few could be enhanced with additional topics. Topics that could be expanded include meiosis, chemistry of life, A glossary is provided in individual sections and at the end of the text. The glossary is effective. An index is not provided, however there is a "Search" that could assist in searching for a topic. The book would benefit from an index.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The content is free of errors and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Text is up to date, and includes examples of contemporary medicines. The text is also relevant to A&P lab courses as figures in it mirror the models used in the lab. For example, the different taste buds shown in the nervous system topic.

Clarity rating: 5

Explanations are clear and in a way that students learning about A&P for the first time can grasp with ease. Tables and figures are clear and well explained. I would like to see more tables (and with color added) and figures to make increase clarity in explanations.

Consistency rating: 3

In some sections acronyms are used without first using the full term, for example FSH appears in the reproductive system section without naming it as follicle stimulating hormone first. Although acronyms have been spelled out in one section it would benefit students to spell them out in every section they appear.

Modularity rating: 5

The book has appropriate headings and subheadings.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

The placement of the nervous system before the endocrine system makes sense. I suppose it would be challenging to think of where to place these two topics in the text, however I would suggest moving them closer to the middle or start of the text as organ systems mentioned before these topics depend on students understanding how they are controlled. I do not understand why the urinary system is the last topic in the text. It would make more sense to leave development as the last topic.

Interface rating: 5

The text is easy to navigate, it has arrows to move forward and backward from section to section. The figures are large enough to read.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

Some spelling differences in the USA and Australian terms. For example, we spell organization with a "z" in the USA, however organization is spelled with an "s" in Australia. Another example is "fertilisation." This could make someone in the USA think the book has spelling errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 1

Some A&P texts try to incorporate cultural relevance through their figures of human subjects. This book's figures of people are not in color. There is no evidence of variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The statistics of diseases are for Australia. One would need to find American statistics if teaching in the USA.

Comments

Review Questions and Critical Thinking questions are a helpful feature.

Reviewed by Gary Mcilvain, Professor, Marshall University on 1/2/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Thought the text did a very good job of covering the typical areas of anatomy and physiology.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I did not see any errors in the text. There are some differences in spellings of anatomical structures but that is to be expected when comparing from one country to another. It seems to cover most of the common English terms within the text when headings were spelled differently but could be distinguished easily.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Loved the examples and connections to real life applications of the text content.

Clarity rating: 5

It uses standard anatomical verbiage one would expect.

Consistency rating: 5

The text was consistent with how something was introduced and then applied in other chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

The text was arranged well in this aspect. This would allow the reader to quickly find pertinent information about what an assignment or specific reading would be in reference to.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

It seemed to follow the typical anatomy text organization.,

Interface rating: 5

Pictures and charts were appropriate for an anatomy text. It does a good job of connecting text to pictures/charts.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I didn't find any that caught my attention.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

This text seems to be a cultural neutral approach. Most pictures were not of any cultural background. It might be good to include some of the cultural relevancy with items such as sickle cell disease. Otherwise, it took a very neutral approach.

Comments

I like this text. It is definitely a text I will consider using in an Intro to Applied Anatomy and Physiology class.

Reviewed by Cassie Gohn, Assistant Professor, Manchester University on 12/5/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

All typical organ systems are covered. I especially liked that there was a chapter devoted to pregnancy and human development.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Did not find any glaring issues.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content was presented at a basic level suitable for an undergraduate course. It is unlikely that at this level, it will need to be revised too much in the foreseeable future.

Clarity rating: 5

Use of illustrations enhanced the clarity of the presented concepts.

Consistency rating: 5

Maintains a consistent pattern throughout the chapters.

Modularity rating: 5

Broken down into typical systems-based chapters, a style used in many textbooks. This makes it easy for students to follow.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Organized an a predictable manner for this topic.

Interface rating: 5

Did not experience any issues.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No issues found.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I appreciated the diversity presented in the pictures.

Reviewed by Otelia Vines, Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College on 4/5/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

I liked the interactive glossary. Each section from each chapter had a separate glossary. All subject areas are covered appropriately, and effectively, but I believe that the Joints (Articulations) need a separate chapter.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The textbook appears to be quite accurate in its description and depiction of subject matter. I did not find any biases within the textbook, but seeing real images of actual people from diverse cultural backgrounds would be an added benefit.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The information provided in the book is relevant and can withstand the test of time. This book will not become obsolete within a short span of time. It would be easy to update this textbook with new images and examples.

Clarity rating: 4

The textbook is straight forward and to the point. It is a fairly easy read, and the images assist with clarifying the content. I did have a problem with the clarity of some images used. Some of the pictures are blurry, but this should be an easy fix.

Consistency rating: 5

When looking at this textbook, and comparing it to the textbooks I use now or have used in the past, it is internally consistent. The terminology is pretty much the same across the board along with the order in which the chapters are presented.

Modularity rating: 5

The authors of this textbook seemed to take special care in sectioning content information within each chapter. The sectioning of this information makes it easier to read. The smaller chunks of information makes it easier for the reader to digest.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I feel that the organization of the textbook is logical. It is clear, but I think I would divide some of the chapters up like Male and Female Reproduction because those sections are very large.

Interface rating: 4

I did not run into any significant interface issues, but some of the images are slightly distorted.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any real grammatical issues. I did find some spelling issues (not really errors), but I am an American reviewing this Australian textbook.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not find the textbook to be culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Real life images of real people from diverse races, ethnicities and backgrounds would be nice to see throughout the text.

Comments

I love the fact that this book is interactive. I also liked the chapter and section objectives being presented at the beginning. This helps the student focus on what is important within the chapter. Each section has an overview, review questions, and critical thinking questions at the end. It gives the reader a chance to see how much information they obtained after reading the material. It provides reinforcement of concepts. I would like to see a few case studies sprinkled throughout each section or chapter in the textbook. I would definitely use this text for an OER Anatomy and Physiology I and II course.

Reviewed by Christopher Bell, Associate Professor, Colorado State University on 5/20/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book contains most of the chapters one might expect to find in a good Anatomy and Physiology text. Conspicuous by its absence, the book does not contain a detailed chapter devoted to metabolism.
A glossary is included and appears to be thorough, and a solid reflection of the content of the book.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Only selected chapters/sections were examined for the purposes of this review. Several issues were identified in the Cardiac Physiology section (6.4). For example, the authors write that during exercise, “as [heart rate] HR continues to increase, [stroke volume] SV gradually decreases due to decreased filling time.” This is incorrect. During incremental exercise, in relatively untrained adults stroke volume initially increases and then plateaus while heart rate continues to increase, but in endurance trained athletes, while the magnitude of increase in stroke volume is greatest in the early stages, stroke volume continues to increase throughout exercise (ref: Exp Physiol 2002 Sep;87(5):613-22 // J Appl Physiol 2008 Jan;104(1):276-8). Further, to estimate maximal heart rate, the authors refer to the 220-age equation. This equation is generally considered inferior to the Tanaka equation (208-(0.7 x age)) (ref: J Am Coll Cardiol 2001 Jan;37(1):153-6).

There are other examples throughout the book where accuracy appears to have been compromised for clarity. For example, the glycolysis description in chapter 9, section 5, “Types of Muscle Fibres” appears to be a little too simplistic. "Lactic acid" doesn’t cause fatigue, rather it is more likely to be the increased concentration of hydrogen ions that contribute to the decreased ability of skeletal muscle to maintain force production. However, it is noted that the book is intended for use by first year students of anatomy and physiology. Thus, in this regard, clarity may be more important than accuracy.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The content appears mostly up-to-date, aside from one or two sub-sections highlighted above.

Clarity rating: 5

A strength of this book is the clarity and the style in which it is written. The language is not likely to intimidate first year anatomy and physiology students.

Consistency rating: 5

The style and formatting appear to be consistent throughout the entire book.

Modularity rating: 5

This is another category in which the book appears to do very well. The sections and subsections are logically divided. Instructors should be able to manipulate the order in which they deliver the material in their classes without decreasing the high quality of the overall presentation of the book.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is very organized. Chapter subsections are presented in a logical order, and each subsection begins with clearly stated learning objectives, and ends with review questions. Noteworthy, these review questions also include critical thinking style questions.

Interface rating: 5

For this review, the book was accessed using the Firefox web browser (88.0.1) running on Mac OS 10.15.7. There did not appear to be any interface issues. All of the images were clear and free from distortion. Navigation from the Table of Contents and between chapters appeared flawless. The “Search In Book” feature worked well.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

No grammatical errors were noted. British/Australian spelling is used throughout the book (e.g. Chapter 3, section 6 is titled, “Tissue Injury and Ageing”). Some terms known to differ by region, such as epinephrine and adrenaline, and norepinephrine and noradrenaline appear to have been used interchangeably.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text does not appear to culturally insensitive or offensive. Many of the photographs used to support the learning objectives include people of a variety of races. In the context of anatomy and physiology, the term “sex” is conventionally preferred over the use of “gender”, however throughout the book the authors refer to gender-differences.

Comments

Overall, I would recommend this book as a supplement to teaching anatomy and physiology students who have relatively little previous exposure to the material. Potential inaccuracies and over-simplifications, such as those highlighted in this review, could be discussed in-class at the discretion of the instructor.

Reviewed by Clare Hays, Professor, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 4/23/21

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook covers all of the material that I cover in my Human Anatomy and Physiology courses. The order in the Table of Contents is quite different from my current text. Additionally, I appreciate the comprehensive glossary but wish that phonetic pronunciations were included in the glossary.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The chapters that I reviewed (muscle system, musculoskeletal system, and blood) were very accurate and included accurate photos or illustrations.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is up-to-date using the modern descriptive terms rather than older terms that included people's names.

Clarity rating: 5

It was well-written. The figures have clear explanations.

Consistency rating: 5

The format was consistent with important terms being in bold print and fundamental process figures included with all important physiology.

Modularity rating: 5

The modules were appropriate in size and the interactive nature of the review questions and the critical thinking questions is a welcome addition to any textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The overall organization is good. Since our anatomy and physiology sequence is divided into two semesters, we cover bones and muscles early in the sequence. This book covers them after cardiovascular, respiratory and lymphatic systems.

Interface rating: 4

The interface was easy to navigate and all of the material I reviewed was legible. However, many of the illustrations and photos seemed to be in low resolution and were a bit blurry.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not notice obvious grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The actual pictures depict different races and ethnicities.

Comments

I like anatomy textbooks with more actual human cadaver photos than this book. That is one of the reasons I chose to review the muscle chapter - to see if, located next to the illustrations, there might be cadaver photos. The use of actual photos make the material more "real" for the students. However, there are photomicrographs of the cells/tissues in these chapters and that is a welcome addition.