Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy, the Gateway to Becoming a Doctor

by Steven Giegerich

Medical Gross and Developmental Anatomy is the course every medical student dreads. As one aspiring physician described it to journalist-author Steve Giegerich, "it's the bridge you have to cross if you want to become a doctor."
Four lab partners facing that notoriously difficult course at Newark's University of Medicine and Dentistry are Sherry Ikalowych, a former nurse and mother of four; Jennifer Hannum, an ultracompetitive jock; Udele Tagoe, a determined Duke graduate of Ghanian descent; and Ivan Gonzalez, a Nicaraguan refugee and unlikely medical student. This lively chronicle of each of their ambitions, failures, and successes has at its center Tom Lewis, the cadaver lying before them to be dissected. From their first face-to-face encounter with Lewis as an anonymous cadaver on the stainless steel table to a rich reverence for Lewis's generous donation of his body to science, what they each learn about medicine, compassion, life, and death makes for a fascinating insiders' account of the shaping of a medical professional.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Medical

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2001

Reviews

[peach · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite book of all time. I've reread it 7 times already!

[Andrew McMillen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thorough account of a semester studying gross anatomy at a New Jersey medical school in the late 1990s, written largely from the position of the author observing four students as they dissect a donated cadaver in its near-entirety. Steve Giegerich, has chosen to write 'Body Of Knowledge' as an invisible narrator: at no point does he use the word 'I' other than in the acknowledgements, nor does he express his reaction to what he is seeing. As a writer, I respect this decision greatly, as I would find it extremely difficult to maintain this distance throughout an entire book. However, I don't think Giegerich's absence from the story helps the reader. For me, it hindered my understanding and appreciation of what he was describing, because I kept wondering what was going on in his head.

My other big issue with the story structure is that the author introduces the pseudonymous body donor, "Thomas Lewis", far too soon in the story: chapter three, before the four medical students had even met the cadaver they'd be dissecting all semester. Giegerich thus devotes many thousands of words to "Thomas Lewis" before I'd built any emotional attachment to him, and thus I found myself turning pages to get past the excessive biographical details of a man I didn't care about at that point in the book. I'd have much prefer that he'd kept that reveal until later, or sprinkled the donor's details in short vignettes throughout the book. And finally, the author occasionally lapsed into overly florid and verbose prose: there was one sentence in particular which had in excess of 60 words. (I stopped counting.) Not sure how that got past his editor.

All these complaints aside, 'Body Of Knowledge' is a good book, and I'm glad I read it. I'm being overly critical because I'm writing on a similar topic at the moment, and this just didn't hit the right notes for me, as a casual reader and as a journalist. But I can imagine this would be fascinating for any would-be or current medical students, as Giegerich's depth and breadth of reportage is highly commendable.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of those books that had a lot of potential--the author spent a semester with medical students taking their gross anatomy course, which as a sociologist, I think must have been fascinating. But too much of the book is spent describing where these students come from, without enough attention on how really how the process of "becoming a doctor" in a professional sense unfolded. There just wasn't enough linking of those personal histories to the experiences they were going through, so I felt like the "becoming a doctor" part was underdeveloped. The descriptions of the procedures of what the students have to do are quite vivid though--I'm not sure I've ever really considered exactly what students do when they take anatomy. I had no idea it involved so much...well...scraping for lack of a better word. I guess my frustration is that the book is perhaps more journalistic (i.e. focusing on descriptions of what is readily observable) rather than sociological, where there would have been more depth to the observations.

[Jane Dee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I figured it would be a boring book. The only good part is the beginning. The beginning of the book explains how the New Jersey medical school came to be, how it obtains it cadavers, and the story behind one cadaver in particular. After that, it's just about these four students who dissect that particular cadaver that you just read about. The author's writing style is a bit dramatic at times. I suppose this could bring some excitement into the book, but I guess I just wasn't into it. Honestly, I could care less about how these people feel about the cadaver. Was this book meant to convey how they feel? Or just how stressed out they were? I am not sure. I almost didn't finish it, but that would be mean. When I finished, I felt I had wasted my time. Honestly, if you want to know what med students think about gross anatomy, go on studentdoc.com or something and ask. I bet the responses will be better and more colorful.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though not what I expected, I really enjoyed this. I thought it would be more about the class itself, or at least focus almost exclusively on the impact the class has on the students. The author gives much more history of students, teachers, and the history of cadaver dissection than I was expecting. In spite, or perhaps because of, that, the book was been incredibly interesting. I think at least a passing interet in the medical field is required for real enjoyment -- passages would probably seem rather dry otherwise. It definitely made me seriously consider donating my body to a medical school, that's for sure!

[Am Trit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this to learn how medical students learn anatomy. Figurative artists need to know surface anatomy, so we study the skeleton and the superficial muscles, the insertions and origins. We use diagrams and skeletons to make best-guess bone and muscle overlay drawings of living models, and constructions from clay. Deeper muscles, nerves and arteries that aren’t seen - aren’t studied. Their presence however is imprinted in the bones - holes and grooves for structures to connect and lie within. Good overview but covered the students' almost as much as the procedures. I think another book will cover what I'm looking for: "First Cut: A Season in the Human Anatomy Lab."

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this for my favorite med. student and read it with some trepidation. But it was well done and surprisingly readable. There's a reverence for human life here, despite the topic: medical school dissection of human bodies. I learned something about students and donors alike.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly graphic at times, but left me with a huge appreciation for the rite of passage that is ahead of me come January.