The Anatomy of Body Worlds: Critical Essays on the Plastinated Cadavers of Gunther von Hagens

by T. Christine Jespersen (Editor), Alicita Rodriguez (Editor), Joseph Starr (Editor)

Since its Tokyo debut in 1995, Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds exhibition has been visited by more than 25 million people at museums and science centers across North America, Europe, and Asia. Preserved through von Hagens' unique process of plastination, the bodies shown in the controversial exhibit are posed to mimic life and art, from a striking re-creation of Rodin's The Thinker, to a preserved horse and its human rider, a basketball player, and a reclining pregnant woman--complete with fetus in its eighth month. This interdisciplinary volume analyzes Body Worlds from a number of perspectives, describing the legal, ethical, sociological, and religious concerns which seem to accompany the exhibition as it travels the world.

Genres: Science

276 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2008

Reviews

[Kirsten Reay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a book that personally I wouldn't read from cover to cover, but I browsed and read the essays that were interesting. What a fantastic and engaging topic! I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to go to the exhibit about the heart and found it extraordinarily fascinating and beautiful.

[Anca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book 3 stars for the writing style – too dry with too many ambiguous words – and 5 stars for the chosen topic. That would be 4 stars on average. I wrote a longer review on my blog if you are interested:
http://longevityletter.com/when-flesh...

[Jenni Simmons]

We saw this exhibit in Houston.