I really, really enjoyed reading this textbook.
The diagrams are always clear and helpful, and the topics are, of course, so interesting. Learning how the human body works is truly fascinating: How different parts of our body communicate with one another, sending out chemical and electrical signals down complex pathways as it does this—all so we can carry out an autonomous function right beneath our skin, or make some imperceptible, minute adjustment to maintain our homeostasis.
Sometimes I get so caught up in trying to memorize the granular details that it hits me with shocking clarity: My body is doing this right now, without me even knowing. There are electrical impulses being sent down somatic motor neurons that are opening protein channels, causing calcium ions to be released into my cells—all so I can move my hand. There are autorhythmic cardiac cells that are sending out their own electrical impulses to control my heart rate, so my organs can receive oxygen and nutrients. My body fights off infection every day because leukocytes are roaming my bloodstream, looking for the next unsuspecting invader. My brain is regulating my hunger, my fight and flight responses, my sleep patterns...a tangled web of interlinking pathways that somehow keep me upright and alive.
What scares the most as I learn more is that I could go my whole life and never appreciate all the amazing and perplexing things happening in each of us right now. And how ignorant I must be of so many other things.
And other times I think to myself, if every cell in my body is fighting to keep me alive, why must I continuously question my right to be in this world? And how did we as a species become so complex that people have dedicated their whole lives trying to understand it?
This textbook unravels the inner workings of human physiology in a tangible way, and is a stepping stone to appreciating the beauty of what we are.