• About this Book
• About the Author

Written by Alexander Tsiaras and Barry Werth

• Format: Hardcover, 264 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday
• On Sale: October 19, 2004
• Price: $50.00
• ISBN: 978-0-385-50929-9 (0-385-50929-4)

about this book

The human body is a marvel of engineering. From the muscular and skeletal systems of the hand working in concert to allow us to type, eat, and caress, to the circadian rhythms of the heart and digestive system keeping things moving despite our consciousness being elsewhere, our bodies are far more complex and awe inspiring than any man-made creation. Not since Andreas Vesalius’s On the Fabric of the Human Body, illustrated by the scholar in the mid-16th century, has there been a work examining human anatomy for both the scientific and lay communities. The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is the ultimate illustrated look at the internal structures and processes that sustain us as living, thinking, social beings.

Using the most advanced medical and computer technology—including body scans, ultrapowerful microscopes, and molecular surveillance tools—Alexander Tsiaras, founder of a widely acclaimed medical-imaging company, hones in on the body’s intricately constructed systems and isolates structures that have never been seen before. In more than 500 astonishing images, he dismantles each system, highlights the anatomical difference between men and women, and rebuilds the body from the molecular level on up. Barry Werth’s lyrical, informative text enhances the power of the images, providing an array of startling and fascinating facts.

The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is a milestone in science, art, and technology. As Werth writes in the Introduction, “For the first time we see the body not like something, or represented by human hands, or as a grainy negative or video, but very nearly as it is.”


Praise for The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman...

"Beautifully crafted and important, this text will be both accessible and interesting to instructors, physicians, artists, and students of all levels. It will be a must-have for undergraduate and graduate libraries and, moreover, will find its way to the shelves of faculty teaching in all areas of animal/human biology, scientific illustration, and art. It sets a new standard for how imagery can enhance understanding.... Essential." —Choice (ALA)

“Alexander Tsiaras and Anatomical Travelogue have left no technological stone unturned to build this work about the subtle architecture of the human form. He and his staff of talented imaging artists and scientists have earned their way into the finest repositories of clinical images and contemporary anatomical and physiological laboratories. The result is this astounding and beautiful book—superb in its abilities to address basic questions about the design of the human form and to anticipate the inquiries made practical only by employing the most modern medical technologies. This is a work for our time.”
—Adrianne Noe, Director of the National Museum of Health and Medicine and Associate Director of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

“Many books have been produced which present the human body as art. Anatomical Travelogue’s The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman, however, is a departure from these. It reveals, system by system, the internal beauty of life’s component structures. The colorful renderings are not only beautiful, but produced from actual data from various imaging techniques. It is fascinating to browse as well as to study.”
—Steven Frost, professor of physical anthropology, University of Oregon

“The Architecture and Design of Man and Woman is a book of the 21st century that will stand the test of time. Using the latest technologies Anatomical Travelogue has provided us with a unique and accurate visual resource about our own bodies that will be equally useful to scholars, students, and interested readers. If da Vinci, Vesalius, or Netter were alive today they would probably be using these technologies to create their anatomical masterpieces.”
—Katerina Harvati, professor of physical anthropology, New York University

“The architecture and design of the human body has not changed significantly in 40–50,000 years. However, few subjects capture the attention of our species more than looking more deeply into ourselves as a biological organism. Alexander Tsiaras and his brilliant team of artists and programmers at Anatomical Travelogue are at the cutting edge of using modern imaging technology to reveal the structure of the body in new, informative, and extraordinarily beautiful ways.”
—Todd Olson, professor of anatomy and Director of Clinical Anatomy, Albert Einstein College of Medicine