Human Bones

A beautiful book combining knowledge of biomechanics and evolution with a discussion of aesthetics and philosophy of our bones.

Includes 115 color photographs taken over weeks of shooting in the archives of museums, including the American Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian. Author is the world's foremost authority on biomechanics. Includes interactive, "do-it-yourself" experiments, such as investigating the lubrication of joints in the hand. The world's foremost authority on biomechanics now focuses on our bones in a beautifully illustrated book of color photography combining expert knowledge of biomechanics and evolution with engaging discussion of aesthetics and philosophy concerning our most surprisingly important organ. Nothing seems as lifeless as a bone in a museum case, but the bones in our bodies are as truly alive as our muscles and guts. Alexander visits moments in every age of our lives, showing how bones grow, how they get damaged, and how they vary, as well as revealing how to read the story they tell of where we came from and what we did. Interactive, "do-it-yourself" experiments, such as investigating the lubrication of joints in the hand, are presented so readers can investigate their own skeleton. Aaron Diskin's 115 color photographs are informative works of art taken over weeks of shooting in the archives of museums including the American Museum of Natural History, as well as private collections including Maxilla and Mandible in New York City. Their elegance is revealed, never before as colorfully and dramatically as in the photographs of Aaron Diskin's showcased here.