General embryological information service - HPS Repository

:4.
K.L.MOORE. 1977. THE DEVELOPING HUMAN, clinically oriented embryology. 2nd
edit.
Saunders, Philadelphia, etc. XIV, 411 pp., 362 figs., 10 tabs., subject index.
£ 5.25
This book has become quite popular since its first publication in 1973
and has been translated into several languages. The first edition was reviewed
in Gen. Embryol. Inf. Serv. 15, -2, 1974. The text was quite up to
date at that time and has again been updated for this edition. Many illustrations
were modified or replaced by newer ones. The apparently successful
format of the book is unchanged, but apart from the references each chapter
now has suggestions for further reading for the beginning student.
25.
G.H.SCHUMACHER. 1977. EMBRYONALE ENTWICKLUNG DES MENSCHEN. 3rd edit.
Volk und Gesundheit, Berlin (DDR). Thesaurus Reihe. 206 pp., 95 figs., subject
index. M 8.00 (paper)
The first and second edition of this concise text were reviewed in Gen.
Embryol. Inf. Serv. 16, 1, 1975. The book has been fully revised without
changing the format. Ten new illustrations and a glossary of Latin and
Greek terms were added .
Monographs
26.
E.BLECHSCHMIDT. 1977. THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN LIFE, translated from the
German by Transemantics , Inc.
Springer, New York, etc. Heidelberg Science Library. VIII, 128 pp., 58 figs.,
8 pis. $ 7.50, DM 15.00 (paper)
This is the English translation of a book reviewed last year in part 1 of
this volume (p. 212). The translation is good on the whole but distinctly odd
in places. Most of the half-tone illustrations have suffered slightly as
compared with the original ones.
A critical review of an earlier version of the book is to be found in Gen.
Embryol. Inform. Serv., suppl . to the 12th issue, 1968, p. 17.
27.
E.BLECHSCHMIDT and R.F.GASSER. 1978. BIOKINETICS AND BIODYNAMICS OF HUMAN
DIFFERENTIATION; principles and applications
Thomas, Springfield. American Lecture Series No. 1011. XVI, 285 pp., 159 figs.,
subject index. $ 24.50
To those not familiar with E.Blechschmidt ' s ideas developed in a long life
of scientific activity this book could be one of two things: an irritant or
an eye-opener. In both cases it may perform a useful function, if only because
no one can deny that it is wholly original and entirely unorthodox.
Regular readers of these book notices have been given glimpses of Blechschmidt's
way of thinking on previous occasions (see Gen. Embryol. Inf. Serv.
vols. 12 (suppl.), 1968 and 16, 1, 1975) but this is the first time his ideas
are laid down in a book first published outside Germany, thanks to the interest
and help of the junior author, who is an American.
The main premise of the book is that it is necessary to study human development
right from the start by what is called "kinetic anatomy", viewing the
embryo as a dynamically interacting whole on the basis of material movements
and tissue forces deduced from painstaking morphological investigation. It
is claimed that this leads to conclusions that invalidate evolutionary considerations
and emphasise the uniqueness of human development. The resulting