Biology of Humans: Concepts, Applications, and Issues

Humans are, by nature, curious. This book aims to stimulate readers' inherent curiosity toward an appreciation for the intricacy of human life and our place in the ecosphere. With a conversational writing style, applications that will interest students personally, and discussions of critical issues facing society, the authors help students understand their everyday experiences with their bodies and with the world around them. Presents the important concepts of human anatomy, physiology, development, genetics, evolution, and ecology, then applies them in ways readers will find interesting and relevant. Places greater emphasis on the applied and everyday aspects of human health than other books. Includes Special Topic Chapters that expand "pure biology" to cover issues with an interest in personal health, and are more thoroughly developed than they could be in an essay. Includes a visually stunning art program directed by two medical illustrators for accuracy and pedagogical integrity. For anyone interested in learning more about human biology.

Judith Goodenough. Judith received her B.S. from Wagner College (Staten Island, NY) and her doctorate from New York University. She has 30 years of teaching experience at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, specializing in introductory level courses. The insights into student concerns and problems gained from 25 years of teaching Human Biology and 18 years of team-teaching The Biology of Social Issues have helped shape this book. In 1986, Judith was honored with a "Distinguished Teaching Award." In addition to teaching, she coordinates the introductory biology laboratories at UMass. Judith has written articles in peer-reviewed journals, contributed chapters to several introductory biology texts, and written numerous laboratory manuals. With the author team of McGuire and Wallace, she wrote Perspectives on Animal Behavior.

Betty McGuire. Betty received her B.S. in Biology from Pennsylvania State University, where she also played varsity basketball. She went on to receive an M.S. and Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and then spent two happy years as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Her field and laboratory research emphasize the social behavior and reproduction of small mammals. She has published numerous research papers, co-authored the text Perspectives on Animal Behavior, and is an Associate Editor for Mammalian Species, a publication of the American Society of Mammalogists. Betty has taught Human Biology, Introductory Biology, Vertebrate Biology, and Animal Behavior at Smith College.

Robert A. Wallace. The late Robert Wallace received a B.A. in Fine Art and Biology from Harding University, an M.A. in Muscle Histochemistry from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. in Behavioral Ecology from the University of Texas at Austin. He subsequently taught at a number of colleges and universities in the United States and Europe, including the Richard Bland College of William and Mary, the University of Maryland-Overseas Division, Duke University, and the University of Florida. He is the author of seven previously published biology textbooks, including Biology: The World of Life, and two mass-market science books, The Genesis Factor and How They Do It, as well as numerous scientific articles on a variety of subjects. Robert was also a Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York and the Royal Geographical Society of London. He received the Orellana Medal from the government of Ecuador in recognition of his work with the medicinal plants of vanishing tribes in that country.