Abstract
Any single anatomy text faces many challenges. These include choosing the arrangement and depth of information, and how to memorably illustrate that information. As a pathologist, I divide my anatomy references between detailed tomes necessary for research or lecture composition, and those I use on the necropsy floor, while trying to remember which is the sterno and which the mylohyoideus. This book falls into the latter category, and well facilitates necropsy dissection of the dog. While there is nearly a pre-requirement to be familiar with anatomy when using this guide, I find it very useful to review anatomy with students on pathology rotation. There is heavy emphasis on the skeletal and muscular systems and less devotion to the viscera and vessels, which, except regionally, get shorter attention and illustration. The section on the nervous system is well arranged and well tapered for such a portable anatomy reference. The illustrations throughout, even without photographic figures, are quite useful and are also, thankfully, labeled in situ, so there is no need to jump from the figure legend to the figures once your orientation has been established. In general, Evans and deLahunta's sixth edition organization, illustrations, and text are nearly unchanged from the fifth edition. Some corrections have been made, and among the handful of figures that have been added, few are illustrations (for example, Figure 56 now includes Pat Barrow's beautiful new “Deep muscles of the pelvic limb”), with other additions primarily radiographs, MRIs, or CAT scans. What is the significant change to this book since the fifth edition is the Veterinary Consult electronic version that can accompany the book purchase. In the e-version, the images and text are high-resolution scans. There are direct links to the figures, in context or individually, and a search can be made for any text word, or any anatomical bit, that will access many more references than the authors have indexed. “Humerus”, for example, searched in the e-version, provided 65 text, and 1 image result, each in context, whereas the book index provides only 2 text and a single figure result. You can also add your own highlights and favorites list to the e-text, which are wonderful teaching tools. If you already own the fifth edition, the e-version would be the reason to update your library.