Overview

“The human body is a machine whose movements are directed by the soul,” wrote René Descartes in the early seventeenth century. The intr- sic mechanisms of this machine gradually became clear through the hard work of Renaissance scientists. Leonardo da Vinci is one such scientist from this period of enlightenment. In pursuit of knowledge, Leonardo dissected the bodies of more than 30 men and women. He sawed the bones lengthwise, to see their internal structure; he sawed the skull, cut through the vertebrae, and showed the spinal cord. In the process, he took extensive notes and made carefully detailed sketches. His drawings d- ferentiated muscles that run across several joints from those muscles that act on a single joint. “Nature has made all the muscles appertaining to the motion of the toes attached to the bone of the leg and not to that of the thigh,” wrote Leonardo in 1504 next to one of his sketches of the lower extremity, “because when the knee joint is flexed, if attached to the bone of the thigh, these muscles would be bound under the knee joint and would not be able to serve the toes. The same occurs in the hand owing to the flexion of the elbow. ” Another Renaissance scholar who made fundamental contributions to the physiology of movement is Giovanni Alfonso Borelli. Born in 1604 in Naples, Borelli was a well-respected mathematician.

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From the reviews: This book represents a very ambitious undertaking of providing, in a single volume, a comprehensive exposition of the kinematics and dynamics governing the motion of the human body as well as a complete course of general mechanics. The author has been remarkably successful in achieving both objectives. He has produced a very accessible text without sacrificing the accuracy of arguments and avoiding undue simplifications of the problems. The book should prove to be a great value to the practitioners in orthopedics, sports medicine and bioengineering research. University students interested in careers in medicine or bioengineering may find it an interesting alternative to the standard courses in mechanics. Maciej P. Bieniek, Renwick Professor Emeritus of Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University Human Body Dynamics is a remarkable book. A concise, comprehensive, well-written and well-illustrated first chapter gives a necessary introduction to the anatomy of the human body. In the following chapters human body dynamics is explored using the principles of classical mechanics. The concluding chapter deals with the methods of three-dimensional mechanics. With these powerful tools, a myriad of very interesting problems are solved. This, I would say is the dessert of the feast. H. Buelent Atabek, Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering, Catholic University of America

From the reviews: This book represents a very ambitious undertaking of providing, in a single volume, a comprehensive exposition of the kinematics and dynamics governing the motion of the human body as well as a complete course of general mechanics. The author has been remarkably successful in achieving both objectives. He has produced a very accessible text without sacrificing the accuracy of arguments and avoiding undue simplifications of the problems. The book should prove to be a great value to the practitioners in orthopedics, sports medicine and bioengineering research. University students interested in careers in medicine or bioengineering may find it an interesting alternative to the standard courses in mechanics. Maciej P. Bieniek, Renwick Professor Emeritus of Engineering Mechanics, Columbia University Human Body Dynamics is a remarkable book. A concise, comprehensive, well-written and well-illustrated first chapter gives a necessary introduction to the anatomy of the human body. In the following chapters human body dynamics is explored using the principles of classical mechanics. The concluding chapter deals with the methods of three-dimensional mechanics. With these powerful tools, a myriad of very interesting problems are solved. This, I would say is the dessert of the feast. H. Buelent Atabek, Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering, Catholic University of America

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