Popular Science Children's Review - Dr Frankenstein's Human Body Book

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Review - Dr Frankenstein's Human Body Book - Richard Walker

I really struggled in attempting to decide whether to call this book hardback or paperback as in truth it's neither. It's bound in the sort of squidgy plastic you find on some ring binder covers, with a jolly skull hologram that the photo here really doesn't do justice to on the front. (The US edition doesn't have the hologram - maybe the cover is more conventional too.) I also have to comment on the pages - this is a board book, like the kind of thing you give to three-year-olds. The only justification I can see for this is to expand what is in practice a fairly thin book (around 80 functional pages), so that it doesn't suffer from the 'really thin, must be a school book' feel of many Dorling Kindersley titles. Oh, yes, and while we're moaning about format, also in traditional DK style, the author's name appears nowhere on the cover, but is hidden away on the copyright page - poor show, chaps.

That's the whingeing out of the way, but Dr F does score a healthy four stars because the content really is very good. Illustrated human body books come and go, but it is quite difficult to make them appealing, and the Richard Walker's format, packaging up the view of the bits in a body as a write-up by Dr F as he gradually assembles his monster is a wonderful concept. If anything, he could have made even more of it. The majority of the content, in the standard DK two page spread format, with excellent illustrations by Nick Abadzis (less photos than many DK books) is really a straightforward guide to the human body, with the Frankenstein effect coming through in the style of the titles (rather unreadable gothic) and quotes from the Doctor's journal. There's plenty here to get your teeth into when it comes to getting a good understanding of the bits that make up a body, their function and how they fit together.

If I remember anything about being the age of the intended readership of this book, one of the first things you would have sought out was the naughty bits. The whole reproductive system, rather significant I would have thought, bodily system gets rather short shrift, consigned to a tiny portion of the pages on the urinary system. Of course, Dr F probably didn't intend to use these bits.

All in all a brilliant idea that could have been even more exciting, but still manages to liven up the hoary old human body thing.

Only in hardback

Reviewed by Brian Clegg

* Our age range recommendation is an estimated guide, but individual readers outside the range could still enjoy the book!

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