Hidden Beauty: Exploring the Aesthetics of Medical Science

by Norman Barker

This collaborative project by a scientist and artist from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine asks the reader to consider the aesthetics of human disease, a dynamically powerful force of nature that acts without regard to race, religion, or culture. Here more than sixty medical science professionals present visually stunning patterns of different diseases affecting various areas of the human anatomy. Captured with a variety of imaging technology ranging from spectral karyotyping to scanning electron microscopy, we see beauty in the delicate lacework of fungal hyphae invading a blood vessel, the structure of the normal cerebellum, and the desperate drive of metastasizing cancer cells. However, appreciation of the imagery produced by disease, which smacks of modern art, is bittersweet; we simultaneously experience the beauty of the natural world and the pain of those living with these disease processes. Ultimately, this series of images will leave the viewer with an understanding and appreciation of visual beauty inherent within the field of modern medical science.

232 pages, Hardcover

First published March 28, 2013

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that you probably want to see, one that you cannot fail to appreciate for its wonderful photography, yet you probably won't fully understand the accompanying text. Oh, and the price is sadly a little high for the average reader too.

Science meets art in this fairly unique book and the reader is invited to consider the aesthetics of human disease, to marvel at the intricate nature of the human body and to get a totally new perspective on the medical world. This is a book for the curious amateur although even medical professionals who might be a little blasé to yet another microscopic picture of the human heart surely cannot be blind or impassive to this.

The quality AND diversity of the colour photographs is so high that this reviewer lost count of the number of items he had added to his virtual "I could frame that…"-list. With many of the images you will struggle to know what you are looking at should you not read the helpful but all-too-short textual captions. For the average reader this is exactly the sort of book that could be released as a high-quality eBook (with a lower price, hint hint). Viewing these images on a high-quality colour tablet such as an iPad would be visual heaven.

At the same time you get to learn a little bit, albeit superficially, about some of the latest advances in medical imaging and research. One nice feature was the inclusion of some older historical imagery but one wants more. It would have been good to have shown the development of imagery for many body parts, illnesses and the like, showcasing the improvements in imaging and medical understanding over time.

Some of the content sounds squeamish but in reality it isn't. Fungi, cross-sections of the human brain, smear tests and much more besides are all tastefully presented. There is no gory voyeurism here. There's not a lot more to say other than to hope for a price cut. Your bookshelf probably deserves this book. If you only have money for one luxury out-of-the-ordinary book purchase, maybe this one is deserving of further consideration.

Hidden Beauty: Exploring the Aesthetics of Medical Science, written by Norman Barker & Christine Iacobuzio-Donahue and published by Schiffer Publishing Ltd. ISBN 9780764344121, 232 pages. Typical price: USD60. YYYYY.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

Hidden Beauty provides a tour de force of medical science imaging - from PET, MRI, microscope, biopsy, forensics, computer modeling, etc - this provides a new way of looking at diseases and medical issues.

As a great example, the cover image looks like a photograph of seashells. However, it is a collection of the different type of gallstones extricated by patients over the years. This is definitely not a book for the queasy - although the images themselves are hardly scary, the descriptions of what you are actually looking at can be. Whether asbestos in the lung, colon cancer destruction, alzheimers brain scans, or fungal petri dishes, the book presents this medical observations in a clinical and professional manner. Descriptions are given of the disease, it's effect on the patient, and the exact nature of what we are seeing in the images.

The original description of the book led me to believe it would just be a collection of interesting pictures of body parts. But I found a lot of the images weren't really about beauty so much as a fascination and curiosity with the different ways medical doctors are trying to define and cure diseases and other problems with the human body.

This is a fascinating book especially suitable for those in the medical or science disciplines.

[Felelith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an beautiful look inside the inner workings of the body. The pictures of the different systems show what an amazing thing nature is. The cover itself shows the beauty of something, gallstones, which are usually held is such low regard. If you enjoy photography, medical research or just the strange human condition this might be a book you are interested in.

Received reviewer copy from NetGalley
http://felelith.blogspot.com/2013/08/...

[GONZA · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really beautiful and fascinating.

Veramente bello e affascinante.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND SHIFFER PUBLISHING LTD. FOR THE PREVIEW!