The definition of a great book, I would say, is one that a reader returns to over and over again. Folks often ask about my favorite childhood books. Well, a couple weeks ago, I rediscovered it while at The Book Spot in Round Rock: My family’s Better Homes and Gardens Family Medical Guide. Love! Love! Love!
This baby is illustrated with every disease one hopes to never get. And the illustrations aren’t bad either. In fact, they are quite artsy-fartsy-cool, while informational at the same time.
The title page of this copy looks just like our family’s copy, torn with browned tape. Ah, memories!
The artwork really was nice, circa 1973, psychedelic.
I loved this flip-through look at the inside of the body, guts and bones, veins and ligaments:
Infectious diseases! This was my favorite chapter, and likely explains my hypochondria today.
And it included everything a 10-year-old kid would want to learn about the birds and bees.
This was my favorite chapter. I don’t know why, but I was all into eyeballs. I used this chapter as reference for my 7th grade science project, where I created a 3d model of an eyeball.
Anyway, that’s it, one of my favorite childhood books. It’s a wonder I didn’t become a medical illustrator. Well, actually in college, while on an internship at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, I was offered a free medical illustration course. But to test me out, I had to spend a day in the morgue. I got sick only after a few minutes, watching students slice human corpses like deli lunch meat.