Anatomy for Beginners

We truly live in an age of miracles. It's a little hard to look at at first but what a miracle we are! You can see the body fat and the tendons and the bone and see in action which muscle groups cause which movements. When you see von Hagen's exhibits in museums in no way does it do it justice. Learning comes from hearing and seeing. While of course culture and evolution has made us uncomfortable and installed us with taboos; the age has arrived when we can all look upon man with wonder.

In the first episode you see von Hagen remove the entire skin as a single organ. You can see the yellow subcutaneous fat which I've struggled to remove. You can clearly see the tendon sheaths and the tendons. He extracts the spinal cord, sciatic nerve and nerve ending all as one piece, illustrating juxtaposed with a live model just how our body moves and feels.

I found his approach respectful. He uses tools like a meat slicer for the brain, and a chisel to open the skull. It's all a learning experience conducted for the layman, with the decorum of a fine medical school. I can only hope he spends more time in areas of my particular ailments in the following episodes.