Books

Praise forThe Anatomist

“A wonderful writer, Bill Hayes tells the multi-layered story of the two extraordinary young men who produced the most famous medical text of all time—a turning point in medical history, and a continuing influence and inspiration for artists, doctors and anatomists a century and a half later. Part memoir, part biography, part guided tour into the marvels of the human body, The Anatomist deserves a place on every bookshelf.  And if you do not already have a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, Bill Hayes's remarkable account will surely inspire you to get one.”—Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia

"Hayes searches for the elusive man behind the great reference work and his own scalpel's-eye tour of the human body" —The New York Times Book Review

"All laud and honor to Hayes. In perusing the body's 650 muscles and 206 bones, he has made the case that we are...'fearfully and wonderfully made' and that dissection has an aesthetic all its own." —The Washington Post

"Hayes moves nimbly between the dour streets of Victorian London...and the sunnier classrooms of a West Coast university." —The New Yorker

"One of those rare authors who can tackle just about any subject in book form, and make you glad he did." —San Francisco Chronicle

"With prose both lucid and arrestingly beautiful . . . Hayes pays eloquent tribute to two masterpieces: the human body and the book detailing it." —Publishers Weekly

"Some of [Hayes's] most memorable writing describes the dissection classes he attended in San Francisco. We are treated to a selection of fascinating anatomical snippets..." —Nature