The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's Anatomy - Hardcover

Advance praise for The Anatomist

"In his cunningly structured, beautifully written anatomy of Gray's Anatomy, Bill Hayes dissects the body's secrets, the lives of two great nineteenth-century explorers of those secrets-and some of his own obsession as well. A lovely book."
-Andrea Barett, author of Ship Fever

"Bill Hayes has written a thrilling book that is simultaneously an autobiography, a biography of Henry Gray, a scientific essay on our human anatomy, and a heart-breaking elegy. I do not know another book like it."
-Richard Rodriguez, author of Hunger of Memory

"The Anatomist is many things: a study of the body after life has left it, a chronicle of scientists obsessed with the subject, and, in a heartbreakingly personal way, a memoir. It is also a reflection about how little was known about disease not that long ago. Finally, it is a biography of an anxious, neurotic, enormously sympathetic young anatomist from another time who changed medicine. This is a wonderful book."
-Robert M. Sapolsky, author of A Primate's Memoir

"Hayes pays eloquent tribute to two masterpieces: the human body and the book detailing it. . . . [He balances] biographical chapters with his own experience in the anatomy classroom, dissecting cadavers and marveling at each new discovery with prose both lucid and arrestingly beautiful."
-Publishers Weekly

Advance praise for The Anatomist
"In his cunningly structured, beautifully written anatomy of Gray's Anatomy, Bill Hayes dissects the body's secrets, the lives of two great nineteenth-century explorers of those secrets-and some of his own obsession as well. A lovely book."
-Andrea Barett, author of Ship Fever
"Bill Hayes has written a thrilling book that is simultaneously an autobiography, a biography of Henry Gray, a scientific essay on our human anatomy, and a heart-breaking elegy. I do not know another book like it."
-Richard Rodriguez, author of Hunger of Memory
"The Anatomist is many things: a study of the body after life has left it, a chronicle of scientists obsessed with the subject, and, in a heartbreakingly personal way, a memoir. It is also a reflection about how little was known about disease not that long ago. Finally, it is a biography of an anxious, neurotic, enormously sympathetic young anatomist from another time who changed medicine. This is a wonderful book."
-Robert M. Sapolsky, author of A Primate's Memoir
"Hayes pays eloquent tribute to two masterpieces: the human body and the book detailing it. . . . [He balances] biographical chapters with his own experience in the anatomy classroom, dissecting cadavers and marveling at each new discovery with prose both lucid and arrestingly beautiful."
-Publishers Weekly

Advance praise for The Anatomist
In his cunningly structured, beautifully written anatomy of Gray s Anatomy, Bill Hayes dissects the body s secrets, the lives of two great nineteenth-century explorers of those secrets and some of his own obsession as well. A lovely book.
Andrea Barett, author of Ship Fever
Bill Hayes has written a thrilling book that is simultaneously an autobiography, a biography of Henry Gray, a scientific essay on our human anatomy, and a heart-breaking elegy. I do not know another book like it.
Richard Rodriguez, author of Hunger of Memory
The Anatomist is many things: astudy of the body after life has left it, a chronicle of scientists obsessed with the subject, and, in a heartbreakingly personal way, a memoir. It is also a reflection about how little was known about disease not that long ago. Finally, it is a biography of an anxious, neurotic, enormously sympathetic young anatomist from another time who changed medicine. This is a wonderful book.
Robert M. Sapolsky, author of A Primate s Memoir
Hayes pays eloquent tribute to two masterpieces: the human body and the book detailing it. . . . [He balances] biographical chapters with his own experience in the anatomy classroom, dissecting cadavers and marveling at each new discovery with prose both lucid and arrestingly beautiful.
Publishers Weekly"

Honoring the 150th anniversary of the first publication of the seminal medical text, an evocative study blends historical, medical, and scientific elements as it chronicles the influential work of anatomist Henry Gray and his little-known collaborator, illustrator H. V. Carter, who together provided the first detailed study of human anatomy. 15,000 first printing.