Book Title: My Ten Lessons in Gross Anatomy: Time Spent with Silent Teachers

Book Description:

From the dissection of the hand in the very first class to standing face-to-face with the silent teacher at the end of the semester, these ten rigorous and tense anatomy lessons recount a profound passion for life and knowledge of the human body...

To those outside the medical field, anatomy seems profound and complex, evoking both curiosity and fear regarding cadavers.

What exactly happens inside the dissection room? How do medical students anxiously make their very first incision?

Over a semester of coming together, what kind of unique emotional bond develops between the students and their silent teacher?

As a "living" instructor of the anatomy course, the author weaves together vignettes of her own upbringing to reveal her inner world, chronicling her experiences at the dissection scene while depicting the emotional stirrings within medical students during their learning journey.

Written in an accessible and engaging prose, the author shares her experiences and feelings, connecting them with fragments of her personal growth to reveal her inner world, making this an invaluable and exceptional book.

Gross anatomy is a vital pillar of education in medical schools. Through this process, students learn the structures of the human body through actual touch and observation. Due to the precise developments and specialization in medicine, combined with the high advancement of personalized medicine in clinical practice, the level of detail in anatomy is beyond what ordinary people can imagine. In terms of the sheer volume of knowledge, it is a daunting course that causes medical students immense anguish.

To those outside medicine, anatomy is profound and complex; they view the human body with both curiosity and fear. What exactly happens in the dissection room? How is it taught, and how do students learn? Is a dissected body terrifying? These thoughts are often a mix of rumors, hearsay, and speculation.

Following a serendipitous path after graduating from university, the author entered the anatomy laboratory and became a professional anatomy instructor. From a teacher's perspective, she shares the bits and pieces of practical dissection teaching. This is the first book in Taiwan to describe on-site human dissection, tracing the vital milestones of the course through a regional anatomy approach.

In addition to detailing numerous aspects of practical dissection, the text connects the intricate structures of the body to the everyday conditions or knowledge encountered by ordinary people. Most notably, this book presents a description of how Tzu Chi University's unique humanities are integrated into professional anatomy teaching, portraying the emotional stirrings of the students during the learning process and clarifying their significance to medical education.

These are the ten gross anatomy lessons that initiate medical students, and they are also ten life lessons that you cannot afford to miss.

Celebrity Endorsements:

Chih-Hong Wang (Editor-in-Chief of Rhythms Monthly, Deputy Director of Print Media at Tzu Chi Culture and Communication Foundation)

Pei-Fan Li (Professor at National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, Specialist in Thanatology and Health Counseling)

Kuo-Fan Tseng (Academic Vice President and Chief R&D Officer at Tzu Chi University; Director of the Medical Simulation Center, Professor of Anatomy)

Tu-Chien Tsai (Professor at the Graduate Institute of Philosophy, National Central University; Professor at the School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University)

Meng-Li Tsai (Editor-in-Chief of Science Monthly)

About the Authors:

Ho Han-Chen

Received her Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the Department and Graduate Institute of Zoology at National Taiwan University, and her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Since 2003, she has taught in the Department of Anatomy at Tzu Chi University's School of Medicine. She has a special fondness for morphology, describing herself as a "visual-oriented" researcher who loves observing the beauty of biological forms with her own eyes and through microscopes.

Li Cui-Qing

Graduated from the Department of Political Science at National Taiwan University and the Graduate Institute of Journalism at National Chengchi University. She worked at various magazine agencies for many years and is currently a freelance writer.

• As a gross anatomy professor, why did she strongly and agonizingly oppose her own mother's wish to sign a body donation consent form?

• Are the silent teachers on the dissection table merely learning tools and combinations of organs? No, they are people with stories and warmth!

• What were the final wishes of these silent teachers? If given the chance to speak face-to-face with the students, what would they want to say?

• Gross anatomy is widely considered the most terrifying course in medical school, with professors famously fierce. Why are these "living" teachers so strict with these brilliant students? What is their true intention?

• An anatomy teacher even has to "produce" her own teaching aids! While giving birth, she called her husband, who was accompanying her in labor, to run back to the lab for formalin to preserve the placenta immediately—all so her students could catch a glimpse of its intricate structure.