The dissection of a human body challenges all that we understand about life and death. During Gross Anatomy class, medical students are asked to face death, to pull it apart, and to cut it apart- all in the hope of understanding life. This introductory experience is considered a major transition toward becoming a physician. How students emerge from their medical training will set the tone for the relationships they will have with patients throughout their career. This book combines photographs of a group of medical students during their dissection of cadavers in Gross Anatomy class with excerpts from journals they kept during the course. It reveals the intensity of first year medical students as they struggle to learn human anatomy through the generosity of individuals who donated their bodies to medical education. This book challenges students early in their training to learn more than simply the names and actions of the muscles and nerves in the body. It encourages them to come to terms with the mortality of others, as well as their own. -- Publisher description