In The Body in Motion, author Theodore Dimon confronts a simple yet
crucial task: to make sense of our amazing design. This comprehensive
guide demonstrates the functions and evolution of specific body systems,
explaining how they cooperate to form an upright, intelligent,
tool-making marvel, capable of great technological and artistic
achievement. Enhanced with 162 beautifully rendered full-color
illustrations, the book opens with an introduction to the origins of
movement, leading the reader on a journey through time and
evolution--from fish to amphibian, quadruped to primate--showing how
humans became the preeminent moving beings on the planet.
Delving deeper into our upright support system, The Body in Motion
clearly describes the workings of the hands and upper limbs; the pelvic
girdle; the feet and lower limbs; breathing; the larynx and throat
musculature; and more. Central to the book is the idea that it is our
upright posture that makes it possible for us to move in an infinite
variety of ways, to manipulate objects, to form speech, and to perform
the complex rotational movements that underlie many of our most
sophisticated skills. These systems, Dimon argues persuasively, have
helped us build, invent, create art, explore the world, and imbue life
with a contemplative, spiritual dimension that would otherwise not
exist.
