The study of human anatomy is more than just the memorization of facts and multi-syllabic vocabulary words. It requires an understanding of relationships. Cells and blood; tissues and bones; the respiratory, circulatory, and digestive systems—you get the idea. And now, your students can get the picture too. The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body, a new book by David Macaulay, combines scientific illustrations that could appear in a standard textbook with whimsical drawings that creatively convey the relationships that are essential to life. It is not a textbook replacement, but, as this sample page demonstrates, it is a wonderfully illustrated resource for sparking lively class discussions. To see more of the book, go to www.davidmacaulay.com or contact us at amered@aft.org and request a copy of the Winter 2008-09 issue of the magazine.

—EDITORS

By David Macaulay

Our body may be the first and is certainly the most remarkable thing we learn to take for granted. Because it works 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and makes only a few routine demands on our schedules, it's hardly surprising that we're much more familiar with its outside appearance than we are with what's going on inside. That is, of course, until something goes wrong. But why wait for trouble to stimulate curiosity? Each of us owns and inhabits an exceptional example of biological engineering and one that deserves to be understood and celebrated.

Everyone's journey begins as a single cell that contains everything we will need to get the ball rolling. If all goes well, that single cell will multiply into a population reaching tens of trillions. While these cells are invisible to the naked eye, each and every one is alive. And though they may do different work, the fundamental structure and basic operation of every cell is pretty much the same.

Once committed to the building of a multicellular organism, no cell exists in isolation. Each is part of a neighborhood and is in constant communication with its neighbors. Each cell also receives messages from farther afield. We are able to accomplish the huge number of things we do, things that make us human, only because our cells willingly collaborate with each other. This is not a random act of kindness on their part. They are looking out for themselves. If their survival is threatened, so is ours. By arranging themselves into strictly organized groups, each with its own particular functions, they build and operate the systems needed to maintain the steady internal environment upon which they depend, regardless of what's going on outside.

These systems, with familiar names such as respiratory, circulatory, and digestive, are introduced and explored through the various sections of The Way We Work. They are presented one at a time to avoid overwhelming the reader, but it should be kept in mind that just as our cells must work together, one system without the others would undoubtedly fail. Ultimately, this is the story of the superb interdependence of all the systems that make up the human body. This, in essence, is the way we work.

David Macaulay has illustrated and written more than 20 books and won numerous awards, including a Caldecott Medal and a MacArthur Fellowship. The Way We Work was coauthored by Richard Walker, a science writer and former teacher. Excerpted from The Way We Work by David Macaulay. Illustrations copyright © 2008 by David Macaulay. Text copyright © by David Macaulay, Richard Walker. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.