Learn all about animal and human movements and muscles and their similarities and differences. From muscles, bones and exoskeletons to running, jumping swimming and flying, explore how humans and animals move and use their muscles.

Did you know there are 206 bones in an adult skeleton? Readers will learn many interesting facts about bones, muscles, exoskeletons, movements--both human and animal--and much more in this guide to the essential abilities of our bodies. The numerous movements humans can make, including running, jumping, and swimming, are explained and compared to animals through fascinating diagrams and vibrant photographs. Readers will learn about elements of their science curriculum and much more as they read.

An illustrated guide to the core design principles of the body’s musculoskeletal system—for kinesiologists, movement therapists, yoga teachers, dancers, and bodyworkers of all kinds What does knowledge of anatomical structure have to do with preventing everyday muscular aches, pains, and injuries? According to Dr. Theodore Dimon, everything! Our bodies are designed to work holistically, supported by an intelligently organized system of muscles, bones, and connective tissue. So when we target problem spots by stretching, relaxing, or strengthening individual muscles, we bypass the dynamic, interconnected network that enables healthy functioning and injury prevention. Understanding how this system works in action is the key. In this groundbreaking guide, Dr. Dimon describes the basic principles that govern our bodies’ musculoskeletal architecture and provides practical exercises to activate specific muscle groups and demonstrate our bodies’ efficient holistic function. Readers will learn about dynamic design and the body in action, including: How the musculoskeletal system works as a whole The relationship between proprioception and muscle length About maximizing spinal, shoulder, hip, arm, and leg stability and health The important role of breath and breathing About posture and musculoskeletal support With more than 300 illustrations, this is an ideal resource for students and practitioners of kinesiology, bodywork, movement, sport kinesiology, dance, and all readers searching for a dynamic guide to the human body.

De Motu animalium is sometimes referred to in the medical literature. But who has read it? The book, originally published in Latin, seemingly constitutes the very first treatise on biomechanics. The author, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli (1608 - 1679), was professor of mathematics and physics in Pisa where he worked with Malpighi, who was professor of theoretical medicine and focused Borelli's interest on the movements of living creatures. This was the time of Galileo, Descartes, Newton and many others, when sciences exploded, sometimes leading to conflicts with religious authorities. De Motu animalium, Borelli's life work, has two parts. In the first part, he analyses the action of the muscles, the movements of the limbs and motions of man and animals, including skating, running, jumping, swimming and flying. The second part deals with what is now called physiology, considered from the point of view of a mechanist: heart beat, blood circulation, breathing, separation of urine from the blood in the kidneys, liver function, reproduction, fatigue, thirst, hunger, fever, and so on. This work shows Borelli to be a genial precursor. He expresses his opinion as a mathematician on problems which afterwards further stimulated the curiosity and endeavours of many generations of researchers. This book will be welcomed by anybody who is interested in the working of living bodies and in the history of human knowledge.

Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz stand out among their seventeenth-century contemporaries as the great rationalist philosophers. Each sought to construct a philosophical system in which theological and philosophical foundations serve to explain the physical, mental and moral universe. Through a careful analysis of their work, Pauline Phemister explores the rationalists seminal contribution to the development of modern philosophy. Broad terminological agreement and a shared appreciation of the role of reason in ethics do not mask the very significant disagreements that led to three distinctive philosophical systems: Cartesian dualism, Spinozan monism and Leibnizian pluralism. The book explores the nature of, and offers reasons for, these differences. Phemister contends that Spinoza and Leibniz developed their systems in part through engagements with and amendment of Cartesian philosophy, and critically analyses the arguments and contributions of all three philosophers. The clarity of the authors discussion of their key ideas including their views on knowledge, universal languages, the nature of substance and substances, bodies, the relation of mind and body, freedom, and the role of distinct perception and reason in morals will make this book the ideal introduction to rationalist philosophy.

Movement and locomotion are collectively called the biomechanics, which is the science that brings Biology and mechanical engineering together. It is the liveliest and most fascinating branch and deals with the study of animal locomotion: how birds fly and fishes swim, how slugs crawl, how legged animal (and people) run, and much else besides. The bewildering variety of styles of movement used by creatures ranging in size from amoeba to whales presents innumerable challenges to biomechanicists.

How can geckoes walk on the ceiling and basilisk lizards run over water? What are the aerodynamic effects that enable small insects to fly? What are the relative merits of squids' jet-propelled swimming and fishes' tail-powered swimming? Why do horses change gait as they increase speed? What determines our own vertical leap? Recent technical advances have greatly increased researchers' ability to answer these questions with certainty and in detail. This text provides an up-to-date overview of how animals run, walk, jump, crawl, swim, soar, hover, and fly. Excluding only the tiny creatures that use cilia, it covers all animals that power their movements with muscle--from roundworms to whales, clams to elephants, and gnats to albatrosses. The introduction sets out the general rules governing all modes of animal locomotion and considers the performance criteria--such as speed, endurance, and economy--that have shaped their selection. It introduces energetics and optimality as basic principles. The text then tackles each of the major modes by which animals move on land, in water, and through air. It explains the mechanisms involved and the physical and biological forces shaping those mechanisms, paying particular attention to energy costs. Focusing on general principles but extensively discussing a wide variety of individual cases, this is a superb synthesis of current knowledge about animal locomotion. It will be enormously useful to advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and a range of professional biologists, physicists, and engineers.