A Map of the Child: A Pediatrician's Tour of the Body. - book review

Science News, Feb 8, 2003

DARSHAK SANGHAVI

When he was a young doctor training at Boston's Children's Hospital, Sanghavi worked briefly in several specialties. Similarly, this book is a crash course in how anatomy, physiology, psychology, and public health policy affect children. Chapter by chapter, Sanghavi examines major organs in the body: lungs, heart, blood, bones, brain, skin, gonads, and guts. He provides an engaging and accessible look both at how the organs develop in a fetus and what can go wrong with them. Through stories about patients he has cared for, he tells, for instance, how the lungs mature as well as how physicians treat asthma. Moreover, he tackles some of the most contentious issues in pediatrics, including circumcision, vaccinations, and teen pregnancy. H Holt & Co, 2003, 305 p., hardcover, $24.00.