Physics in Biology and Medicine (Complementary Science) By Paul Davidovits

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I got a free copy of this textbook to review, since I'm considering building a 100-level physics course on it. It's coverage of the applications of physics to the human body and medicine is really very good. It's written well and is truly aimed at the students who know their anatomy but not how to use physics or math to a great extent. It is written as a follow-up to a standard 2-semester physics course. The basics of physics are reviewed in two appendices (one per semester, roughly). Since very few students bound for the health sciences are able/willing to take 3 semesters of physics, I'll need to fit the basics in with the applications from this book in the same course. The textbook will therefore need quite a bit of supplementation to make the course work. It's a very good read for people interested in the applications on their own, but again, it assumes you already know some physics. Also, the problems at the end of each chapter are decent, but there aren't enough of them, and they will also need to be supplemented.

In short, this is a good book and is exactly what it claims to be, but I'll need to add quite a bit of basics to it to make it into a 1-semester course with enough background for the students to really learn the material.

One gripe I have about the book is the lack of respect for units. When the author is doing a calculation, he often plugs numbers in right away (without starting with the original formula!) and plugs them in without units. The units appear on the final answer magically. This probably won't bother any of my students, but it bothers me since I work very hard to not let them do this sort of thing. Physics in Biology and Medicine (Complementary Science)

The fourth edition of Physics for Biology and Medicine, covers topics in physics as they apply to the life sciences, specifically medicine, physiology, nursing and other applied health fields. This concise introductory paperback surveys and relates basic physics to living systems, encompassing solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, sound, electricity, optics, and atomic and nuclear physics. The new edition has been updated with a discussion of atomic force microscopy, use of lasers in medical diagnostics and the applications of nanotechnology in biology and medicine.

Applied health workers, even with little formal background in physics, will learn how biological systems can be analyzed quantitatively, how physical and engineering analysis techniques have helped advance the life sciences, and also the limits of quantitative analysis as applied to living systems. End-of-chapter exercises and extensive reference sections add to the book’s value in academic and clinical settings.

Provides practical techniques for applying knowledge of physics to the study of living systems Presents material in a straight forward manner requiring very little background in physics or biology Includes many figures, examples and illustrative problems and appendices which provide convenient access to the most important concepts of mechanics, electricity, and optics in the body Physics in Biology and Medicine (Complementary Science)