BONES inside and out

Abstract

When I started reading ‘Bones’, I thought I knew a lot about them; by the time I had finished I realized that my ignorance was vastly greater than my knowledge. This is a treasure trove of information written by an enthusiast who clearly loves his subject and has studied it over decades. It is a well-structured book divided into two main halves. The first entitled ‘Bone concealed’ and the second ‘Bone revealed’. Bone concealed has nine chapters looking at the biology of bone; how it fails, its treatments through time and orthopaedic innovations, both mechanical and biological, undertaken to address these. The majority is about bone biology, with particular reference to the bones and development in other animals and comparison with humans. It provides a very interesting and easily digestible update on bone structure and biology. The author starts at the cellular/molecular levels, up through Haversian canals and onto the cylindrical structure of many bones to build his argument about bone being the ‘world’s best building material’. This applies both to humans and all animals with an endoskeleton. He identifies many specific roles of bones in other animals and very clearly discusses the merits of chitin exoskeletons versus bony endoskeletons. The chapters on bone pathology and its treatment will be well known to surgeons, but fascinating for the lay reader. His choice of ‘Six orthopaedic giants’ for Chapter 6 is of course subjective, but well argued. I found the second half of the book about ‘Bone revealed’ more interesting, probably because I knew so much less about it. The author delves into anthropology, illustrating what can be learnt about humans from skeletal remains and how the story of our origins has changed repeatedly with new discoveries, including the deceit of the Piltdown Man. He also includes some of the complex story of the dinosaurs, as well as the unedifying bickering between the leading dinosaur palaeontologists, Othneil Marsh and Edward Cope, in the 19th Century; their mutual animosity seems to have been boundless. There are fascinating chapters on the historical use of bones in a domestic setting and for war, contrasted with bones as a medium for art in many cultures, even today. These chapters are particularly well supplemented by some fascinating photos. This was a book I enjoyed reading, re-reading for review and will enjoy dipping into in the future. I congratulate Roy Meals, Assistant Editor of this Journal, for a unique and fascinating book.