In The Body in Motion, author Theodore Dimon confronts a
simple yet crucial task: to make sense of our amazing design. This
comprehensive guide demonstrates the functions and evolution of
specific body systems, explaining how they cooperate to form an
upright, intelligent, tool-making marvel, capable of great
technological and artistic achievement. Enhanced with 162
beautifully rendered full-color illustrations, the book opens with
an introduction to the origins of movement, leading the reader on a
journey through time and evolution—from fish to amphibian,
quadruped to primate—showing how humans became the preeminent
moving beings on the planet.
Delving deeper into our upright support system, The Body in
Motion clearly describes the workings of the hands and upper limbs;
the pelvic girdle; the feet and lower limbs; breathing; the larynx
and throat musculature; and more. Central to the book is the idea
that it is our upright posture that makes it possible for us to
move in an infinite variety of ways, to manipulate objects, to form
speech, and to perform the complex rotational movements that
underlie many of our most sophisticated skills. These systems,
Dimon argues persuasively, have helped us build, invent, create
art, explore the world, and imbue life with a contemplative,
spiritual dimension that would otherwise not exist.