A surgeon (and TV host) encourages us to take a fresh look at our organs in a smart and forceful studyIn the first week of medical school, my cohort was divided into small groups, given big sheets of white paper and assigned the task of drawing organs on a human outline, as our lecturer shouted “liver!”, “ovary other ovary!”, “appendix!”, “spleen!” It was startling to confront our ignorance and the exercise was formative for me in retaining humility when talking with patients and being curious about what I call their “imaginary anatomy”: how we think our bodies look inside. Despite the smooth, slim, cross-sections we see on the walls of GP surgeries, each of us has this imaginary space that is of interest not only in its deviation from textbook “truth”, but because the idea of our innards affects how we feel about ourselves and what we think our bodies can do for us. This might explain why I chose to become a psychiatrist rather than a surgeon.As Gabriel Weston writes in Alive, surg...
Gabriel Weston's "Alive: An Alternative Anatomy" encourages a fresh perspective on our organs, exploring the gap between textbook anatomy and our individual "imaginary anatomy." Weston, a surgeon with a background in English literature, blends scientific knowledge with a humanistic understanding, shaped by her experiences in medicine, media, and personal health challenges. The book emphasizes the importance of seeing the body as more than a mere mechanism.
