3-D human body

Lively and informative spreads, along with augmented reality technology, introduce readers to the human body. Beginning with essential building blocks of cells and DNA, charts, sidebars, diagrams, and cross-sections explore the structure and functions of skin, bones, and the brain, followed by insight into the body's various systems. Readers can download software from the publisher's Web site, which can be used in combination with a webcam to make six spreads turn into animated AR pop-outs on a computer screen. Those who don't use the multimedia effect can still learn plenty from the book's detailed mix of photographs, digital graphics, and engaging captions that illuminate how intricate bodily components work together. Available simultaneously: 3-D Dinosaur. Ages 9-12. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Gr 6-8-Bringing interactivity to a (slightly) higher level, each survey contains six topical spreads with imbedded digital cues that, when shown to a webcam (after downloading a title-specific program from the publisher's website), activate on-screen animations that float over the page, can be rotated or moved in limited ways, and sometimes even make noise. Unlike 3-D illustrations that require colored glasses, the art on the special spreads here is also as sharp and legible as on all the others. The densely packed pages in both volumes offer a mix of high-quality photos and painted images interspersed with explanatory captions and short passages of overview text. The level of detail goes a notch beyond equivalent "Eyewitness" treatments; 3-D Human Body, for instance, along with being chock-full of MRI and ultrasound photographs in saturated false colors, includes in its coverage of red blood cells a diagram of a hemoglobin molecule with four oxygen binding sites indicated. Similarly, along with an abundance of dramatically posed, photorealistic dinos, Woodward presents fossil evidence of enhanced sensory input in pterosaur brains and devotes two full spreads to crests and plumes. The animations move jerkily, the tyrannosaurus sometimes appears upside down, the image recognition software is finicky, and the general content is widely available elsewhere. Still, both titles offer a chance to dip a toe into the wave of the future, and both will be popular even without the gimmicks.-John Peters, formerly at New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.