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Original post by BakedBeanz
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Hi guys, I am going to read medicine at Imperial next year and I was wondering what books do you recommend to have/read? If you have any pdf copies, I will be extremely grateful if you could send it to me :smile: My email address is in my personal description box

Cheers!
Reply 261
Any more recommendations on websites or textbooks for clinical years re clinical medicine/pathology?
I'm finding that a lot of the textbooks recommended here and by the med school (e.g. Kumar, Davidson's, Lecture Notes) are very variable in detail and coverage depending on what particular disease or system you're looking up.
Specifically, I need something which has :
Epidemiology
Risk Factors
Detailed Pathophysiology
Signs/Symptoms
Comprehensive DDx
Investigations (including what to expect in a positive result)
Management
FOR EVERY DISEASE, the only thing I've found so far which does this consistently is Medscape.com, but this can be a bit too much sometimes and ideally I'd prefer a textbook.
Any suggestions are much appreciated :smile:
Original post by ab192
Any more recommendations on websites or textbooks for clinical years re clinical medicine/pathology?
I'm finding that a lot of the textbooks recommended here and by the med school (e.g. Kumar, Davidson's, Lecture Notes) are very variable in detail and coverage depending on what particular disease or system you're looking up.
Specifically, I need something which has :
Epidemiology
Risk Factors
Detailed Pathophysiology
Signs/Symptoms
Comprehensive DDx
Investigations (including what to expect in a positive result)
Management
FOR EVERY DISEASE, the only thing I've found so far which does this consistently is Medscape.com, but this can be a bit too much sometimes and ideally I'd prefer a textbook.
Any suggestions are much appreciated :smile:


Uptodate is good, and BMJ Best Practice is good but very management-focused.

I don't think you need it for EVERY DISEASE surely.

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Original post by Hype en Ecosse
Uptodate is good, and BMJ Best Practice is good but very management-focused.

I don't think you need it for EVERY DISEASE surely.

Posted from TSR Mobile

You mean you're not going out of your way to learn all that for every single disease? ****ing slacker.
Original post by ab192
Any more recommendations on websites or textbooks for clinical years re clinical medicine/pathology?
I'm finding that a lot of the textbooks recommended here and by the med school (e.g. Kumar, Davidson's, Lecture Notes) are very variable in detail and coverage depending on what particular disease or system you're looking up.
Specifically, I need something which has :
Epidemiology
Risk Factors
Detailed Pathophysiology
Signs/Symptoms
Comprehensive DDx
Investigations (including what to expect in a positive result)
Management
FOR EVERY DISEASE, the only thing I've found so far which does this consistently is Medscape.com, but this can be a bit too much sometimes and ideally I'd prefer a textbook.
Any suggestions are much appreciated :smile:

You must be new.

There isn't a book that will do all this to your satisfaction in every case. Part of learning medicine is using a variety of resources. This is useful anyway: different books and resources give you slightly different information. If you rely entirely on a single resource, you're doing it wrong. Figure out a range of resources you like and use them.
Reply 265
Original post by Hype en Ecosse
Uptodate is good, and BMJ Best Practice is good but very management-focused.

I don't think you need it for EVERY DISEASE surely.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Cheers, I'll try those out :smile:

No you're right I guess I didn't mean literally every disease, but I'm finding the coverage of even common diseases is quite variable depending on the book you use
Reply 266
Original post by Kinkerz
You must be new.

There isn't a book that will do all this to your satisfaction in every case. Part of learning medicine is using a variety of resources. This is useful anyway: different books and resources give you slightly different information. If you rely entirely on a single resource, you're doing it wrong. Figure out a range of resources you like and use them.


I know in medicine you have to use different resources for different things, but for example, I'd say Guyton/Robbin's/Gray's are pretty comprehensive for each of physiology/pathology/anatomy so I never bothered using anything else for each of those subjects. I was just looking for something similar for clinical medicine as it's a pain to read through say, Kumar and Clark and then Davidson's for one thing, when they cover 90% of the same stuff just to tease out the extra nuggets that one hasn't mentioned.

Would you say it's worth getting a new textbook for each specialty (i.e. not lecture notes etc. either) and just using that? The ones I've used for Oncology and Haematology (the rotation I'm doing atm) can be a bit OTT and people have said not to bother, but any recommendations for this as well?
Original post by ab192
I know in medicine you have to use different resources for different things, but for example, I'd say Guyton/Robbin's/Gray's are pretty comprehensive for each of physiology/pathology/anatomy so I never bothered using anything else for each of those subjects. I was just looking for something similar for clinical medicine as it's a pain to read through say, Kumar and Clark and then Davidson's for one thing, when they cover 90% of the same stuff just to tease out the extra nuggets that one hasn't mentioned.

Would you say it's worth getting a new textbook for each specialty (i.e. not lecture notes etc. either) and just using that? The ones I've used for Oncology and Haematology (the rotation I'm doing atm) can be a bit OTT and people have said not to bother, but any recommendations for this as well?

Well I wouldn't recommend Guyton to anyone except profound insomniacs, but Robbins and Gray have their moments. I tended to use various resources even for that stuff though.

I would say that you should try it out and see how you find it. Different people learn in different ways but sticking to one book for everything is going to leave you stunted. Books aren't even the best resources for management anyway. A lot of what you'll read in isn't even in practice anymore: the most recent edition of Kumar and Clark was published in 2012 and books are anywhere from 1-5 years behind by the time they're even out, so you're looking at medicine from about 5-10 years ago, some of which will be the same and some of which will have moved on. Things like NICE clinical knowledge summaries are great for quickly assimilating relatively up-to-date information on management. Better than most books, in fact. As for pathophysiology the only clinical medicine book I've seen do a convincing job is Harrison's (which will also serve as a good 'base' textbook if you're still hankering after one, it's just geared towards the USA rather than UK), but I wouldn't recommend a clinical book for that anyway. Stick with specific books/review articles/whatever for that.
Reply 268
Thanks a lot for that, I had a look at Harrison's and it literally has everything, a good 'base' as you say
But yeah I was using NICE guidelines for management anyway rather than textbooks for the reasons you say
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by ab192
Thanks a lot for that, I had a look at Harrison's and it literally has everything, a good 'base' as you say
But yeah I was using NICE guidelines for management anyway rather than textbooks for the reasons you say


I discovered BMJ Best Practice not too long ago and I really like it, it seems to fit what you want. The pathophysiology side of things is generally good but I do supplement it with 2nd year notes/Robbins etc if I feel like I need to. Their section on ddx is excellent, tells you what would differentiate it from xyz disease, Ix section is also good (has positive findings, what you should order and what you could also order, and a neat section on emerging investigations). It's also referenced throughout so you can see the evidence base which is nice.

It's accessed through your university but I'd be pretty surprised if there was a UK med school that wasn't subscribed to it!
any specific advice for nottingham?
Reply 271
Any paediatric textbook/website recommendations?
The Physiology colouring book is woeful.

Shout out to McGeowns physiology for multiple choice questions AND explanations why the wrong answer is wrong.
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (On the Move) - Saved my ass in my Infectious Diseases rotation. Great short explanations and diagrams covering bacteria, staining/other testing, viruses etc, antibiotic pharmacology, and various diseases. Quite heavy for an A5 size. 8/10

Illustrated Textbook of Paediatrics - My favourite big paeds textbook. 8.5/10

Paediatrics at a Glance - My favourite slightly smaller textbook 8/10

Any good hospital/uni library should have both of those paeds books

Was recommended Impey for Obs&Gynae and it was very good, another 8/10

8/10 is poosibly my default rating for good textbooks....
From a Medical Librarian's perspective (at Imperial) this list is very useful. There is only so many reading lists to get ideas for stock, and a whole load of Medical books to make purchase decisions over. Please keep this list going we love suggestions and knowing the books we order are going to get used.
I wonder what the review of the new UOGTM Radiology book will be.

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"Dermatology for the USMLE" by Alvaro J. Ramos. I learned a lot for dermatology AND Internal Medicine using this review book. The material comes from Mayo Clinic with all their latest high quality pictures incorporated in the book with very concise and up to date information. It has great reviews on amazon and I personally love it. The exams in the U.S. are including more and more dermatology questions...but I didn't want to study derm without covering and maybe forgetting internal medicine. This is when I came across this book. I highly recommend it!
Original post by digitalis
So I'm bored and decided to include some reviews of books I have bought and are in use on my bookshelf as it is a reasonably common question in the summer months/before going to uni, usually something along the lines of "ZOMG!! WHAT BOOKS SHOULD I BUY!!". As always, I will advocate the party line of buying nothing, yes nothing, until you go to university and look at all the books available in the library, as unlike school for all you school leavers, there is no real "core" textbook. It is down to personal preference and style.

So, here goes!

PS Current students/Drs./mods would be great if you can add your own.

Preclinical Medicine

Essential Clinical Anatomy-Moore and Agur

Spoiler


Netter's Anatomy Flashcards

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Anatomy Colouring Book

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Greys Anatomy for Students

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Wheater's Functional Histology

Spoiler



Clinically Orientated Anatomy by Moore and Dalley

Spoiler


Essential Cell Biology]

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Pocock and Richards: Human Physiology

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McMinn's Clinical Atlas of Human Anatomy

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Dean and Pedginton Vol. 1 2 and 3

Spoiler


BRS Pathology

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General and Systemic Pathology

Spoiler



Basic Concepts in Pharmacology: A Student's Survival Guide

Spoiler


Rang and Dales' Pharmacology

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Integrated Pharmacology

Spoiler


Medical Pharmacology at a Glance

Spoiler


Human Reproduction at a Glance

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Guyton and Hall's Physiology

Spoiler


Clinical Medicine

Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine

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Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine

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Tutorials in Differential Diagnosis

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Davidson's Essentials of Medicine

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Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine

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Surgical Recall

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Surgical Talk: Revision in Surgery

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Essential Surgery

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Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology

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Essential Orthopaedics and Trauma

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Wards 101 Pocket

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Clinical Examination

Oxford Handbook of Clinical Examination and Practical Skills

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Macleod's Clinical Examination

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Handbook of Clinical Skills

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More to come...

Oxford Textbook of Medicine

Hi, I have always believed in keeping two books for each subject:
ONE: a medium-length concise one for quick reading cover to cover, initially as an intro to the subject, and later as a revision aid.
TWO: a comprehensive, highly-detailed very heavy volume for referring to those clinical features/pathophysiological mechanisms/drug kinetics and dynamics/diseases that you have either encountered on the wards/clinics, or topics that you just feel you would like to know more about; I personally do not believe in shortcuts, and for the topics that profoundly interest me, I like to know absolutely everything about them that is currently known.

As a medical student just a few years ago (let us not count how many :smile: ), I used Davidson's Principles of Medicine as my "brief" one and Harrison as my bible. As new editions emerged, I have now digressed to the Oxford 3-volume giant for the latter. This book has as much detail and precision as regards medical facts as you can get anywhere - the proviso is of course, the size: 3 volumes around 5000 pages. Having said that, there is a full contents list (together with respective volume numbers), and a full index in all three volumes, so it is not as wieldy to manouvre as you might think at first glance.

Also, it comes with a code to use the online version which has ALL the text and diagrams, but the access is limited to 6 months, which is slightly naughty of them - however, just save all the good quality pics and diagrams, in case you need to use them later to refer to, or as I do, in my Powerpoint presentations.

One point to think about though: most of the pics are not vector images, so if you magnify them considerably (as you would need to in a lecture), they become grainy.

Although I would strongly recommend this monster to anyone who has a super-meticulous eye for detail, or who relishes good quality clinical photographs, I would in all fairness, mention one important flaw, which actually not many readers might pick up - I just happen to be named "hawkeyes" (:u:) by the editors of one of my own books, when I picked up over 500 minute errors from their final version, so do not let this point dissuade you if you like everything else.

This point is that the proof-reading of this otherwise excellent text, has been done by someone rather poor at his/her role. After reading only about 100 pages, I picked up at least 10 typos, which dampens the otherwise exemplary impression I had previously gleaned:

SOME EXAMPLES:-

a) p. 1490 L column: just below heading "Niacin: nico............." 1st line: "c" missed out in "nicotinamide".

b) p. 1494 R column under "Vitamins & CHD" 2nd p-graph, 1st line: "r" missing in "stroke".

c) same sentence as in (b): duplicate "depression".

d) p 4107 (vol 3) L column: last p-g end of 2nd line: should read (in red): "Box 21.13.1" NOT "Table...".

e) p 811 L Column: under "Treatment" End of 2nd p-g: should read "failure or death".

f) p441 "Antimicrobial Chemotherapy" 2nd sub-heading: line 4 no 4 should read "trimethoprim".

This list is not intended to offend the proof-readers, rather to make potential buyers of this expensive work from our country's top institution aware of the pros and cons before embarking on a large investment - some people may not be too upset by numerous minor typos, but it depends on the readers level of attention to precision to the finest minutiae, which, in a project from Oxford, one would expect to be near perfect.

One other, again possibly minor negative point I would mention is that the citations to references all ONLY appear at the ends of sections as a bibliography, but there are NO IN-TEXT CITATIONS. This makes it a little cumbersome when one wants to locate further detail/research on a very specific point, as it means going through the titles of all the papers.

On a positive note, the level of detail in both breadth and depth is very good indeed e.g. the biochemical details of the actions of vitamins and minerals that form the basis of the symptoms and signs of deficiency OR the biochemistry and physiology of the immune system that is given in considerable detail before delving into pathophysiology or into immunology of transplantation.

SCORES:
Information provision and detail: 9/10
Photographs: 8.5/10
Diagrams: 6.5/10
Readability: 7/10
Price: OK after shopping around for what you get (except the time limit on online access) - 8/10
Size & weight: 7/10
Binding/paper quality: 8/10

Thank you! M (lecturer/clinical pharmacologist)
(edited 6 years ago)
Anyone have any recommendations for a good intro to cell biology?
Original post by Omar_Little
Anyone have any recommendations for a good intro to cell biology?


Only one Cell Biology textbook exists: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21054/