Textbooks

I've got deferred offers to do Vet Med at Cambs and Bristol, and since I don't want to lose the scientific mindset completely in my Gap Year, I was wondering if anyone knew any "textbooks" or required reading for the first year at either of these unis (or anywhere!), or just some general books I could look at. I don't want to turn up at uni in a year's time having forgotten completly how to work!

Reply 1

leggielass

dyce anatomy is good and has nice pics, best thing- buy dissection of the dog by miller and get learning the muscles!! this will be invaluable. also review genetics and basic biochemistry. all this will be really helpful. happy holiday! x

Reply 2

)(--becca--)(

Th sheep farmer I was with lambing reccomended anything by David Henderson - apparently he was a shepherd before becoming a vet so has a very good insight and ideas. Although the book is written predominantly for vets, this farmer says all of the vet students hes had staying either had or then bought it once he'd showed them it. The farmer used some of the ideas in it and he said it completely transformed his herd.

So that might be helpful for keeping your brain in farmer mode?

Reply 3

Hel' in Heaven

useful biochemistry book: The Cell, Alberts et al .. although quite big and daunting!
also try Management and Welfare of farm animals, UFAW Handbook.. quite good summary of all major farming animals + basic nutrition etc..

x

Reply 4

fairy princess

Definately Dyce and Miller i would say are the core veterinary texts for preclin. Pasquini is really good for pics and making it all a bit more understandable however it is quite pricy and difficult to get hold of in the UK. I would also recommend a Vet atlas - you can some really good ones with coloiur pics of dissection and stuff so you can see what you are letting yourself in for!

Reply 5

doolie_xx

Yeah, I agree, Physiology of Domestic Animals is brilliant!

Reply 6

Sarah_V

I'm going to have to take out a mortgage just to buy text books next year :|

Reply 7

outrageous121

You can always use the library...
and at Nottingham, the small group teaching room cupboards are full of books and resources we can use at any time...there's no need to buy loads of books!

Reply 8

Elizabeth :-)

and there is such thing as a photocopier...

Reply 9

doolie_xx

To be honest, you end up buying loads of text books and you never end up using them. Go to the library first and if you start to use a particular book a lot, consider investing in it. Don't go out spending most of your loan on all the recommended texts. I got a bit textbook happy in first semester and I don't look at half of them!

Reply 10

lu666666

Hey don't worry too much, enjoy your gap year as you'll work bloody hard at vet school and won't get much time off to have fun for a very long time. I had 2 years off before going to vet school and didn't find it too hard to get back into it (especially as I was lazy as at school!) But if you really, really want to look at some stuff, go for animal husbandry sort of stuff (practical lambing books, 'a veterinary book for sheep farmers by David Henderson' 'a veterinary book for dairy farmers by Roger Blowie' and the 'TV Vet books by Eddie Straiton) as it's really hard to learn anatomy from a book, you've got to cut things up and see how they work and where they are.

Reply 11

eurasianfeline

leggielass

I hated Dissection of the Dog from Millers. Some of the facts are wrong and the diagrams are awful. I bought it, but hardly used it during my 1st it. Budras' Anatomy books are brilliant. I have the Ox and Horse which helped me a lot, I wished I'd known about it in 1st year because it also has a Dog one which is also brilliant. Our lecturer recommended it and 1/2 our year ordered and got a cheaper deal.

Dyce Anatomy is a good book for referencing, but a pain to read through. But good to have it anyway for species differences.

Essential Biology is quite good for 1st year biochem stuff. I hated the black Biochemistry textbook because it was so wordy and went into too much detail.

Medical Physiology by Guyton and Hall is BRILLIANT. Honestly. Although I would probably borrow that from the Library instead of buying it because it's pretty pricey.

For repro (which I think for most vet schools it's only in 2nd year), Essential Reproduction by Everitt is great. It's only humans but the biochem and hormonal stuff applies for most species.

But seriously, consider Budras. It's more expensive that Miller but it's well worth it a million times.

Reply 12

ch0c0h01ic

Personally, i wouldn't recommend getting any books b4 uni, when you get there, the first year is all about getting everybody up to the same level, just wait till you get there.

If you really want to revise:

Dyce is one of the best general anatomy books, everybody i know has one
Instant Notes in Biochemistry: Cheap, and it is all you need for all the essays you'll have to do in the first year
Physiology(Constanzo): Easy to revise from, lots of pretty pictures, cheap, but it is only useful for the first 2 years as its a human book
UFAW animal management book: has bits on everything, everybody i know has one

Its good to point out that any books that you do buy, you can easily flog to the year bellow and lose very little money. Also, Amazon is one of the cheapest places to buy from.