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Calling all med students; a book i could buy now - help!

Hi,

Basically, i have a few book vouchers (school speech day, blah) and was just wondering if any of the medical students could recommend to me a book that i could buy now that may be useful? (i have between 30-60 pounds)

I know it will not be helpful to buy textbooks/big books now before the course starts, so thats not what im looking for, but can anyone recommend a reference book/generally useful book for med students that i could pick up in waterstones or somewhere?!

thanks...

Reply 1

randdom

20

For a good read I would suggest atul gwande complications it is a autobiographical account of a surgeon in america it is very good. Another interesting book to read is the Hot Zone can't remember the author but it is about ebola virus.

When it comes to reference books etc i would advice you save your book tokens until you have seen books in the library and know which ones work best for you.

Reply 2

Fluffy

15

Don't buy anything yet - text books go out of print and are updated so often. 3 of the big texts I brought at the start of year 1 have already been updated...

Reply 3

Revd. Mike

17

Bedside Stories - Confessions of a Junior Doctor by Michael Foxton.

Finished it the other day, very good :biggrin:

Inspires confidence lol.

Reply 4

godfather

1

y dont u just save the tokens for wen the course starts? how long till you strt?

Reply 5

Iscariot

11

Revd. Mike

Bedside Stories - Confessions of a Junior Doctor by Michael Foxton.

Finished it the other day, very good :biggrin:

Inspires confidence lol.

GRRRRRRR YOU STOLE MY SUGGESTION :biggrin:

Reply 6

Johnny C.

9

Oxford Medical Dictionary (or something similar) - bound to be useful

The Rise and Fall of modern medicine by James Le Fanu - Really interesting account of the major medical advances in the past 60 years and an in-depth look at why medicine isn't making as much progress now

Reply 7

Iscariot

11

Oxford Handbook of Emergency Medicine is a book I've seen SHOs and SpRs use. I guess if you're interested in A&E it's good. Like many have said, it's difficult short of recommending Gray's Anatomy which is about £100 new on amazon.

Reply 8

Johnny C.

9

Iscariot

Oxford Handbook of Emergency Medicine is a book I've seen SHOs and SpRs use. I guess if you're interested in A&E it's good. Like many have said, it's difficult short of recommending Gray's Anatomy which is about £100 new on amazon.

I'm not sure Grey's anatomy would be that good for a med student. It's really detailed stuff, far more detailed than you need to know for medicine as a student. There's a book called Grey's Anatomy for Students, which is obviously designed for med students and is more relevant to the stuff you need to know at uni. I wouldn't buy it tho, until you find out what books you need for uni.

Kind of same goes for the handbook of emergency medicine or any other of the Oxford handbooks... until you're doing clinicals you really don't need them and so if you buy one now, there'll have been 2 or 3 more editions released before you get to use it.

Why not just buy a small, cheap general book about medicine for your speech day prize, then keep the rest of the vouchers for when you start uni?

Reply 9

Revd. Mike

17

I've got a copy of Gray's, £10ish from eBay :smile:

Fabulously detailed, to the point of being nearly unreadable lol. It's interesting, but I don't think it would make a good text book.

Reply 10

Subbacultcha

OP

thanks for all the suggestions - i would keep them, but the problem is they're not normal vouchers, theyre pieces of card that waterstones gives in partnership with our school, so we have to spend them by a certain date. :mad:

its so people dont just give in a random old book for speech day and swap their vouchers with their parents for money etc, which was what was happening!

Reply 11

BabyGirl

randdom

For a good read I would suggest atul gwande complications it is a autobiographical account of a surgeon in america it is very good. Another interesting book to read is the Hot Zone can't remember the author but it is about ebola virus.

When it comes to reference books etc i would advice you save your book tokens until you have seen books in the library and know which ones work best for you.

I've read that, it's sucha good read! ..Love it!

Reply 12

digitalis

17

What about something like Kumar and Clarkes Clinical Medicine, or Moore and Dalleys Clinically Orientated Anatomy..heard their names floating around here before :wink:

Reply 13

randdom

20

digitalis

What about something like Kumar and Clarkes Clinical Medicine, or Moore and Dalleys Clinically Orientated Anatomy..heard their names floating around here before :wink:

Both are good books but not the only books of their kind so it is better waiting until you get to med school and seeing which one works for you.

Reply 14

Excalibur

15

I second (third?) Complications by Atul Gawande. I recently read it and it was brilliant; really made you think about all sorts of things - and so easy to read too.

Reply 15

milesalexanderappleyard

3

How about Vintage papers from the Lancet? Gives all the key issues and breakthroughs of modern medicine which the lancet has reported on since it was formed. Very interesting indeed. :smile:

Reply 16

digitalis

17

Bodies by Jed Mercurio..great book, bit cynical but its a gd read