Reading material for people starting at imperial this october

[Olivier Lenheim]

Can anyone (preferablly current imperial student) suggest some good medical books that I can read before the term start?

[LightElf7]

I am not an Imperial Med Student yet (but I will be in October!), but heard from some students I met there at the interview that Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine, Gray's Anatomy for Students and Rang & Dale's Pharmacology are some good books to have as a first year student, especially the first two. The third one they said will become useful in the later years.

[jdr06]

I bought the 1st two in my 1st year and used K&C once i think for i PBL, other than that everything can be found on the internet. the pharm book is useful for 2nd year but you wont have to touch it until then. i wouldnt buy any books till you get there as students in older years tend to sell them on for like a fiver rather than the £50 you are looking at buying htem new. dont buy any books before you get there, there is no preparatory reading necessary (unless you are very keen and actually like MCD). iv used grays once for 2nd year anatomy. they ae pretty good at providing you with everything you need to know when you get here.

[kye]

i agree with the above.

you dont need to read anything before hand. i think nothing can really prepare you for what you will have to do when you get there. it is better to go to lecturers and then see. you could buy a textbook and read the entire thing and you may find that you wont cover that half in your 1st year so unless you have an amazing memory i wouldnt bother.

no point buying books because you will be able to get them cheaper from older students or get the out the libary. they cost so much and you will need so many later try not to buy to many in the beginning. i made that mistake and now i have loads of molecular textbooks sitting on my shelf and no space for the ones i have had to keep buying.

dont get kumar and clark or pharmacology. definetly not for your 1st year. you by the time you need kand c in year 3 or above there will be a different version. also you will find in pharmacology that you are taught well enough not to need a textbook. you are given all the slides and a booklet with notes in as part of your material.

it is good that you are keen to read already but i think you should enjoy your summer and get stuck into it when you get there. there will not be many people who would have read anything

[pav69]

There is no need to buy any textbooks before you start. I bought one book in my first year and i didnt even need it. I used the library for the rest, there are loads of copies and you can keep them for ages, plus you can change to another textbook if you get fed up of one book.

People tell you to buy all these books but to be honest there's no need. Everything is covered in the lectures.

If you do feel you need to buy books, which does has its advantages, (you dont need to renew it, you write in it etc) wait until you get there and you can decide which will be useful for you.

[squidward]

yeah its not worth buying them, theres a few websites where u can dwnload them for free, u should try medichack.com or Ebookee.com