Important textbooks.

**stefan** · 14-05-2009, 07:22 AM

I'm an international student and I'll be starting medicine at newcastle in sept. My offer is unconditional..You could say that I know a thing or two about good medical textbooks. I have my reasons. Here are some of the ones that I own and recommend:
Biochemistry: Lippincott's Biochemistry, Harpers if you're more enthusiastic

Physiology: Berne and Levy!!! Guyton and Hall is easy reading but its quite a bit. Ganong is concise and to the point but it assumes that you already know a lot. I used the Shearwood for some topics and it was great as well

Anatomy: Clinically Oriented Anatomy in conjunction with Netter's Atlas. I have the student's version of Grey's and its not as detailed as i would like it to be...

Pathology: cant go wrong with basic path by Robbins Kumar etc

Histology: Wheaters Atlas is good

Embryology: Langman's Medical Embryology is the way to go!!! The developing Human is not as good. I have 3 embryo texts and the langman's is the best

I'll tell u about my Haem, Micro B, Chem Path, Immuno if you want..this is long enough already!!!

**corskrew** · 15-05-2009, 05:45 PM

Amazon.co.uk: "My first year as a Newcastle Medic"

I wrote this just after finishing first year back in the day. If you're worried about spending loads, you could wait til you get here... plenty of people stick up shitty notices advertising 2nd/3rd hand books as soon as the freshers descend.
Try not to tie yourself in to either Berne & Levy or Boron too early on. True, the lecturers all reference "cartoons" from Boron (it's not a cartoon, it's a bloody diagram) but it's love-hate between the two books. Both have the same core material but in defferent presentations. Find out which one you prefer first.
Similarly with anatomy - Moore&Daly vs Grey's. I think they use drawings from Grey's in the exams but I preferred the former of the two texts.
Biochem - I had a mickey mouse book (Mark's et al) which I bought in week 2 but didnt use until the end of the year, when it saved my arse. Supplements other stuff really well.
Kumar and Clark - don't bother. It's absolutely massive, your room in halls will be small enough as it is. I've barely used the bloody thing in 4 years. Much better is OHCM once you get going in hospitals.
Clinical Skills/History taking - no book required. They ply you with handouts for this stuff.

Remember - the more you spend on text books before you get to uni the less money you have for when you get there. Creating a library under your bed will most likely take up space, gather dust, and put girls right off.

**scaryhair** · 16-05-2009, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by corskrew

Remember - the more you spend on text books before you get to uni the less money you have for when you get there. Creating a library under your bed will most likely take up space, gather dust, and put girls right off.

Haha, I'm a girl and straight :P
Thanks for the advice though

**nickfrancis** · 19-05-2009, 04:18 PM

Really, honestly, DON'T buy Gray's! It's dreadful. Really not very useful when it comes to anatomy sessions/learning, and layout is fairly confusing. Moore and Dalley is the best one - and it's the one that anatomy Dems use so can't be that bad. Other than that, I spent about £300 on books I've never used.

Moore and Dalley is great, and I've personally found getting an ATLAS of anatomy really good to use alongside it. You'll need one that has actual photos of cadavers (not diagrams). This is because in the written exams you're always given at least 2 photos of some bit of anatomy you've studied, so if you've learned from the photos you'll be fine!

**Fried_Rice** · 20-05-2009, 04:23 AM

The thing that I still can't believe is that they've taken live specimens out of your exams!!! That is how anatomy should be tested, but then this is neither the place or time for that discussion, so I'll just grumble in peace over here.

ps. on a positive side, they have put in plenty more clinical skills into the OSCE though compared with what it was like for us. We had one clinical skills station in the OSCE and that was it, so I shouldn't really complain!

**Krissy T** · 20-05-2009, 05:25 PM

Gosh u ppl r keen. I hadn't even thought about textbooks until i read this thread. I wasn't really planning on buying any before i got there.

About how much on average does a med student end up spending on books?

**jetbackwards** · 21-05-2009, 08:48 PM

It depends how much you decide to get! Anatomy and physiology books might be £35 each ish...

Don't forget that you'll need bits of clinical equipment as well - a decent stethoscope will set you back about £50!

It's not terrible - you can always stagger book-buying to avoid cutting too deep into your budget (or not get them at all!). Plus everyone is offering money off things at the start of term if you buy it from them!