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Does anyone know of any books that will help during the first year of med school? Either academically or otherwise? I would appreciate any suggestions/advice. Thanks! 🙄
Know of any books that will help incoming first years??
- Thread starter UTMed2008
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The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is a good "non-academic" book to read--especially at the beginning when you are just learning how to deal with patients from different backgrounds.
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i'm reading "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" by Mary Roach. it's interesting and in some parts entertaining. maybe it would be helpful before starting anatomy class...i dunno.
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The House of God.
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UTMed2008 said:
I am guessing you are entering UT Houston in the Fall? If so, DO NOT BUY ANY ACADEMIC BOOKS YET! Sign up for a second year advisor when the form arrives. When you are paired up with an MS2, they will let you know which books you need to buy and which would be a waste of money. In many cases, they will give you their books free of charge! I bought one book my entire first year, Physiology BRS. And that was only because my second year needed his for studying for boards!
Good luck!
Scott, MS3
UT Houston Medical School
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You guys might think that I am anal. But I bought a used copy of Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease from EBAY before my first year of medical school.
This is the most important book in MEDICAL SCHOOL. You will use it for pathology and for Step 1. It kinda helped as a desk reference to look up disease stuff during histology and physiology to tie in the relevance of these courses. Besides, Everybody keeps their copy of Robbins even after medical school. Why not buy it a year earlier?
If you must buy a First year book, I'd go with Netter and BRS Physiology as the two best books. Also, Neuroanatomy made ridiculously simple is good too.
This is the most important book in MEDICAL SCHOOL. You will use it for pathology and for Step 1. It kinda helped as a desk reference to look up disease stuff during histology and physiology to tie in the relevance of these courses. Besides, Everybody keeps their copy of Robbins even after medical school. Why not buy it a year earlier?
If you must buy a First year book, I'd go with Netter and BRS Physiology as the two best books. Also, Neuroanatomy made ridiculously simple is good too.
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If you are lookng for books then you should search the USMLE Step 1-3 Threads...they have a load of threads that mention books for every class....a lot of people have asked the same question in the past...so if you search the threads then you will see a lot of posts by other med school students....
YOU SHOULD FREQUENTLY TALK TO THE UPPERCLASSMAN...FOR EVERY TEST, BOOK AND PROFESSOR THAT YOU WILL ENCOUNTER.....THE INFO THAT THEY WILL GIVE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE JUST AS HELPFUL AS A WEBSITE...THEY CAN SAVE YOU A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY
ALSO...REMEMBER TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF THE PERSON WHOM YOU ARE RECIEVING ADVICE FROM.....the advice that you get from a former molecular neuroscience and biochemistry major will be very differenct from someone who majored in sociology.....and the advice that you get from someone who made all A's their first year will be very different from someone who struggled and got all C's...so try to talk to as many people with several different backgrounds to get your info
I hope this is helpful
YOU SHOULD FREQUENTLY TALK TO THE UPPERCLASSMAN...FOR EVERY TEST, BOOK AND PROFESSOR THAT YOU WILL ENCOUNTER.....THE INFO THAT THEY WILL GIVE YOU WILL ALWAYS BE JUST AS HELPFUL AS A WEBSITE...THEY CAN SAVE YOU A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY
ALSO...REMEMBER TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE EDUCATIONAL HISTORY OF THE PERSON WHOM YOU ARE RECIEVING ADVICE FROM.....the advice that you get from a former molecular neuroscience and biochemistry major will be very differenct from someone who majored in sociology.....and the advice that you get from someone who made all A's their first year will be very different from someone who struggled and got all C's...so try to talk to as many people with several different backgrounds to get your info
I hope this is helpful
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Jaded Soul said:
NO WAY! we read an excerpt of this for ethics. Read anything and everything that you ever thought you might want to read that has nothing to do whatsoever with the medical field. If there is a book that catches your fancy, read it. Time will be limited once you start, and you will be forced to read a thousand things that will likely bore you to tears. Now, going against my own advice, House of God is a great book. Yes, related to medicine, but more of a novel than required reading book, and some phenomenal insight.
Just enjoy the summer, read what makes you happy. The school will give you most of what they want you to know.
As far as books that help, academic books, I agree with the poster who suggsted buying nothing until you start. There will be so much advice flying around once you start you will be in a better position to make educated decisions. I am just of the camp that boning up on something before school starts is not as productive as it sounds and there are better ways to spend your summer that you will wish you had done once school starts and you see how everything unfolds.
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Hawaiian Bruin said:
Agreed. Get the loveydovey **** out of the way and go in realizing this experience kinda fscking sucks. 75% of the time.
the other 25% = cool classmates to go through it all with and the occasional post exam beverage or 12. I hope to polish off the better part of a case tomorrow.
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phllystyl said:
Dude, maybe I'm a sociopath, but reading the House of God before I got to med school was the greatest thing ever. I can't imagine how I would have gotten through 1st year if I were actually optimistic about med school 😛 Well, here at Cornell we actually do a lil histopath first year, so having a copy of Robbins doesnt sound completely (maybe partially 😛) insane to me, but that depends on the school. Its a good book...but again, can't imagine how useful it would be to purchase before you've even taken all the normal histo/phys/etc. Besides, I just bought pocket Robbins because the grapevine tells me a new edition of Big Robbins is coming out this summer...
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DW said:
No I did read it before med school as well, and I agree. It set the tone that allowed me to make it through the first two yrs, me thinks.
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Ok, so I don't get it. I started reading House of God and I'm about halfway through, and it doesn't seem all that good to me. Why does everyone say that it got them through the first year?
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UTMed2008 said:
for academic, do a search on here, there are like so many that we started especially for those of us startin in Aug.
for most part its
BRS Physiology
BRS Pathology
Some say Goljan for Pathology
Clinical Micro made ridiculously simple
1st Aid
Step Up for system based progs
lattimer13 said:
You should read FIRST CUT: A Season in the Human Anatomy Lab, by Ablert Howard Carter III. I read STIFF first, and although I liked it, FIRST CUT was better at giving one an idea of what it will actually be like in the lab. I know that some things may have changed since it was written and that things are done differently at different schools, but this book answered many questions for me and I don't feel as nervous as I once was.
Oh, and I loved The House of God! I have the sequel, Mount Misery, and I plan to read it next!
~michDO'08
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I also suggest you hold off on purchasing anything until school starts and actually enjoy your summer. Second years are very good about handing down their books. Plus, your syllabi are fairly complete, especially for histology. BRS books are good for review (i.e. biochem, embryology). You'll want a Netter and/or a Rohen for anatomy.
