Book Recommendation.

[pathstudent]

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Medical students going into path and jr residents frequently ask me what they should during downtime. While Robbins is important and good, it is focuses on pathophysiology and pathobiology rather than teaching diagnostic skills. Plus you should have mastered that material while studying for step 1.

I read a great book for aspiring pathology residents called Practice of Surgical Pathology (PSP). It is a very good quick read, very clear and focuses on teaching you how to approach specimens. If you are a fourth year or third year getting ready to start path residency or rotation, read it. It is cheap too for a pathology book (~$80).

It has great chapters on things that don't really get taught like "ditzels and placentas".

 

[TMZ2007]

It is indeed a very good book for new pathology initiates. It does a especially nice job at getting you started in challenging topics like brain and soft tissue. I wish sometimes that it was a bit more in-depth (or that the general surg path texts did more practical teaching and less referencing of esoterica). Highly recommended.

 

[pathalot]

I too was glancing at this book while hanging around the path department. The first year residents had great things to say about it. A number of them were also using Histology for Pathologists and Lester's Manual of Surgical Pathology for grossing, both of which they highly recommended.

 

[multiplemyeloma]

anybody want to sell theirs for 30-40 bucks? On amazon, the prices start at 50.

 

[oldfatman]

You guys need to read as much as humanly possible. You have no idea what you're getting into.

 

[barasch]

Each chapter is about 20-25 minutes to read, so it's a great book to have laying around and pick away at. I strongly recommend it for, as the OP mentioned, students and junior residents.

 

[Euchromatin]

Thanks for the recommendation. Mr. Euchromatin and I are having our big(ger) wedding pretty soon (we did a quickie civil ceremony last year in the middle of my internal medicine rotation for insurance purposes) and this book is going on our registry. I don't think I need my own Lester, but I'm trying to decide if the Histo for Pathologists or maybe the Rosai or Sternberg should make it onto the list as well.

 

[TinyFish]

I've heard nothing but good things about this book. Save for the fact that it provides little in-depth information about specific pathological entities. So....my question is:

Given the fact that I am, by nature, somewhat anxious and neurotic and likely to buy something before beginning my residency... if I were to limit myself to one book, would this be a good intro book to buy? I'm going to control myself before I can tap into my book fund, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to break down and get something to read before and during my first few months of insanity. Would anyone recommend anything else besides Lester?

 

[LNsquasher]

It's a good intro book and that's about it; good for an overview of SP and nailing down common entities. I'd read through it once or twice the first few months of residency or even before starting and then set it aside for bigger, more in-depth books. Don't make it the only thing you read your entire first year, as some residents seem to do.

 

[pathstudent]

I've heard nothing but good things about this book. Save for the fact that it provides little in-depth information about specific pathological entities. So....my question is:

Given the fact that I am, by nature, somewhat anxious and neurotic and likely to buy something before beginning my residency... if I were to limit myself to one book, would this be a good intro book to buy? I'm going to control myself before I can tap into my book fund, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to break down and get something to read before and during my first few months of insanity. Would anyone recommend anything else besides Lester?

don't read Lester it would be so boring. Read this one. It is a good read on top of being instructional. Lester is a fine reference manual. In fact if your program is any good senior residents and pas well teach you how to gross and a book like Lester would only be useful if you were by yourself late at night or on the weekend and had a specimen that you weren't all that comfortable with. In fact if you are by youself and not comfortable with a specimen you should probably wait a day until someone can help. Better to delay the case a day and get a good path report out then to rush it a day and ruin the specimen.

 

[TinyFish]

Ok, will buy this one. Read one book all year? Yikes! I just want to get my feet wet before residency. This sounds good...I've thumbed through some of the books we have in our resident room and sign-out rooms, but although they are excellent for reference, they seem a little overwhelming for introductory reading. Thanks for the recs, everyone. 👍

 

[Sulfinator]

FYI: I just learned that a new edition (3rd) of Lester is due to be out in July. So you might as well wait until then if you were thinking about buying Lester.

On another note, I did buy Molavi's Practice of Surgical Pathology a few months ago. I've read through most of the chapters. Overall, I find the book to be interesting and think it will probably be pretty helpful when I start my first surg path rotation.