Buying books for gross anatomy

[ellie42]

Here is my school's suggested list of books for gross anatomy. Which must I buy? Of those, which is better to buy new?

Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Moore and Dalley, 5th edition)
Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy (4th edition)
Grant's Dissector (14th edition)

Thanks!

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[psipsina]

I would definitely go with the netters and the atlas. Check with some upperclassman to see how comprehensive your notesets or sylabus is because if its pretty complete you should be able to do well without reading Moore's. But thats assuming you aren't that person who wants to know every nitpicky detail, if your that guy then you'll like Moore's (still debatable if you'll have time for it). For those who like review books BRS gross is good.

 

[vgirl712]

We had to have a copy of Grant's for our lab group--aka a "dirty" copy. I had a clean copy at home that I bought used for like $3.

I had Netter's. You definitely need an atlas. If this is the one your school recommends I would just go with it.

I also used Rohen's Color Atlas to study for practicals. It was very helpful to me to figure out what structures really looked like, especially if you weren't totally sure about them in lab. I studied from Netter's about 3/4 of the time, and Rohen's 1/4 of the time.

Very few people in my class read Moore's even though it was recommended. The syllabus was sufficient.

 

[Instatewaiter]

I started off by using Grant's atlas (it is the companion atlas with Moore and was the atlas the school recommended). IMHO it was garbage compared to Netters.

The netter drawings are clearer and the labels are better organized. I felt the labels in the grants were all over the place and that added a lot of extra time studying.

For photographs I used Rohens. That was a good choice. I also had the netter flash cards. Also a good choice.


As to the Text- I never used moores. I used the syllabus instead.

So my input is get Netters +/- the netter cards and Rohens. Dont bother buying a disector b/c most of your group will buy one and you really dont need the disector if you have an atlas.

 

[sendwich]

I used Rohens as well (on top of Netters). It was really useful when you didnt want to go through all the hassle of driving to school just to see bodies since they're all pictures of the real thing. Also, you can miss out on enhaling formaldehyde. yay. Ultimately, nothing can replace seeing the real thing right infront of you but if you're hit with a snow storm and don't feel like making a trip out to school, it's a useful resource.


If you're like me and you want to save some $, visit the websites that's stick-ied. I'll post some helpful ones right here for you lazy folks.

http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscularsystem/menu/menu.html
http://www.directanatomy.com/
http://www.winkingskull.com/navigation.aspx
http://anatomy.med.umich.edu/home.html **uber great source

 

[LadyWolverine]

All you need for anatomy:

- Netter Atlas
- Netter Flashcards
- Your syllabus/notesets/powerpoints and dissector guide for lab (all of these were provided by my school)

 

[alfonzarel]

i just used netter's and did fine

i kept mine clean and out of the nasty cadaver lab. there were always people who took theirs to lab - it got all greasy, disgusting but they didn't care, so i didn't feel too bad that mine was all nice and clean at home.

btw, i think cadaver lab is the worst part of ms1. other people love it, which is fine by me, but i always felt filthy and disgusting when i walked out of there. even though i changed before i went to the gym, i could still smell that formalin on my skin. ugh, i'm glad it's over.

 

[LadyWolverine]

btw, i think cadaver lab is the worst part of ms1.

I agree. I hated it, too. The novelty wore off by about the 3rd day. I learned so much more from Netter/plastic take-apart models/prosections than I ever did picking through fat and chicken meat with the rest of my anatomy group.

 

[alfonzarel]

...picking through fat and chicken meat...

yep, except i always thought it looked more like greasy left-over dark meat turkey that had been left in the fridge for way too long.

except way stinkier

 

[myKuduSlewaZulu]

I agree. I hated it, too. The novelty wore off by about the 3rd day. I learned so much more from Netter/plastic take-apart models/prosections than I ever did picking through fat and chicken meat with the rest of my anatomy group.

Yup, anat lab seems to be a very inefficient way to learn anatomy haha.

I believe I mainly used BRS and Netters/Rohens, and the "blue boxes" in Moore's. We tossed the Dissector early on and just started cutting.

 

[kdburton]

Here is my school's suggested list of books for gross anatomy. Which must I buy? Of those, which is better to buy new?

Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Moore and Dalley, 5th edition)
Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy (4th edition)
Grant's Dissector (14th edition)

Thanks!

If you have "grease copies" of the dissector at your lab table then I would suggest not wasting the $$ on buying one. I don't know anyone who actually used it outside of class - at the most they might preview the next dissection at the end of lab for the next day.

For the atlas... I thought Netters was better than Grants. Again, if you have grease copies of an atlas at your table then I might suggest buying a copy of the OTHER one (i.e. if you have Netters at the table, then buy Grants for home). Moore was way too much information for what we needed to know on our tests at my school even though they did recommend it. Only a small portion of our anatomy class was "clinically oriented" so the atlases and being in lab were all you really needed to be able to identify on tests. Most of the clinically oriented stuff we learned in anatomy was in our lecture notes anyways, so I didn't read Moore at all. I suggest waiting till school starts to buy it.

If they close the lab down a few days before a practical test at your school ( I assume they do) then it may be a good idea to get a copy of Rohen's Color Atlas Of Anatomy. It is an anatomy atlas that has real pictures of immaculate dissections, so when you can't actually be in the lab its a good reference during crunchtime.

 

[cpants]

Best to check with the second years regarding Moore. If you are PBL based like my school was, you will definitely need it. Also, the blue boxes are a great resource...super high-yield for test questions. Netter's is great, and the flashcards are fantastic. I bought Rohen's but I barely used it. It is much better to go into lab and identify the structures on as many cadavers as possible. Your practical examples will never look like anything you see in Rohen's.

 

[kdburton]

Best to check with the second years regarding Moore. If you are PBL based like my school was, you will definitely need it. Also, the blue boxes are a great resource...super high-yield for test questions. Netter's is great, and the flashcards are fantastic. I bought Rohen's but I barely used it. It is much better to go into lab and identify the structures on as many cadavers as possible. Your practical examples will never look like anything you see in Rohen's.

Correct. I didn't use my copy but more than the few days before each exam when the lab was closed and I couldn't look at the cadavers themselves. I wouldn't suggest using Rohen's as a substitute for being in the lab, but its a great reference when you're not allowed in there in the days leading up to an exam.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

Correct. I didn't use my copy but more than the few days before each exam when the lab was closed and I couldn't look at the cadavers themselves. I wouldn't suggest using Rohen's as a substitute for being in the lab, but its a great reference when you're not allowed in there in the days leading up to an exam.

Completely agree.

 

[sprinkibrio]

Here is my school's suggested list of books for gross anatomy. Which must I buy? Of those, which is better to buy new?

Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Moore and Dalley, 5th edition)
Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy (4th edition)
Grant's Dissector (14th edition)

Thanks!

That's what my school's was. Don't by Moore & Dalley, buy Gray's for Students. Buy Rohen's as well as Netter's. Everyone has to buy the dissector. There aren't really any others anyway.

 

[cpants]

Before you buy atlases and stuff you might want to check out your medical libary. I didn't discover until after anatomy was over that the library had about 3 full bookcases full of atlases, including about 10 previous additions of Netter and 5 Rohen's available for checkout, not to mention dozens of other atlases of which I had never heard. You'll probably want to buy your favorite Atlas, but after that save some money in the library.

One more tip. If you buy Netter's, buy the hardcover. It costs a little more, but a semester's worth of studying destroys the softcover, and it is the kind of book you will want on your shelf for the rest of your career.

 

[MDpride]

Does EDITION matters for ATLAS?

 

[cpants]

Does EDITION matters for ATLAS?

No. If it's within the last 20 years or so it's fine.

 

[sendwich]

Does EDITION matters for ATLAS?

no. they might make some changes in how they present the material but it's all basically the same stuff. like, netters few years old (at least 5) versus last years were pracitally the same except the pictures of the newer version were brushed up/snazzier than the older version.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Get a hardcopy Netter.

Maximize the use of multimedia, computer software, etc. These visual aids can be so beneficial.