I agree that Micro made ridiculously simple is the best introduction to micro... also sufficient to do well. It's got silly pics and mnemonics to help you remember the info. If you want to know the info backwards and forwards, I'd recommend using Micro made ridiculous first to read... then use Kaplan's Micro review book. Its in short outline form and easily memorized if you go over it like as if it were flashcards throughout your course. Im just an average Joe... someone gave me this advice and I got >99% on the NBME shelf! It also helped tons on step 1. This is Kaplans best book. I swear they stole all the info you need to know for the boards and put it into this book. Hope this helps.