Which books to choose for Physio, Biochem, and Micro

[shreypete]

I've asked a few of my upperclassmen and they've advised me the following books:

1.Physiology:
a)Guyton's Medical Physiology---John E. Hal
b)Review of Medical Physiology(Mc Graw Hill)----William F. Ganong

2.Biochem
a)Harper's Illustrated Biochemistry---Robert K. Murray, Daryl K. Granner
b)Biochemistry(Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

3.Microbiology
a)Medical Microbiology---Patrick R. Murray, Ken S. Rosenthal, Michael A. Pfaller

What do you think regarding these books? Do you think I need to buy both the Physio. books? If not, which is preferred over the other? Thank you once again.

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[njbmd]

You first need to see what is recommended by the instructor in your class. If you are in a PBL situation, go to the library(or your local medical bookstore), look at these books and see which ones meet your needs in terms of reading ease, illustrations and presentation of concepts. All of the books that you have listed are fine for what they set out to accomplish for the student and only your preferences matter in this situation.

There is no "one" particular book that is far superior for every student. From my experience, the book that worked best for me for any class was often not the text that worked for many of my classmates. Still, we all successfully navigated through our work. All of those books are fine and your decision should actually come from what works best for you personally. My only caution would be for you not to spend too much time in multiple books for any given class or subject matter as it become too time consuming. Study efficiency is the key to success in medical school.

 

[GeneralSnozzie]

Buying large, hardcover books is a waste of money and will also waste your time. You do not have anywhere near the kind of time to read even one "real" book during the start of your 1st year, much less multiple ones. For phys and biochem, the BRS books are all you will need (most syllabi for these subjects are standard and will include the exact same information as in the BRS).

 

[shadsupremacy]

physiology and biochemistry were two subjects that i found interesting and easy to master, so i will talk abt those--

A. physiology: to improve your concept of physiological processes, definitely go through Guyton 's Medical Physiology (at least once)... and make sure you know all the information presented in Costanzo's (BRS) physiolgy... they have nice sets of questions with explanations--- so Guyton and Costanzo

B. biochemistry: Harpers (at least make sure you read the first paragraph of each chapter--biomedical importance), and other aspects of Harper's is good for your concept... Lippincott's has awesome pictures and summaries, so use it for those two reasons (also has correlations with lippincott's pharmacology)... and make sure you go over Kaplan Biochemistry, and look at their question set--- so Harper's, Lippincott's and Kaplan

and of course, for board review afterwards, use first aid for both subjects

 

[shreypete]

Thanks a lot shadsupremacy 🙂

 

[Imbetterthanyou]

okay, wait...what? you bought textbooks? how does anyone ever find time to read textbooks?

BRS for condensed. NMS/Goljan for details.

 

[shreypete]

I don't know about you Imbetterthanyou, but I actually used proper textbooks in the First year and passed all my courses....

 

[GoLakers310]

you are a second year, and you still haven't taken Biochem or Physio yet? wtf?

 

[shreypete]

Haha I go to a European med school so the system is quite different although we have a similar teaching method like in the States.

 

[Aewochinski]

I think buying books depends on the amount of materials your professors give you. If you're given a pretty thick course pack plus lecture slides or something, a large text is probably unnecessary and a waste of money. In this case, a condensed book like BRS or Lippencott's illustrated reviews should be more than sufficient. If you're more of a "text-book learner", then by all means, do whatever you need to do. If you already have a decent library of books from undergrad, sometimes they work just fine, and you don't have to go out and spend a bunch of money on a new book that says pretty much the same thing. Upperclassmen at your school are great for knowing what works for each professor, so I'd tap that resource.

Personally, I used my biochem book from undergrad (Leninger, Cox, and Nelson) and bought the West respiratory physiology book (small softcover book) and the physio BRS. As for Micro, I'm taking that right now, and don't really plan on using anything other than Micro Made Ridiculously Simple. Good luck!

 

[wAyRadikull]

Micro: can't personally comment, since i havnt taken it, but many kids in my school use Micro Made Ridiculously simple along with HY immuno

Physio: Big Constanzo for understanding, BRS for review, Guyton Review for questions. and ofcourse Guyton, if i really don't get it.

Biochem: Lippincotts in amazing, and all you need in my opinion. I use Pre-test questions just to integrate and apply knowledge.

My class notes are okay, i just skim through them a couple days before the test or do it at night after i read the subsequent portion just so i know that i did what the teacher covered.

 

[shreypete]

Thanks a lot guys. I ended up buying Guyton and Netter's Atlas for Physiology and Lippincotts for both Biochem and Micro + Harper's Biochem.