Books: To Buy or not to buy. . .

I had a great question on one of posts and felt that the answer needed a post all of its own. The commenter asked, "Do you use all of the books on the booklist and are older version ok for some of them?".

The answer is never black and white, yes or no. So my advice is it depends. Do you really like to have a paper version of the book ? Do you need to read a textbook to understand the material? For some classes the powerpoints are enough and for some classes you might need some reference material. The cool thing about UMHS is that they have most all of the books from the booklist in library on reserve. So you can use them in the library if you need to. Some of the books you might want to have to study for the boards later, and make notes in them now.

What I see a lot of the students recommending to buy is:
Med 1-
-Anatomy Lab manual
-Anatomy atlas
-Histology book is a really good book and very comprehensive, I think I would like to own it and I haven't sold mine. An older version of this book is ok. (remember though that medicine is very dynamic so older would be the previous edition not ten years older)
-You should be fine with just the cell bio notes from class, I had the book and it is a good book but you will probably never read it and if you find that you want it after classes start you can always buy it.

Med 2-
-Physiology text book. Constanzo is good, I really liked the BRS. I feel like they leave a lot out of the cardio section so you might want to supplement in the library with Guyton and Hall.
-Biochemistry, Lippincott Reveiw. I have mine still and I think it will be a good resource for studying for the boards, so you can buy it now or later, but the notes you get in class are enough and if you need to fill in the blanks you can do that in library, plus there is an older version in library that may be available for borrowing.
-Genetics. notes are enough, you might want to read the blue sections from the one in the library, but I wouldn't buy it and in fact I sold mine.
-embryology, this is tricky, I think you can do with the notes that you get in class. But I would get some kind of review book like BRS for the boards. If you read it during the class it will probably make more sense when you are reviewing for the board exam.


Med 3- (my current semester)

- Neuroscience- most everyone likes the Haines anatomy, I find it difficult to get used to, I borrowed it from the library, and mostly the older version would be fine. I think that I will actually buy the lippincott review neuroscience for my board review book and if I could get it now I would.

another book that comes highly recommended is the High Yeild Neuroanatomy, it is ok in my opionion, but I think the BRS or Lippincott might be better.

-Microbiology- BRS, but you don't need anything for the class, the notes are sufficient.

-Pathology- Dr. J's notes are awesome and he is an incredible prof you don't need a text, but you will need the Robbins book the next semester, and the Robbins Review of Pathology that includes questions is very good, you should buy both of these.

-Behavioral- no book needed the notes are sufficient and you can supplement in the library if you need to, and if you want to buy a book later for study then you can. I don't think you will need to.

-Immunology- I haven't started that class but it has been recommended that I use the basic immunology text book. It is avaiable for check out in the library. I might buy it later, but probably not.

Med 4-
- Not there yet, but I think you will have your path book already and you should by the ICM book (not sure of the name right now). That is really all I know about med 4 thus far, I will update this post next semester.

Hope this answers any questions on what to buy and what not to buy.

Remember that everyone learns and studies differently so you have to do what works for you, definitely bring binders and highlighters pens pencils etc. All office supplies are OUTRAGEOUS here. Example, ten US dollars for a three ring binder!

Commenter, thanks for the question!

Until next time,
Amy Jones
Future MD, MBA, B. SC