Best Anatomy Textbook?

[Guest Ian Wong]

Any takers?

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest YongQ]

Great forum Ian!

 

For all you to-be-confused future 1st years here is probably the most important anatomy book-buying tip: it doesn't matter what you buy, as long as you get <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> something<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> and really read it! You'll need 1 book and 1 atlas, anything extra is, well, extra.

 

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Moore and Agur, Essential Clinical Anatomy<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - is my little bible, excellent for those of you who just want a bit of background on what you're learning but not excessive wads of minutia about every little part of the body. If you've taken anatomy or are addicted to it and just can't stop reading about it, a more comprehensive book would be more appropriate. For those of you who like Grant's Atlas, ECA ripped most of its useful pictures out of it!

 

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Rohen and Yokochi, Color Atlas of Anatomy<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - is also my bible. It is a BEAUTIFUL book, and the few schematic drawings scattered about within it are the easiest to understand of any atlas I've seen. I've learned a bit from Grant and I've flipped through Netter before, but Rohen's what has worked for me. For those of you who want a pretty atlas but perhaps something easier to look at (i.e. made for the student), take a look at Netter.

[Guest ThugJn]

As was said, it really amounts to what you feel you have a good vibe with. You need something that is easy to read, comprehensive, but also something that you can learn off.

 

As was said above, you will need at least 1 atlas. However, the textbook is NOT vital, but very useful. I know of a few people that got buy without a textbook, but then again most people like to have something more traditional to study from.

 

As for myself, I opted for:

 

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Thompson's Core Textbook of Anatomy<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - for UofT, by far the textbook that follows the course the closest...only problem, its out of print now! Very comprehensive, has clinical applications (which nicely correlate to tutorial questions )

 

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Rohen and Yokochi<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - a must for the bellringer part. Saves you the haslte of going through student dissections (ie - no small intestines intact) and lets you easily quiz yourself. Hard to learn from though.

 

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Grant's<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> - chose this one over the Netter b/c the pictures are more realistic and the atlas correlates better to our course. However, for those that like nice pictures with blue veins and red arteries, then opt for Netter.

 

 

Most people had access to a Rohen and then another atlas as well that they used to learn from. The textbook is totally up to you. I checked Rohen out of a library and got Thompon's used, so I basically got 3 books for quite a good price.

[Guest Ian Wong]

My two best (if I only had two) would be:

 

1) <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Rohen and Yokochi<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> as an atlas. It's just amazing for prepping for bell-ringer's and lab exams, without actually needing to be in the lab to study.

 

2) <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Moore's Essential Clinical Anatomy<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> (the baby Moore's) as a textbook. Gives you virtually everything you need without all the tiresome detail of its bigger brother.

 

I would add <!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Netter's<!--EZCODE BOLD END--> as a second atlas for studying the complex parts of anatomy (eg. head and neck), where getting the photographic dissection is just too complicated because of the multitude of different nerves and vessels in such a small area.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3

[Guest Monica411]

Hi,

 

does any med school actually use Gray's Anatomy as a text book? (or is this question totally naive)

 

Thanks!

[Guest Ian Wong]

None that I know of. It's probably an interesting book to read, but it's definitely not designed to be maximally useful for a med student. The above mentioned books will each (in their own way, as they differ radically from each other), net you much more knowledge per time spent than Gray's.

 

I'd bet that not a single one of my 119 classmates ever used Gray's longer than the 5 minutes it would take you to realise that using that book will get you in way over your head.

 

Ian

UBC, Med 3