Goldberg. Clinical Anatomy Made Ridiculously Simple

[Guest Ian Wong]

Clinical Anatomy Made Ridiculously Simple. Goldberg, S. 1999. Medmaster, Inc. Miami.

 

ISBN: 0-940780-02-X

Chapters/Indigo.ca price: $30.95

Pages: 187

 

I didn't use this book enough to make full use of it, but I really appreciate the approach taken by the author, Samuel Goldberg. Unlike all of the other anatomy texts I've used, Ridiculously Simple is the only book that makes a genuine attempt to use humour, mnemonics, and cartoon images to teach anatomy and make the process of rote memorization more entertaining and less painful.

 

The main drawback of this book is the lack of good illustrations. All of the pictures are black and white line drawings, making it extremely difficult to apply those diagrams to the variety of colours and 3-D layers that you will find either in a real cadaver, or in prosections. Conceptually, the diagrams work in teaching you relationships between, and branches to and from structures. For example, the diagram relating the different ducts joining the liver, gallbladder, pancreas and duodenum is particularly clear, and I really like the section devoted to cranial nerves. It's just that knowing the diagrams from this book alone won't really help you develop the visual recognition of these structures compared to the colour diagrams from Netter's or Rohen/Yokochi.

 

On the other hand, there are some real positives to this book as well. If you are an active-type reader who likes being engaged, and finds the process of visualization and imagination to be important to your memorization and understanding, then this book is for you. On the other hand, if you fall more into the rote-memorizing category, and are looking for a highly tabular, easily crammed reference book, then you will dislike Ridiculously Simple. The reason is that the information is typically presented in small vignettes, and so you really need to read through the entire scenario before getting all the details. For example, the Circle of Willis (the cerebral arterial circle) is described as a ferocious spider, with a nose, angry eyebrows, antennae. You'll get frustrated with reading this story if all you want to know is where the anterior cerebral artery comes off.

 

Ridiculously Simple gives you an alternate way of memorizing the relationships between anatomic structures. In the same vein as the fact that I can get a song stuck in my head very quickly, but can't memorise Embryology to save my life, Anatomy is easier to remember when you have a story to tell. Mnemonics and short stories have been useful anatomy memory aids for a very long time. If you find using your imagination helps you when learning, and that using mnemonics effectively increases your memory recall, then Ridiculously Simple can be very helpful.

 

However, I wouldn't use this book without an accompanying atlas, and also a dedicated anatomy book such as Moore's (making this your third reference book). If you do buy this book, I think you might gain even more benefit by bringing it to school and pencilling in alternate mnemonics that you pick up from your professors and classmates. The book's mnemonics may be useful, but ones that you pick up or generate on your own tend to stick even better in your memory.

 

As the third book, Ridiculously Simple offers you mnemonics and vignettes that are totally unlike any other anatomy textbook or atlas. If you think you have the time and money to spend on a third anatomy textbook, then you might want to purchase this book. If learning Anatomy isn't as high on your priority list, you can get by just fine without it.