Cecil Medicine vs. Cecil Essentials of Medicine

[ally06]

Hello,

 

Just wanted to see what peoples' opinions are of the above two books.

 

The Cecil Medicine is a hefty book (>3000 pages) and previous posts seem to recommend a Cecil book for the IM rotation. I'm just not sure which (i.e. the "Essentials" or the full length one) is recommended?

 

Thanks!

 

ally

[wassabi101]

Hey!

 

I prefered the Essentials Version. The text is much clearer, there are some nice colorful pictures and diagrams and there's definitely not a paucity of information. For a more detailed (though less well explained) textbook for Medicine, especially if you're planning on Internal Medicine, I would go for the Harrison's complete version rather than the Cecil's, but the Cecil's Essentials is definitely a nice one to have for clerkship (and residency).

 

Cheers,

wassabi

[Satsuma]

I have Cecil's Essential and when I bought it I got 1 year free online access to Cecil's Textbook. So if you were just wanting it for your rotation, you would have access long enough online.

[marroy]

I find Essentials hit or miss... some topics are covered well others are inadequate. I use mostly online stuff (uptodate/first consult/mdconsult).