keep textbooks from undergrad?

[Guest uftstudent]

Hi,

 

I'm just wondering if textbooks from undergrad are helpful...for example should I keep a second year genetics textbook or sell it? Are there recommended books in first year? Are the lecture notes enough? thanks.

[Guest blinknoodle]

I think it really depends on your background, whether you feel that your textbooks will help you. Many of my undergrad textbooks were relevant and I was glad that I had kept them. In particular, I used the same textbook for my clinical genetics course that was recommended for the genetics section (Thompson and Thompson). Janeway's Immunobiology was also a good choice for immunology, although there is a different recommended text which is simpler (Abbas and Lichtman?). I also found my anatomy and physiology to be useful as a resource (Marieb as well as McMinn's) as well as my biochem text (Voet, Voet and Pratt), neither of which is a recommended text. If you have applicable texts, I'd bring them. Nothing lost, right?

 

The classes do come with notes that are fairly comprehensive, but textbooks are nice if you have questions. The LRC has all the recommended texts on reserve, if you ever want to access them (nice option when you only need it for a few things..). The only classes that were taught out of a textbook included the EKG section of CVS (many buy Rapid Interpretation of EKGs) and if you have no background in immunology, the immunology text was really helpful.

 

With that being said, I bought a few texts over my first two years:

Netter's anatomy atlas

Bates' for physical exam [which I promptly sold]

Talley and O'Connor Clinical Exam book [much better than Bates]

Guyton's Medical Physiology [because I had a weaker grasp on physiology]

Lilly's Pathophysiology of the Heart [great resource for CVS and not even a recommended text]

Dubin's Rapid Interpretation of EKGs

Golan's Principles of Pharmacology [many people bought Katzung since it was the recommended text, although the pharm notes are very comprehensive]

Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple [which I never actually used]

 

I listed all my texts b/c the curriculum is new for the class of 2010. Whereas the EKG book used to be only relevant in 2nd year, now CVS will be taught entirely at once, so you will end up using it in first year. I'd wait until you get to your block before purchasing your texts.. although realize that oftentimes the books will sell out from the bookstore (mainly a problem with the EKG and immunology texts that I recall).