Atlas Of Human Anatomy
In short, this subject track has 3 components: gross anatomy, embryology and histology.
Gross anatomy, the bulk of the track, deals with the structure of the human body – which artery lies where, beside which vein, above which nerve, etc. Of course there’ll be a great deal of medical terminology that comes along with it, but don’t worry, because over the recent years the syllabus has been revamped such that the overbearing details have been reduced, and bits of clinically relevant information has been added. This greatly adds flavor to the subject that used to be dull memorization. Gross anatomy has been often quoted as the ‘surgeon’s subject’, so if you want to carve out a (good) name for yourself in surgery, be sure to master this.
Embryology is the description of how a fetus develops from fertilization. It’s a minor section of the track, but it ties in nicely with gross anatomy.
Histology is the study of normal tissues in an organ. In this section you get to look at microscopic details of tissues and some cells derived from predefined sections and organs. Histology is a stepping stone to pathology, the study of disease-state tissues and organs, a major track spanning 3 years.
Anatomy is one subject track you’ll 100% need books for. In addition, there’s a set of senior’s notes called Lifern’s Notes (these are available in my section on senior's notes)
Recommended Texts:
There are two categories of recommended books, the Atlases and the Texts.
Atlases:
These are, like what you might have owned for Geography, a “map” of the entire human body. Nice to look at, carry around, and impress your non-medical friends. However, most good medical atlases, are, unfortunately lacking in descriptions, so you’ll have to end up obtaining a text to compliment the atlas.
Atlas Of Human Anatomy
Frank Netter
(we call it: Netter’s)
This is a hot favourite among students. Costs a bomb though, around a hundred or so bucks, and is worth the money spent. This atlas contains the anatomical drawings by the late Frank Netter, M.D., and has almost every single anatomical diagram that you would need as a medical student. A CD version for this book is also available, you may want to look for it, although I’ll highly recommend the book.
A Colour Atlas of Human Anatomy
MH McMinn
RT Hutchings
J Legington
P Abraham
(we call it: McMinn’s)
This atlas is known to the students for containing good photographs of cadavers. As compared to Netter’s, McMinn’s contains less photographs, and less details, but it contains the bare essentials if gross anatomy. This book is recommended for the spots exam (check this out at the tips section), but, frankly, trips to the Anatomy Museum and good attention during lessons should suffice. This book comes with a bonus CD of photos and descriptions, so if you are a sucker for computer software, you may want to consider buying the book.
Colour Atlas of Anatomy
Johannes W Rohen
Chihiro Yokochi
Elke Lutjen-Drecoll
(we call it: Yokochi)
This book, like McMinn’s contains photographs of cadavers. The photographs in this book look as good, if not better than McMinns. However it doesn’t come with a CD, and it’s hardcover, so it’s pricely (I think about S$75). Like McMinn’s, I would only recommend this book for the spots exam, although it might not be necessary. However if you are an avid collector of medical textbooks (which many of us turn out to be), this is a classic to be bought and displayed prominently on your shelf, for curious family members to look and gross themselves out (now u know why it’s called gross anatomy?).
Grant’s Atlas of Anatomy
Anne Agur
(we call it: Grant’s Atlas, what else do you think?)
This is a very little-used book by our students. The diagrams are hand-drawn, like Netter’s, but lacks the appeal of a Netter. However little snippets of information dispersed nicely throughout the pages make reading this atlas a pleasure. My advice: Just buy Netter’s, you have no time for this (I hope the author and publisher don’t come after me).
Texts:
As described earlier, these are used to complement the atlases. You would have guessed, these texts only have good descriptions, and are lacking in good diagrams. These crafty book-makers are just out to earn our money…
Clinical Anatomy for Medical Students
Richard S Snell
(we call it: Snell!)
Well this is the most popular book among students. The text is organized in such a way such that regurgitating stuff out for essays are a breeze. However, it may not be first-timer friendly, as pictures are not placed with the texts (I had to flip around to refer to pictures, very troublesome). In addition, the clinical information is located at the back of each chapter, which some people prefer. I would recommend buying this book, or Moore, the next in this list.
Clinical Oriented Anatomy
Keith L Moore
(we call it: Moore!)
Finishing a close second among the popular texts is Moore, whose style of arrangement of information beats Snell. Moore also places the diagrams and bits of clinically relevant information on the relevant pages, so not much flipping around is needed. There are also apparently more coloured diagrams as compared to Snell. However, Moore is much costlier, much more unwieldy (it is really thick! I have some friends who cut up their Moore into smaller portions and bound each together), and if you are short of time you would most probably not be able to finish reading it. Yet I would recommend buying this book, as the arrangement of information takes beginners into the course very smoothly, and it contains way more clinical snippets than Snell.
Snell or Moore?
This has been a much debated question. Many of my friends have bought one, only to realize that the other is better. My advice is to take a look at both books first, before rushing into buying. Or else just buy both. Or if you could get a senior to loan or give you one then buy the other. What I did was I read Moore (from the library) for a good overview, and then I read Snell (my own book) for exam preparations.
Last’s Anatomy – Regional and Applied
Chummy S Sinnatamby
(we call it: Last’s)
This used to be a hot text among the older doctors. However this newest edition written by Sinnatamby has removed a lot of stuff, so it has become a concise text with only the bare essentials. For a newbie this text may prove difficult, but seasoned anatomists would like this text. You may like to check out older editions of Last’s (written by McMinn) on the library shelves. This edition was written before the syllabus cut in UK and is a better concise text.
Gray’s Anatomy
Henry Gray
(we call it: we don’t call it anything. In fact we don’t even think of using it)
This book is the grandfather of all anatomical books. As it covers anatomy by systems rather than by regions, it is not very useful to us. Buy it only if you are going to run a medical library.
Essential Clinical Anatomy
Keith L Moore
Anne MR Agur
Marion Moore
Kam Yu
(we call it: baby moore)
This book is gaining in popularity, however it is still only the condensed version of Moore. In terms of details, it is still better to get a proper text. You may want to use this book as a quick revision before the exams.
Clinical Anatomy: An Illustrated Review With Questions and
Answers
Richard S Snell
(we call it: baby snell)
This is another one of those condensed books. Personally I’m not fond of this at all, because it is too thin to be true. Don’t waste your time.
Texts for Embryology:
There’s only one recommended text here, which is Langman’s. Basically a text is not required as there are good notes and good lecturers taking you through this sub-track. But if you really must…
Langman’s Medical Embryology
TW Sadler
(we call it: Langman’s)
Buy it to get a full picture of what is going on during development. As the embryology syllabus has been drastically cut, some things you learn may not piece together. You could just assume that is the case (since you will not be questioned on integrating embryology) or read this book to satisfy your curiosity. The latest edition of this book comes with a CD.
Texts for Histology:
As far as we are concerned there’s only one good text for histology (Wheater’s) around, and it’s an almost must-buy. This is because you most probably won’t be paying attention during your histology practicals (who does, anyway?), and would want something to fall back on. After all, who owns a microscope and tissue preparations at home?
In addition, you may want to procure this set of photographs of tissues which have been floating around for a long time, for revision.
The anatomy department has also been kind enough to put up their slides on mednet, for students to go through. However the stuff posted has no descriptions, so a bit of imagination is necessary.
Wheater’s Functional Histology
B Young
JW Heath
(we call it: Wheater’s)
This book has great pictures, and explanations that go along with it. As I have mentioned, it’s an almost must-buy, unless you plan to live with the other aids I have listed above (which is not too difficult).
Basic Histology
LC Junqueira
(we call it: Junqueira)
This book has a lot of text, and will satisfy any information-hungry people out there. It’s also reasonably sized, and you can bring it around with you wherever you go. However all the photographs are in black and white, and it’s not very helpful studying histology in black and white.
Bloom & Fawcett’s Concise Histology
Don W Fawcett
Roland P Jensh
(we don’t call it anything. we don’t use it)
Hardly anyone uses this book, although it’s one of the newly recommended books. We would rather stick to our Wheater’s, I guess. But this book is colourful, and comes with a CD of pictures and questions. Take a look! It may be the choice of the new millennium.