5 comments about Textbook of Medical Physiology: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access (Textbook of Medical Physiology).

1. I bought both this book and Costanzo for my first year physio class and loved the Guyton book. He explains everything very well so that you understand why systems work the way they do. Costanzo, while easy to read, tends to dumb the information down, and as a result, you end up memorizing facts instead of understanding concepts. At my medical school, we take the shelf as the final, and after reading Guyton I felt really prepared, whereas most of my classmates who read Costanzo felt dazed.



2. Reading Guyton in medical school is extremely difficult. The book is extremely dilute and very comprehensive. It is so comprehensive, in fact, that it doesn't teach you what you need to know for the boards. If you want to learn all the important points and skip the garbage that isn't important at all, like how pH monitors work, then buy the pocket version of this book. It can be read much faster and it has plenty of detail to it. I highly recommend doing this if your med school class is using Guyton. I also found it helpful to supplement the pocket book with the review book, which has questions.



3. I got this in the post the other day. Very thorough, great reference text. Not at all readable. Nice to have nearby as a reference but not a good text if you're attempting to synthesize material for the first time.



4. R.I.P. Guyton, the best medical scientific writer that the world has ever known. This book is his masterpiece. Believe me, I have read it, this represents the best medicine textbook. Clear, thorough and simple writing. Every single detail of human physiology is explained.
   The magic of this great book is that the author mentions several times the details needed to understand a physiological process.
   This great man, doctor and scientist had poliomyelitis and couldn't walk, but he instead wrote a masterpiece that will not be forgotten.
   
   Buy it, read it, and then the magic of medicine will capture you.



5. This book is simply amazing and the classic text on physiology. There were so many times in medical school and even now in residency when I was totally confused and clueless about some topic....when I used this book to read up on it, all the facts became crystal clear and easy to understand. Bottom line: GREAT book, highly recommend for med school and beyond!!!!

5 comments about Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice (Nursing Research (Polit)).

1. This is an excellent book. It makes studying research very easy to follow and understand. Great resource book! A must-have for any research course on any level (graduate or undergraduate).



2. This text is a good basic reference for the beginning nurse researcher. It has very clear explanations of the research process and applies them nicely to the clinical setting.



3. Required text for master science in nursing, professor states will use as "reference." Lots of info packed in, lots of current websites/info listed. Fairly easy to follow format.



4. Excellent advanced book on professional nursing research theory and methodology. Excellent graphics and charts integrated into the body of the text.



5. If I didn't need it for a class...I would never have bought this.
   
   It hurts my soft-science brain to read.

5 comments about Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (Neuroscience).

1. You're probably purchasing this book because it's required for your survey course in neuroscience, and that's fine. In fact, it's pretty good for that purpose. But if you want a more rigorous treatment of the subject matter, then this book needs one or several serious supplements.
   
   It's certainly the most "lickable" neuroscience textbook out there, due to its candy-coated drawings.
   
   Pros:
   -Current information
   -Readability
   -Clinical focus
   -Profiling relevant human diseases (however largely non-rigorous)
   -Profiling current scientists
   -Presentation of some of the diagrams (colorful, do a fair job at synthesizing information)
   
   It is not so good at:
   -Thoroughness
   -More realistic images (stained sections, slice preparations, fMRI images)
   
   The two cons are a deal-breaker for me, however. For instructors I would recommend this book highly at the undergraduate level and only with a caveat to the graduate level.



2. This book is really good for a general understanding of neuroscience and it has good pictures. This is really a beginning undergraduate level book and can be used as supplemental material for basic concepts when a student is starting to become more advanced, but it does not go into much detail. It is well-written and consequently easy to read. If you're looking for an introduction to neuroscience this is a good book. If you're looking for a reference book for higher level neuroscience this book won't meet standards.



3. This is a wonderful textbook, and like only a very few others I have read, is well written and interesting enough to be read as an excellent book. It is quite difficult to put down and I think most readers will find themselves reading more than is required for their class or reading it for pleasure alone. It is not a complete exhaustive reference on every topic in neuroscience, but it does not pretend to be (and I think it would lose some of its appeal to the intended audience if it did). For example, the brief mention of glial cells in chapter 2 was a little disappointing, then again, I have a textbook of close to a thousand pages on glial cells alone, but I think a little more coverage could have been given. But, there are additional resources given, which allows interested students to further explore concepts they have been introduced to in this text.
   
   There is something to be said for a text that can be read cover to cover, with little strain, and give the reader a clear overview of the field.



4. I am using this textbook in my neurobiology book and its very helpful. It is well written and they use examples that help you to connect to the topic. The Cd-Rom that comes with it is very helpful for learning neuroanatomy.



5. I had a really bad experience dealing with this seller. I ordered my book on May 30, and by the time the estimated delivery date of June 23 had passed, I had tried to contact this seller three times without a response. Before I could file a claim with Amazon, I received an apologetic email from the seller explaining that he was unaware of my purchase and would ship the book immediately the next day. Alhough a refund was offered I foolishly accepted the order because I urgently needed the book. An additional week went by without a shipping confirmation and when I tried to get in touch with the seller again, I did not receive a response. I filed a claim with Amazon that is still being resolved. I would definitely avoid this seller and would buy your books from someone else.

5 comments about Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine (Pocket Notebook Series).

1. It is really useful ,practicle book.
   I adviced my students and residents to have one.
   And it is easy to order online as I did.



2. I keep an updated version of this in my labcoat pocket ALWAYS. Mine is full of notes and marks. Indispensible!



3. This pocket-sized manual is a MUST for all medical interns (and residents). It is SO much more useful for review than Washington Manual and is written in a very readable manner. Strongly recommended.



4. Although the expectations for medical students are not that of residents and interns, this book is very helpful. Evidence-based medicine is the term heard over and over on the wards and this pocket book will help with that. When presenting a patient, you may be asked which study showed the effectiveness of which treatment. This book has it. It is updated with references as recent as 2007 which is impressive. It will also save time when preparing a talk because as mentioned, the landmark studies are all incorporated in the text. Worth upgrading from the 2nd edition.



5. This is a great pocket resource for both medical students and residents. The pages now have titles across each page and sections are broken down into individual subjects as compared to the previous (blue) version.

5 comments about Yoga Anatomy.

1. A detailed book showing just what muscles are effected by each yoga movement. Alot of detail and excellent graphics



2. This text is a wonderful way to educate the patient's and families about the benefits of yoga to strengthen and sustain muscle mass and agility.



3. I just started studying yoga to better round out my workout routine. I picked up this book as something to help me better understand how to perform the asanas.
   
   Pros: Well drawn anatomical drawings, clear descriptions of how the muscles work to enable you to perform the asanas
   
   Cons: Requires some knowledge of anatomy (I have had anatomy classes so this was not a problem for me), descriptions don't tell you how to get INTO the poses, just how they work
   
   I would not get this book to learn yoga. You would be more frustrated than helped (see the low rated comments). But if you are studying with a yogi then I think this book will help you better understand the processes that are happening when you do your poses.



4. This book is an excellent learning/reference tool...the illustrations are clear, the wording is concise (not too scientific) and each pose is listed in English and Sanskrit (including the phonetic spelling) - it's a must have!



5. This is a book I've been looking for to understand how muscles work on a yoga session. A must for all yoga practitioners who want to know how the asanas work.

5 comments about Basic & Clinical Pharmacology (Basic and Clinical Pharmacology).

1. This book is the best because it explains everything very well with little information... if you are a student definetly by this book..



2. This is a very good book. I have been using this as the reference while working on a PharmD Degree.



3. While most of my students would not find this excellent work "basic", it is an outstanding adjunct to any healthcare professional's library. The chapters are well structured and the information is up to date. The illustrations have improved over the years and are mated well with the text.
   In all, this is a worthwhile text for anyone studying pharmacology or a useful resource.



4. This is one of those books where you have to read a paragraph again and again to actually get what it's saying. It's got great topics, if you can sift through the words! I don't love the writing style.



5. Over the years I have purchased many editions of this classic text and have never been disappointed. Years ago I sat in Dr. Katzung's classes when he was a young man (and I was younger!) This book is invaluable because of its varied content--1. background physiology which is so important when one needs to review and keep up-to-date on new developments, 2. comparisons of chemical structures as new products come onto the market and 3. summary tables showing the different characteristics of the various drugs in any drug group and classification. This is the one clinical pharmacology text I wouldn't be without.

5 comments about The Language of Medicine.

1. The Language of Medicine by Davi-Ellen Chabner is the best workbook out there for learning medical terminology, and it also comes with a CD. I'm an occupational therapist and medical librarian, and the knowledge I gained from this text prepared me for both fields.



2. I purchased this book to review some Medical Terminology prior to the start of my PA program. This book has plenty of exercises to practice, and the chapters cover a lot of different subjects with useful information you may or may not already know. A CD comes with the book that has exercises similar to those in the text, but less repetitive. Even though I already know a lot of this from my prior education, it is a great review or intro for those that are new to the subject. I highly recommend this book to any Pre-PA students, pre-med, or pre-health students.



3. This book has turned out to be an extremely user-friendly and comprehensive text for medical terminology. I would recommend it to anyone, whether they have previous medical knowledge or not. The format is easy to follow and basically guarantees you will learn and remember your material.



4. I am using this book in a veterinary science class because the teacher feels that it is the best med term book out there. Obviously, many of the terms do not apply and the diagrams are of humans, but the layout of each chapter is clear and the exercises at the end of each chapter are great for self-testing. The CD helps with correct pronunciation and also gives you the information in one addition mode.



5. I actually have recently purchased this textbook/ CD-ROM combo from my college bookstore for a class I am taking and I find the book to be fantastic. It is just as all these many, many others have reported it to be: A SOLID 5-STARS! However, I could not possibly be more disappointed with the CD. All the PCs, laptops, a tablet pc, and even one iMac where I am far, far exceed the minimum system requirements to run this software, but it is nowhere near being in the same league as the textbook/ workbook it supposedly supplements. It is so poorly constructed that some of (many of) the features are practically incomprehensible. My very American, English-speaking, raised on computers, extremely pc-literate (but not always the most politically correct or polite!) son took one look at the page on my screen and said, "It looks like some Russian-speaking translator threw some stuff together at the last minute and ripped all of you off." My college-loving son is currently working toward his third degree at the same school I am attending and has quite a bit of experience with textbooks which include a CD that is supposed to make the set worth twice the price of the book alone (but the book is never available for purchase new without the CD.)
   
   Buy this great book, even if you are stuck paying a lot for the inclusion of its accompanying CD-ROM. The book is awesome & I hope as my course goes forward, I will continue to be so impressed and will easily learn everything it has to offer. I am enjoying spending time in these beautiful pages so much in fact, that I would not even mind too terribly if it did not come so clearly & easily. This edition is, after all, Ms. Chabner's eighth go at it. She obviously knows her stuff and knows how to give it to her readers in meaningful, thought provoking, and permanent ways. It is obvious with this kind of quality what our author has been concentrating on -- and it has not been on computer programming. We should all be very grateful her tremendous talents are displayed in this book The Language of Medicine. Anyway, I bet every single computer user out there, if honest, would have to admit it would not be the first time they have been burned from purchasing lousy software. (And I am talking about the kind of software you buy because you want to own that software, not just because it was bundled with something else that you were really buying.)
   
   Before I go, I do have to tell you that there are several sources of free Tech Support included with the CD-ROM installation instructions. I am sure this is a good thing. At the very least, it indicates responsibility, pride, and concern on the part of the software producers. From my own experiences with similarly behaving computer programs though, I do not hold out any real hope of achieving excellence in the performance of this software. It just has too many problems to expect a phone call, an email, or a FAQ page to completely start over at the beginning and create a well-written program that accomplishes all the functions this CD-ROM claims to do.

1 comments about Principles of Anatomy and Physiology.

1. When I saw the books, I got really enthousiastic. The forsight for listening to mp3 files on my iPod while studying on the road appealed to me. But when I registered online I noticed there are no mp3 downloads anywhere on the Wiley website. That said, there are soundfiles pronouncing medical terms but no audio lectures as promised in the book!
   
   Wiley offers a student support website where you can view visual anatomy or other subjects from the book. You can search for chapters only to find that if you for instance go to chapter 21 and click on the listed mp3 items you are redirected to alphabetical lists of available files for all chapters and have to search for the requested subject by yourself.
   
   For the written contents of the book I can only say it's fine.

5 comments about The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

1. Although this is one of the most important books I've read, it is also one of the least fulfilling. Let me start out by saying that I am a casual reader of the history and philosophy of science. This book, described as being one of the most important in its area, is not for the casual reader. It is a scholarly work and it presumes a great deal of scientific knowledge. When discussing a specific revolution, Thomas Kuhn does not go into the details of the science behind the revolution; he just assumes that the reader knows it. And befitting its stature, the book was written in a very scholarly tone. Unfortunately this meant that I had to do a lot of digging to reach the kernel of the point that Kuhn was trying to make. However, Kuhn's revelations about how scientific revolutions come about and the role of normal science answered a lot of my questions. His discussions of paradigms were also very enlightening and he certainly explained why old ideas are so difficult to overthrow. Indeed, now that I've read this book, I recognize when other authors refer to his thinking. Overall though, I do not recommend this book to other casual readers.



2. I read SSR as part of preparation to begin work on a paper and received a very different dose of smart than I expected.
   
   Kuhn has shown how meaningful, and I daresay fun, the prospect of a career as a researcher in any field could be. In this classic work he also guts a lot of intuitive thoughts on science, discovery, and broader knowledge itself - after a thorough reading you'll really see these processes almost totally redefined.
   
   As a non-science major I found all the scientific antecedents to which he frequently and swiftly referred (i.e., Leyden jar, relativity, photoelectric effect) coupled with the dense, elevated writing quite difficult to get through. Still, with slow and focused reading, and a little bit of note taking, which I would suggest to anyone without a PhD, I feel like the main ideas are quite digestible.



3. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions is an important book, because it helped people view scientific progress in a new light, and introduced us to the important concept of paradigm shift. Unfortunately, however, the book is poorly written, with a dense and overly academic style, and quite frankly, is very, very, boring. Good concept, poor execution.



4. Essential reading in understanding why the Enlightenment ideal of rationality is dead or at least doesn't count in ways that matter. In particular, Kuhn calls into question the idea of science as a rational enterprise, and since science is epistemologically privileged and thought to be the essence of rationality, to call into question the rationality of science is to call into question rationality itself. This is different, I submit, than the anti-rationality of the deconstructionists (e.g., Derrida), which seems to lack immediate real world consequences (aside form contributing to a sense of alienation in some). I find Hegel to be a precursor of Kuhn. Hegel attempted to describe how we come to believe what we believe, and Kuhn attempts to do this in the field of science, and, it should be added, with much more accessibly.
   
   There are some who will find Kuhn lacking all coherence (sophisticated BS, as one person put it), and that is another way of saying "irrational". For those who associate irrationality with things like religious fundamentalism, irrationalism is a fearful thing. Yet, it is rationality itself that has been called into question by the events of the 20th century, beginning with the carnage of WWI. The answer is not more rationalism. Rationalism, the primacy of reason and the center of modernism, is itself a belief, and the crisis of modernity is the recognition that reason has no more claim to a privileged position than religion. The answer may be, as Rorty has pointed out, deciding what we want to believe without being forced to justify the basis of those beliefs: we believe because our beliefs support what we hold to be good things(neo-pragmatism) That may be a fearful thing for those who don't find complete correspondence between their beliefs and Rorty's privileged beliefs. What, though, it does show, is that irrationality is not sufficient grounds for being dismissive. In doing so one may be taking a stance on the wrong side of the arrow of history.
   
   The arrow, though, is not that of the Whig theory of history, where things constantly improve driven by reason. Historians of this view (as well as much of popular culture) denigrate older views by degrading them to myth or religious belief status. This gives a privileged position to our own, contemporary beliefs and gives us a sense of comfort. Kuhn disturbs this comfortable view by showing, for example, that Ptolemaic astronomy gave plausible answers to questions of the day. So too, one could argue that the contemporary dismissive view of Scholastic philosophy is more the result of Enlightenment propaganda than of merit. At the least, Kuhn is a good (partial) antidote for contemporary smugness --- a challenge to bourgeois sentiment. Kuhn, though, is much more than a cultural caution; he is an important voice in the contemporary philosophical debate.
   
   Who would like "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions"? Those who like ideas with profound consequences easily presented. Kuhn is a Nietzsche, and like Nietzsche is at the very least a fun read. He is much more if taken seriously.



5. I enjoy the reading. I have used Kuhn as a reference throughout grad school to justify my thoughts on leadership paradigm shifts. Kuhn's contribution had four positive elements: a) Mechanism of crisis: precipitation and resolution, b) Analogy of the historicity of science with evolution c) that science rewrites its own history, and d) psychology of paradigm shifts; that the paradigm is not completely defined by explicit prescription but also by a system of practices that are not fully articulated. In summary, Change is difficult. Human Beings resist change. However, the process has been set in motion long ago and we will continue to co-create our own experience. Kuhn (1996) states, "awareness is prerequisite to all acceptable changes of theory" (p. 67). It all begins in the mind of the person. What we perceive, whether normal or metanormal, conscious or unconscious, are subject to the limitations and distortions produced by our inherited and socially conditional nature.

5 comments about The Chicago Manual of Style.

1. If you're a writer, then you'll need this book. I use it almost as much as my dictionary.



2. Produced by the University of Chicago Press, the "Manual" is a classic standard for all book endeavors. No need to review this One. It's a major work of scholarship, not only for scholarly documentation, but also for "book making" and "book publishing."



3. This indispensable volume is one of the finest books written for writers and editors of all time. One of its nicest features is that it is actually a joy to read. I particularly enjoy this version due to its added usage guide. I eagerly anticipated its release (to the point of pre-ordering it) and have been well rewarded with its purchase. I would recommend it for anyone who wishes to do "well" instead of "good."



4. Chicago Manual of Style is the authority for many writers and editors. The latest edition includes useful information for handling all aspects of citations involving Internet material.



5. I love reference books. I had an editing job that required me to have "15" so I had the perfect excuse to buy it. But what a difficult book to use. I had to check a few relatively easy things, and one or two obscure things. If the answer wasn't where I'd think it should be the book directed me elsewhere, an elsewhere where it was also difficult to find what I needed. It sure looks good, but....