Top 6 Pathology Books
Sorry it’s been a while but Exams, Christmas and New Years have been keeping me busy throughout the last few months.
Back to work: here are the ONLY pathology books you will need during your med schools years.
Number 1:
This is without a doubt one of the first pathology books you have to get (along with the Goljan Audio Files). He covers all the necessary fields (cardiovascular, endocrinology, GIT, etc) and has tonnes of pictures and clinical correlations that will help with your curriculum as well as the USMLEs. I don’t need to sell this text book to you because everybody knows Goljan.
Admittedly, the structure is in the form of bullet points and some people will not like this, but for the information you have to get through I have yet to find any other method that works.
Bottom Line: This book is great, buy it!
Number 2:
BRS Pathology (Board Review Series)
Here is an alternative or an additional book to study along with Rapid Review Pathology (Goljan). It is similar to Goljan’s text in that it has short sentences and tonnes of bullet points that explain everything.
I feel this text book is the fine balance between too concise and too wordy. Get it if you can’t be bothered reading ALL of Robbins and Cotrans – even though you should.
Number 3:
Robbins Basic Pathology (Kumar)
This is a book I use more often than I tell people. It is definitely more thorough than the earlier suggested texts, but I find it very well written and straight to the point. It explains a lot on epidemiology, pathophysiology and clinical relations (like all Patho books must); and it does this without getting to tedious or boring on the reader. If your attention span is a tad lengthier than RRP readers than this will suit you well.
Number 4:
Robbins and Cotran Review of Pathology (2nd Ed.)
If you have not decided to do a last minute cram for the USMLEs than this text book is the one for you. It has numerous USMLE type questions ranging from clinical vignettes, short answer questions to second order questions (e.g. factors/diseases associated with pathology) which really get you thinking. Each chapter bombards you with Q&A galore that will keep you ahead of the class and the game in general.
Sorry if I have just sold this text book as a USMLE Q&A reference. It does cover all areas of pathology and does it in a similar way to Robbins Basic Pathology – plain and simple.
Number 5:
Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease (7th Edition)
Save the best for last (sort of). This is considered by some as one of the bibles of Pathology for medical students. i personally will have to say no, but a great deal of people I know have sworn by this text book and in my experience those have been the gunners of the class. Yes, those people who take notes, plan meticulously, read pre-readings and post-readings from lectures; this is the book for them. Does it cover EVERYTHING? – yeah, pretty much. Does it have high yield information? – yeah, if you can find it.
Don’t get me wrong if you have been reading this book from the first day of medicine you will be okay. If you, like most, have only realised that they need to get there shit together then I would stick with some of the earlier texts.
TIP: Go to the library and borrow this book for a month and then decide if you need it or not.
Number 6:
Pocket Companion to Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease
Companion books are pretty much for people with a bit of extra cash and find time to look up notes while on their clinical placement. I, for one, lack both money and time, hence why I do not have a copy of this but I have borrowed it from the library and found it rather useful when forced to use it.
It is basically an abridged version of the previous text (Number 5), but leaves out all the boring bits. I love the one page one diseaese layout – priceless.
Also See:
MOST ESSENTIAL USMLE Step 1 Preparation Textbooks
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