The Official Reading List for Medicine at Barts and the Royal London 2012/2013

UPDATE: I've finished my first year as a medical student at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. I have subsequently reviewed the official reading list HERE.

Things are starting to move quickly now. I've just completed my pre-enrolment requirements online and I've received an induction timetable. I've booked some fresher events (we get a boat ball and a toga party!) I've also been given a reading list. I'm excited and surprised at some of the choices. See below (all links are to Amazon, I tried to do some fancy pictures but the formatting threw it all over the place).



The two essential books recommended are:

1. Clinically Oriented Anatomy by Moore
2. Medical Physiology by Boron

I've had my eye on Clinically Oriented Anatomy for a while. It's got some good reviews on TSR and on the occasional flick through in a bookshop, seems to have a nice layout. Oddly my reading list says that if I can't 'cope' with the full sized version, I should get the Essential version. I assume because it's just a big book and this is something a bit more pocket size.

Boron's Physiology looks an absolute bore but then I've always hated physiology at QM so hopefully I'll be surprised.

A third book is highly recommended but not essential for dissection:

• Color Atlas of Anatomy: A Photographic Study of the Human Body

I already own Marieb's atlas and I've got Netter's flashcards. I do like an atlas with photography not diagrams of human prosections so this could be a potential purchase if my current atlas is not enough.

A number of other books are listed under 'essential books' for the five years:

• Human Form Human Function: Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology
• More physiology with the classic athlete on the front cover. Is that the only genre of stock picture people use when they publish books about physiology?
• Medical Biochemistry by Baynes
• My only experience of this book was in chm form (thankfully a dying ebook format). It was not a good experience which has led me to hate this book for completely illogical reasons.
• Rang & Dale's Pharmacology
• I have a lot of experience with this text. I even own the kindle version. This was the core text for my pharmacology module in second year. While not detailed enough for the more biochemical info, it was more than adequate for a clinical medicine point of view.
• Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine
• Another book I already own. I regularly used this for PBL and have heard lots of good things from fellow medical students. It's a beast though, so I'm glad it comes with a digital copy. There is a new edition though which annoys me slightly.
• Medical Sciences by Naish
• I've been watching this book for a while. Something draws me too it. I'll def be checking it out of the library to have a nose. 
• Essentials of Rubin's Pathology
• I don't remember when but I own the accompanying iPhone app for this book. I'm hoping that this will seriously help me during my pathology lectures.
• Wheater's Functional Histology
• This was my saviour in Histology. This book is amazing. It has some great detail and excellent photography. Not worth a purchase though. You'll use it for one module then never look at it again. I'll borrow it from Whitechapel like I did two years ago.
• Human Molecular Genetics
• Ah, one of the first books I ever bought for university. This was the recommend text for my Human Cell and Human Genetics modules in first year of Biomed. It's an okay book, but it really lacks the detail required for the third year of a Biomed course. I don't know how it will hold up for medicine with the field changing so rapidly.

I am excited by the release of the booklist, but I've learnt my lesson three years ago. Wait till you are there and know what books you need. In reality I will probably not buy any of these books that I don't already have. I'm watching a freshers facebook group and a few current students have said that these books are only recommended because the authors teach at Barts. I'm not surprised.

I will probably purchase the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Examination and Practical Skills (Oxford Medical Handbooks) and I already own the Classic Cheese and Onion book. I already own several anatomy books along with the range of books I've collected during my three years at QM. I even picked up a PBL based book the other day at my favourite bookshop.

A secondary debate is what format I buy these in. Almost all of them come in Kindle form so I could have them on my iPhone, iPad, Air and Kindle DX. But I still cling to paper, even though I want to go paperless (illogical, I know). I should make the change. It would force me to work paperless and it would significantly reduced the book load for my rucksack. Plus the kindle form is cheaper when compared to bought new. It's even cheaper when other means are used.