Recommended Books

The suggestion here is based on the personal experiences of toppers of our university. We don’t criticize any publisher or book.

Recommended Resources for First-year Medical students

Physiology Textbooks-

1.Physiology by Linda S. Costanzo- The new gold standard for medical undergraduates. The clear prose and organization are what make this book phenomenal. How it introduces the concepts is unmatched. It will completely serve the purpose of your USMLE Step-1 preparation. You’ll have to study a few chapters from other sources as they aren’t discussed in this book but that doesn’t make it any less of an ideal book.

2. BRS (Board Review Series) Physiology by Linda S. Costanzo- This book, again by Costanzo, is no less than your class notes! It gives you the entire physiology in bullet points and the best part is even though the content is given in points, it still makes sense and it is all linked.
Our recommendation- Use Physiology by Costanzo as your regular textbook and BRS Physiology as your notes for revision and recall.

3.Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology, South Asia Ed.- Although Guyton is the book that is being used by most of the Indian medical students but the text of Guyton is low yield.

4.Essentials of Medical Physiology by Sembulingam- This textbook primarily focuses on the pattern of university examinations of Indian medical colleges. It presents the topics to you exactly in a way that can be reproduced in the examination paper. However, this textbook cannot and should not be used to develop a deep understanding of the concepts of physiology. This book may benefit you if you read it a month before the exams when you are already aware of the fundamental concepts of every chapter but we do not recommend so.

5.Medical Physiology for Undergraduate Students by Indu Khurana- Another textbook that is completely focused on university examinations just like Sembulingam. The only aspect in which it differs from Sembulingam is that it tries to explain its text but again it focuses on explaining only those concepts which are relevant for university examinations, neglecting USMLE. It will serve the purpose if you plan to begin studying physiology a month or two before your professional exams.

6. Review of Physiology by Soumen Manna- We recommend this book only for practicing questions before your university examinations. It is of no use for USMLE.

7. A Textbook of Practical Physiology by CL Ghai- This book is meant solely for your physiology laboratories (human physiology, experimental physiology, hematology). You must read the experiments from this book before you perform them in your lab so that you get yourself acquainted with the procedure, principle behind the procedure, instruments used & the precautions you need to take. It covers everything that you need to know about your practical examinations.

Reference Books-
1. Boron & BoulPaep Physiology
2. Berne & Levy Physiology
3. Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology

These books can be called extraordinary without any doubt but they are just not meant for undergraduates. Ganong throws at you a truckload of information, which is difficult to take in for a novice. It describes everything in excruciating detail with enormous data. We recommend you to use these only as your reference books. You must read the nervous system physiology from Ganong since it is something that needs a detailed explanation to understand and retain.

Anatomy

Textbooks for Gross Anatomy-

1. Gray’s Anatomy for Students- You can go for it without giving a second thought. No book has better, clearer, more accurate diagrams that convey a structure in its entirety. It is a clinically oriented, student friendly textbook that presents a visual image that brings the text to life. It also has clinical cases and radiological images incorporated into its text.

2. Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions- Only few students choose Snell’s over Gray’s. The text of this book is more clinically oriented which may be regarded as a plus point but there is no match to Gray’s when it comes to the self-explanatory nature of diagrams and anatomy is ultimately all about diagrams.

3. Moore’s Clinically Oriented Anatomy- This book is considered the standard text for medical students in the USA but we do not recommend purchasing this book. It takes time to read and we live within an ever-increasing time constraint. You can keep a pdf and use it for reference purposes. It has got some legendary blue boxes that will help you to understand the difference between learning and understanding anatomy.

4. Netter’s flashcards- Anatomy, being a very volatile subject, requires revision and recalling. These flashcards are something that every first year student must have from the beginning.

5. BD Chaurasia’s Human Anatomy

6. Textbook of Anatomy by Vishram Singh

We do not recommend BD Chaurasia as your regular textbook. However, if you are not someone who likes to read too much and you just want to score good in your internal assessments and professionals, you can refer to Vishram Singh and couple it with an atlas. One good thing about Vishram Singh is that its diagrams are easily reproducible in exams.

7. Vishram Singh’s Selective Anatomy- This textbook is something you may need in the last 10 days before your professional examinations. It sums the entire anatomy in 600 pages. This definitely sounds absurd but this is your last hope if you haven’t studied anything in the entire year.

8. Surface and Radiological Anatomy by A. Halim- As evident from the name, this textbook is all about surface and radiological anatomy. We recommend it to you for your university exams and part completion viva. It has nothing to do with USMLE.

9. Snell’s Clinical Neuroanatomy- There is absolutely no match to Snell’s when it comes to neuroanatomy. However, the depth of information that this book provides might make it cumbersome and tedious to read.

10. Inderbir Singh’s Textbook of Human Neuroanatomy

11. Textbook of Clinical Neuroanatomy by Vishram Singh

12. High-Yield Neuroanatomy by James D. Fix

Conclusion- For Gross Anatomy, we suggest that you use ‘Textbook of Anatomy by Vishram Singh’ and ‘Gray’s Anatomy for Students’ as your regular textbooks and you must couple these with an atlas. This will help you to keep up with your regular internal assessments in the university and will also help you to prepare for USMLE side by side.

For neuroanatomy, you can go for the Textbook of Clinical Neuroanatomy by Vishram Singh and High-Yield Neuroanatomy.

Atlas-

1. Atlas of Human Anatomy by Frank H. Netter- It is the most renowned atlas throughout the globe and is used universally by every medical student.

2. Thieme’s Atlas of Anatomy- This is another well known, but somewhat undervalued, atlas of human anatomy.

The two atlases mentioned above have diagrammatic depictions of human anatomy. However, if you want to get a cadaveric view you can refer to the following two atlases-

3. McMinn’s & Abraham’s Clinical Atlas of Human Anatomy

4. Anatomy- A Photographic Atlas by Rohen

Textbooks & Atlas for Histology-

1. Histology- A Text and Atlas by Michael H. Ross

2. diFiore’s Atlas of Histology with Functional Correlations

3. Junqueira’s Basic Histology

4. Wheater’s Functional Histology- A Text and Colour Atlas

5. Inderbir Singh’s Textbook of Human Histology

Our recommendation - Ross outclasses diFiore’s and Wheater’s in all senses (of course leaving IB Singh far back in the dust).

Textbooks for Embryology-

1. Langman’s Medical Embryology

2. The Developing Human- Clinically Oriented Embryology by Keith L. Moore

Langman is the reference book for AIIMS PG and Moore is for USMLE but both are essentially amazing. You are free to choose anyone.

3. BRS (Board Review Series) Embryology by Ronald W. Dudek- BRS, as always, is no less than your personal notes. This textbook must be used for quick revisions.

4. Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology- Not recommended.

Biochemistry

Textbooks-

1. Harper’s Illustrated Biochemistry- It is the most sought after book for Biochemistry. It explains all the biochemical phenomena in greatest possible detail. The text and the figures are self-explanatory and serve as an excellent source for concept building. The book couldn’t be more organised.

2. Lippincott’s Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry- Every chapter in this book is backed up by an innovative mind map at the end that makes the retention of information much easier. It contains all the information relevant for building a strong foundation in the subject. Simultaneously, it cites suitable disorders for connection to the clinics.

3. Textbook of Biochemistry by DM Vasudevan- This book is entirely exam oriented. It offers vast textual material that might be cumbersome to read as a whole.

The best thing about Harper and Lippincott is that these books explain any metabolic pathway with the help of structures of the intermediates. They just highlight the atoms of the substrate that are undergoing change during the course of any reaction and through this they help you understand what chemical change took place. Then, with the help of this understanding they will make you capable of naming the enzymes involved and the products formed on your own. What else do you need?

Vasudevan essentially lacks this kind of approach. Most often you’ll notice that the text in Vasudevan just doesn’t make sense if you are reading any concept for the first time or if you are not already familiar with the basics.

Choosing between Harper and Lippincott is a tough choice and is perhaps one of the most disputed topics of discussion. Lippincott is more student friendly while Harper is more organised and is more presentable. We recommend that you try reading 1-2 chapters from each book’s pdf and then go with the one which you find more comfortable at your end.

4. Self Assessment and Review of Biochemistry by Rebecca James Perumcheril- Though the text is well written, this book should be used for practising questions only. It cannot compete with Harper and Lippincott in any aspect.

Behavioural Science

1. BRS Behavioural Science by Barbara Fadem

2. High-Yield Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Public Health by Anthony N. Glaser

3. High-Yield Behavioural Science by Barbara Fadem

4. USMLE Medical Ethics by Conrad Fischer

E-Resources

The current gold standard for learning-

1. For USMLE-

a. Boards & Beyond

b. First Aid

c. Anki with Anking Step Deck

2. For NEXT-