Griffiths GAMSAT Review

Goodman and Gilman's the Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics
Author: John S. Lazo

This is a much more detailed and in depth book than the "Pharmacology" book shown on the previous page. It is likely that your library will have a copy of the International Edition which is the 10th edition from 2001 so it will be slightly out of date. The version shown here is the American 11th edition from 2005 which incorporates all the newest advances.

I personally prefer this book to "Pharmacology" for it's extra detail but it has a much less student friendly layout and presentation. Nevertheless you won't find a better pharmacology book than this.

Wheater's Functional Histology: A Text and Colour Atlas
Author: Paul R. Wheater

I bought this book and although I hardly used it in my first year I'm still very happy I've got it as I'm sure that histology will grow in importance throughout the course and this is THE best histology book there is and will help you to make sense of the endless stream of pink blobs you will see in histology lectures.

This book has a logical layout and excellent light and electron microscope photos together with colour diagrams which explain what you are looking at. If you do decide to buy this book make sure you don't get the previous edition which has a pink cover and doesn't have the online extras that this newer 5th edition has. Bizarrely, the 4th edition is still on sale on Amazon but costs more than the new edition, surely it doesn't have antique value yet?

Introduction to Clinical Examination
Author: Mike Ford

We were given this book free by the Medical Protection Society in our first week, but if we hadn't I would probably have bought it anyway.

This is an excellent little pocket book which has all the essential information you need to carry out a competent physical examination of a patient. Its brief format makes it an ideal introduction to this necessary skill and also very handy for last minute revision before OSCE's.

Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking
Author: Barbara Bates

For a more in depth book on physical examination most medical students will probably be recommended one of the better known English texts such as "Macleod's Physical Examination" which I found confusing and difficult to read due to its cramped layout and lack of adequate diagrams or photos.

Much better by orders of magnitude is this little known American text which will definitely give you an edge over your colleagues who don't know about it. Firstly it is only £8 more than Macleod but is hardback, much thicker and just much better. It has actual photos rather than bad diagrams of how to carry out the physical examination, explanations of what you are looking for and what abnormal findings indicate. Also it has an invaluable section on history taking for each type of examination which tells you the key questions you should be asking patients ( invaluable to pick up extra marks in OSCE's).