Textbook of Medical Physiology

Rating:
Summary: This new medical physiology text is incredible.
Review: Anyone who takes even one cursory look at this new textbook by Boron and Boulpaep will be stupified by its comprehensiveness and its beauty. The figures are the best that I have seen in a single volume, and the explanations (the text, that is) will take the new graduate or medical student on a fantastic initial tour of the body and how it works. For the more advanced student and even for those of us with PhDs in physiology, the text has information that will enhance your knowledge on a daily basis.

I have been teaching from Ganong and Guyton, while supplementing my material from excellent books by Levick (Cardiovascular Physiology), but this book is a gift because it has it all. No more complaining about Guyton, and no more listening to students' complaints about Ganong. This is THE book to have for your course. I would recommend, however, that if you are teaching basic sciences for USMLE step I, a "simplified" book like Costanzo's Physiology (her textbook, NOT the BRS) is a nice addition to the course.

The biophysical aspects of physiology, of course, are too much for the medical student. But as a teaching tool, the background biophysics are a must. Regarding the images, yes, the jpgs on the CD (not included with the book) are low resolution but this is easily solved by opening the pdfs on the CD (in other words, there are pdfs and jpgs) in Photoshop and saving them as jpgs (Save file for Web...), which renders these images most useful for PowerPoint presentations.

Bottom line: this book is great. Let your students reap the benefits.

Rating:
Summary: medical physiology without the medical part
Review: Boron's Medical Physiology represents an attempt to present the subject with a strong emphasis on molecular biology. While the concept is reasonable and the book partly succeeds, the execution has very substantial failings which far outweigh the merits.

The writing is generally clear and the illustrations, while not the best I have seen in a medical text, are adequate.
The real problem with Boron is the content. As noted by other reviewers, the emphasis is on molecular biology and there is more biophysics than in other medical physiology texts. But that isn't the problem here (I appreciated the inclusion of this material and found it useful more often than not). Where the book fails is in the thin, nonmedical coverage of many if not most topics. For starters, there is no discussion anywhere on hemostasis. This is simply unforgivable in a textbook of medical physiology. Don't even look for the term "platelet" in the index; it isn't there. While this seems to be the most egregious omission, there are numerous others. The section on vision, for example, has a competent discussion of the transduction from photonic energy to nerve stimulus. Unfortunately, there is little else. The book makes no mention of such topics as the pupillary light reflex or visual field abnormalities. Glaucoma is dismissed with one sentence. Papilledema is not mentioned; nor is nystagmus. While publishers cannot include everything, this coverage represents a very strange editorial bias against medically germane topics. And this odd bias is consistent across chapters. Throughout the book there are boxed discussions of medical topics separated from the main text. Unfortunately, these materials are too few, too cursory, and not well integrated with the rest of the text. The reviewer who described this book as "comprehensive" probably needs to take another look.

In summary, the text certainly is different from and has advantages over Guyton and the others. However, as a textbook of medical physiology it is unsuitable and largely unsatisfactory. The easiest remedy might be to simply change the title. As a general textbook of human physiology it has considerable virtue and would be worth a solid three stars at least. But medical students and others in the allied health professions should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: medical physiology without the medical part
Review: Boron's Medical Physiology represents an attempt to present the subject with a strong emphasis on molecular biology. While the concept is reasonable and the book partly succeeds, the execution has very substantial failings which far outweigh the merits.

The writing is generally clear and the illustrations, while not the best I have seen in a medical text, are adequate.
The real problem with Boron is the content. As noted by other reviewers, the emphasis is on molecular biology and there is more biophysics than in other medical physiology texts. But that isn't the problem here (I appreciated the inclusion of this material and found it useful more often than not). Where the book fails is in the thin, nonmedical coverage of many if not most topics. For starters, there is no discussion anywhere on hemostasis. This is simply unforgivable in a textbook of medical physiology. Don't even look for the term "platelet" in the index; it isn't there. While this seems to be the most egregious omission, there are numerous others. The section on vision, for example, has a competent discussion of the transduction from photonic energy to nerve stimulus. Unfortunately, there is little else. The book makes no mention of such topics as the pupillary light reflex or visual field abnormalities. Glaucoma is dismissed with one sentence. Papilledema is not mentioned; nor is nystagmus. While publishers cannot include everything, this coverage represents a very strange editorial bias against medically germane topics. And this odd bias is consistent across chapters. Throughout the book there are boxed discussions of medical topics separated from the main text. Unfortunately, these materials are too few, too cursory, and not well integrated with the rest of the text. The reviewer who described this book as "comprehensive" probably needs to take another look.

In summary, the text certainly is different from and has advantages over Guyton and the others. However, as a textbook of medical physiology it is unsuitable and largely unsatisfactory. The easiest remedy might be to simply change the title. As a general textbook of human physiology it has considerable virtue and would be worth a solid three stars at least. But medical students and others in the allied health professions should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: great medical physiology text!
Review: great text! this is a fabulous book and i highly recommend it. my only gripe is that the website is not what is promised. as of this writing, it only contains an outline of each chapter and DOES NOT include the promised extra material. after contacting the publisher, i was told this would hopefully be fixed by march or april of 2004.

Rating:
Summary: great medical physiology text!
Review: great text! this is a fabulous book and i highly recommend it. my only gripe is that the website is not what is promised. as of this writing, it only contains an outline of each chapter and DOES NOT include the promised extra material. after contacting the publisher, i was told this would hopefully be fixed by march or april of 2004.

Rating:
Summary: Too confusing for begginers,excellent if you know the basics
Review: I have bought 4 physiology books during my medical studies and i am only a second year student! And i must say, that this book is definetely the best one, if you have the basic knowledge. If you are a new begginer though, it is very very difficult to start with this book, since the explanations are very detailed and require a certain level of 'scientific way of thinking'. There are many research examples and historical links, something that a student prepearing for an exam doesn't want to waste time on. Some of the explanations are too long and complicated, that one looses the initial idea of what the explanation was about.

On the other hand, if you are quite skilfull in physiology, this is a great book. The pictures are extraordinary and very scematic and understandable!!! You definetely get a lot for your money!

So, in conclusion, if you buy yourself a simpler physiology book and get the basics from there, Medical Physiology is the perfect choise to go on expanding your knowledge with. But don't buy it as your very very first physiology book. It will just confuse and frustrate you.

Rating:
Summary: The best and most comprehensive physiology text
Review: No question this is the best physiology text going. Thorough, detailed, but has plenty of summary sections to keep everything organized. Very biophysical in sections, which I suspect many med students won't like, but everything's here you'll need. The sole (minor) problem is that the jpeg files on the CDRom are rather low resolution which makes them look fuzzy in a Powerpoint presentation. Otherwise, superb.

Rating:
Summary: The best and most comprehensive physiology text
Review: No question this is the best physiology text going. Thorough, detailed, but has plenty of summary sections to keep everything organized. Very biophysical in sections, which I suspect many med students won't like, but everything's here you'll need. The sole (minor) problem is that the jpeg files on the CDRom are rather low resolution which makes them look fuzzy in a Powerpoint presentation. Otherwise, superb.