Latifa Patel, University of Liverpool

I award this book a BUYER RATING of 1/5. This is an unusual book. It has the Kumar and Clark trademark and hence looks very attractive. It is easy on the eyes though lacks diagrams full stop. And its layout is somewhat confusing. Its aim is to answer questions. And it does that. But the questions are in one place and the answers a bit further away further the questions are not in an understandable order. For me, this book appears to have a distinct audience. If you are familiar with the online question and answer service offered by Kumar and Clark then this might just be for you. - Not for me thought. Enjoy, Latifa (“,)

Posted 9th Mar 2009

Donna Pilkington, University of Manchester

This is a great little book and is a joy to read. You don’t even realise you are learning when you pick up this book. This book is ideal for just flicking through in your spare time. It is well organised and each chapter corresponds to a chapter in Clinical Medicine. The book has an easy to use layout, it presents all the questions for a particular topic, and then there answers so there is no annoying rummaging in the back of the book to find the answer. A really nice book to use when you don’t have time to do much work and a great way of testing your knowledge. I would highly recommend this book as a superb accompaniment to the already nationally renowned Clinical Medicine by Kumar and Clark.

Posted 20th Aug 2008

David Miller, University of Glasgow

1000 Q’s and A’s fills a little niche in the medical textbook market and provides a good self assessment booklet for clinical level exams in the intricate little questions which are thrown into exams to differentiate between the students than just know the basic core knowledge and those with an in-depth understanding. Its very different from the Kumar and Clark Pass Finals in that it is not the standard run of the mill exam style questions but rather a collection of important and often tricky questions that you often have at the tip of the tongue having heard that question ages ago. The books was brought about by a complication of questions that students asked the authors of Kumar and Clark As is to be expected of the Kumar and Clark family 1000 Questions and Answers lives up to its name with the quality and authority of the content. It is well delineated into the chapters corresponding to Kumar and Clark Clinical Medicine and references are made throughout. Unlike many such self assessment texts the answers are thorough and don’t leave you puzzled, in addition , the answers are tidily included at the end of each chapter which is considerably easier that the hassle of flicking back and forwards to the end of the book. A clever little book which makes for at somewhat lighter bit of revision and exercises you brain to trawl up those little gem details and facts that polish off many exam questions to excel from the average mark.

Posted 20th Aug 2008

Sharps - The Aberdeen Medics Newsletter, University of Aberdeen

I love them. You love them. Let’s face it, if you’re a medic you are probably in love — oh yes, head over heels, jump their bones, suck out their brains, love love love — with Parveen Kumar and Michael Clark. If like me you have a deformed back from lugging the seminal Clinical Medicine around this hideous grey city, here comes something that could give our whimpering vertebrae the occasional day off: a perfectly sized mini-book of questions and answers. The material in it has been lifted from the ‘Ask the Author’ online feature on Kumar and Clark’s Clinical Medicine webpage, and features questions and comments from both medical students and doctors, all answered by experts. It is advertised as providing “a useful and interesting sounding board for self assessment and progress tracking”. Oh my heavy eyes. What a party.
Do not fear, medical book buyers. There’s more here than self-assessment and progress tracking. This book is full of interesting tid-bits to pique your interest and send you scurrying off in the right direction to fill out your knowledge. The questions are deliciously wideranging, covering not just the big guns. Genetics, ethics, cell and molecular biology and communications are all represented, and the section on tropical diseases is particularly readable. The book is laid out by section, with lists of questions followed by lists of answers, so that you can dip and out whenever you like. The answers are to the point, easy to understand and, where necessary, provide handy references to journal papers that are worth a read.
It’s not all fabulous, mind. Some of the questions really aren’t worth the paper they are printed on, particularly those concerning management guidelines and diagnostic criteria. The SIGN guidelines are frankly going to help you out a lot more if that’s all you’re interested in. One question beginning “What are the WHO guidelines...” is especially disheartening - for goodness’ sake, lazy chops, look them up for yourself. Where this book really comes into its own is when answering questions that are less clear cut: pathophysiology, the mechanisms behind certain drugs, the whys and the hows instead of the whats. All in all, it is a good companion to Clinical Medicine, and helps you to think about a topic instead of blindly memorising as much as you can for those dreaded exams. Thanks, Kumar. Thanks, Clark. I love you still.

Posted 1st Jul 2008