Latifa Patel, University of Liverpool

Gray's anatomy has a great reputation for a reason. I give this book a Buyer Rating of 5/5. It is a must have. It is the best laid out anatomy book I have seen so far and when you are reading it, it actually feels like you have a tutor in front of you explaining it to you. Can not reiterate how easy it is to teach yourself anatomy from Gray's. The text is laid out nicely with enough room to annotate nd highlight and is nicely topped off with relevant easy to follow labelled drawings. Enjoy, Latifa (",)

Posted 26th Sep 2009

Aniek de Coninck, Maastricht University

The book is very well-organised. It uses the time-tested tradition of segmenting the book by anatomical location (abdomen, pelvis, head & neck, etc.) like most other books. In each section, there is an overview section, and then it delves into each portion (e.g. Pharynx, Larynx, Nasal Cavity, Oral Cavity, etc.). For each of those sections, it then covers the bone/cartilages and ligaments, muscles, blood vessels, lymphatics and nerves in order. The table of contents list things so well, that I use it more than the index, something I cannot say about many other books. The text is extremely clear, and doesn't use any unnecessary obfuscation. :) However, it is also very precise, meaning that it usually uses the correct anatomical words to describe locations of structures --- make sure you learn that well because it is the way it ought to be done. It also uses the updated Terminologia Anatomica terminologies. So, instead of finding the Eustachian tube, you have to look for the pharyngotympanic tube. This is both good and bad though, as your school might still not use the correct terms. Most of the time they do include the alternative names (ligament of Trietz, Sphincter of Oddi, etc.) for reference, but not always, as in the case of the Eustachian tube. There are also many tables and figures. Muscles are always presented in both the text and tables to summarise their actions, origin, insertion, etc.. The figures are all very clear, and large with some taking up the whole page with clear labels. Most of the time, everything referred to in the text is also found on the figures (referenced by the text, or in the pages around that topic). This is not true for many other anatomy books, forcing the students to flip all over the books to get a clearer picture. So this one is a must have!

Posted 11th Nov 2008

Emma Henderson, University of Oxford

This excellent textbook is a more manageable-sized student version of the classic but huge ‘Gray’s Anatomy’ (now on its 39th edition!). Published in 2005, the student version comes with free access to online supplementary material (extra clinical case studies, self-assessment questions etc). The book is well divided into body areas. The text is clear with an appropriate level of detail and good use of bullet points. I particularly like the diagrams, which are clearly labelled, not cluttered, and helpfully coloured. Discussions of clinical scenarios feature at the end of each section. There are also ‘In the clinic’ boxes giving clinical relevance to the anatomy being discussed in the main text. Overall, this textbook is great. It is well-tailored to students, providing the anatomy information that we need to know. It gets a big ‘thumbs up’

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Emma Jackson, The University of St Andrews

I have used Gray’s Anatomy as my main anatomy text book alongside with Flesh and Bones anatomy (Dr Whiten) in second semester of first year. I have not felt the need to refer to any other anatomy textbooks, because Gray’s is so comprehensive. The best part of Gray’s in my opinion are the diagrams which are outstanding and make understanding of all topics very clear. The main criticism I have is that the text can be quite intimidating and wordy. I found it useful to read the relevant pages of Flesh and Bones so I had a rough overview of the topic and then use Gray’s to pad out my knowledge along with my lecture notes. The layout of the book is very user friendly and I thought the conceptual overview’s of each chapter excellent and I frequently referred back to them.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Richard Flaaten, University of Copenhagen

Gray’s Anatomy for Students is, simply put, a brilliant anatomy textbook that not only explains anatomy in a way that is easy to understand, but also puts the text in a clinical context along the way. Much of its success can be attributed to the full-colour illustrations, which are plentiful and aids the reader in understanding three-dimensional relations. I only wish I had found this book earlier, as it would have saved a lot of time — time I spent reading Danish anatomy textbooks that, compared to Gray’s Anatomy for Students, were not only poorly illustrated, but also very difficult to grasp. I have but one negative remark for this title: it uses American terminology. I know that for some students, this automatically discredits the title as a primary textbook. Providing an edition with terminologia anatomica would definitely be welcomed.The Interactive Surface Anatomy is very useful and well made — a great example of how Student Consult can provide teaching tools that simplifies complex subjects in a way no book can.

Posted 1st Jul 2008