nabeela adam, University of Stellenbosch

What can I say Dr Parveen Kumar and Dr Michael Clark have outdone themselves yet again. It has new topics that were not previously inside. It also reads like a story and it is not long. It is short and concise including all the essential information regarding that topic. It is a must for all students studying in the medical field as you can easily come back to it as a reference. Also I like the red front cover, it is very eye catching. Only one bad thing the book should come in a hard cover because when you put it on your shelf upright the front cover or back cover tends to bend and get these ugly "doggy ears".

Posted 15th Jul 2010

Joseph Fitchett, Imperial College, London

Kumar & Clark Clinical Medicine is one of the rare indispensable medical textbooks, essential for all medical students – and this new edition is no exception! One would imagine updating Clinical Medicine would be an impossible task as the previous award-winning editions are so good, however the 7th Edition is the best so far! There are over 100 new illustrations, five new contributors, and more input from the International Advisory Panel. The layout is clear, images are excellent and it covers so much of the undergraduate medicine curriculum. It is a great reference text and suitable to learn at any time of the academic year, and all this in one book! From management of disease, background science, physiology, clinical examination skills, and the latest developments in treatment, it is all there. Online content in the companion website is one of the main bonuses too, with access to all text, images, case studies, and even works well on mobile phones. Further useful additions are the heart and lung sounds that come with descriptions, and the question and answers – ideal for exam revision! It is one of the few books that every aspiring and qualifying doctor should want to own.

Posted 11th Sep 2009

Emma Jackson, University of Manchester

Kumar and Clark the 6th edition has been my bible for the last 3 years, so I was doubtful on how they would improve such an excellent text. My doubts have been totally removed; the 7th edition is a full step up from the 6th edition. The mistakes I had found in the 6th edition have all been corrected in the new edition. The book itself is shorter and slightly bigger, however I think this is an improvement as the inside layout is much clearer and easier to follow. It has a somewhat similar page set out and format to Surgery and Medicine and I can see that it would be relatively easy to now cross reference between the two excellent books. The new edition includes medical advances which have occurred since the 6th edition, bringing it right up to date. This includes a wide variety of new images, which are clear and supportive to the text. The content is more than detailed enough for anyone undertaking a medical degree. The colour scheme used throughout the book, is much easier on the eye and makes reading it very enjoyable. The new edition also enjoys a large variety of online content to supplement ones learning. The animations provide a very useful demonstration of procedures alongside the explanations found in the textbook. I found particularly useful the cardiac and respiratory sounds with audio descriptions of what I was hearing. To conclude, the 7th edition of Kumar and Clark is going to rapidly become as well thumbed as my old edition. I cannot fault this textbook.

Posted 29th Aug 2009