Joseph Fitchett, Imperial College, London

Medical Genetics by Jorde et al. is the right kind of book if you have lost your notes from the early years of medical school about cell biology, genes, and genetic disorders. At Imperial we don't have a pure "Medical Genetics" module but it does come up as part of other modules. This book is therefore only really useful, in my opinion, if you go back to it as and when required. The book has fantastic diagrams and very useful chapters on "cancer genetics", "immunogenetics" and "develomental genetics", which are all relevant for different parts of the medicine course. I would recommend this book if you have an interest in medical oncology and paediatrics, but not as an essential for your medical degree. Unlike most of the textbooks I tend to read, I normally like having one book per subect. However, Medical Genetics by Jorde et al. has StudentConsult, so this is very useful when trying to remember the topics we learnt early on in the course but are inevitably rusty in the clinical years.

Posted 8th Jan 2012

Andrew Gough, University of Manchester

This book is a surprisingly easy read for a book on genetics and I think pitched ideally at med students. It starts with an excellent and easily digestible introduction into DNA, mitosis, protein synthesis and then meiosis and oogenesis. Then onwards the book takes you through a very clinically orientated tour of medical genetics – including everything from metabolic disorders, to immunogenetics and to cancer. It’s very well illustrated and key learning points are well highlighted. The best features are clinical commentaries which complement the text and highlight important genetic conditions as well as genetic issues such as diagnostic decisions and screening. At the end of each chapter there are questions (with answers) to assess what you learned. In summary, an excellent clinical text – which is useful not only during a specific genetic module but is clinically useful enough to be a reference in future PBL cases or clinical encounters where there is a genetic aspect/overlap.

Posted 31st Oct 2011