Aniek de Coninck, Maastricht University

I've been using Rang since my first year. It's an excellent text, and worth having around even if it's not one of your 'essential reading' items, as it has tons of useful info on different drugs and their mechanisms of action. The writing is very clear and easy to follow. Each drug (or family of drugs) is divided into sections such as Pharmacokinetics, clinical use and method of action with lots of tables and diagrams along the way to make things that little bit clearer.

Posted 3rd Oct 2008

Elise Linh Vu, University of Oslo

An excellent and comprehensive book about most aspects of pharmacology. The best thing is that it doesn’t go too deep into details; it gives you just enough information on a basic level, that you actually remember what you just read. It’s coloured after topics and easy to read (very straightforward language), which prevents even the most tired student from falling asleep within 5 seconds. It has many summary boxes after big topics, these are great and give you a quick review before an exam of the main points. However, it’s quite large in size, but the chapters are short and concise, and every page is not crammed with as much text as possible, so don’t get intimidated by its number of pages. A book you can use throughout the whole course. Online supplementary material is available, and is great to use if you don’t want to carry the book around all day, ( and if you’ve got access to internet) and is easy to navigate.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

Leonie Bailey, University of Keele

This textbook is a necessity amongst medical students. It provides information on a wide range of drugs and gives background reading on the physiological situation in which the drugs are used. There are many pictures that illustrate the drug mechanisms, making them a lot easier to understand. There are summary boxes at the end of a section highlighting the main points in a clear, bullet-pointed list for quick reading or study notes.
Sometimes it is difficult to find information on a specific drug. Drugs are often described in groups, not individually. Therefore, for some drugs you will not find specific data, e.g. half-life. Also, a drug may appear in several chapters, causing the information to be spread out and difficult to find.
This book is defiantly worth purchasing as it will be your go to pharmacology book, but be prepared to have another source for more in depth detail.

Posted 1st Jul 2008

LukᚠHrzán, Charles University, Prague

A great companion to the Pharmacology course – it is like taking a guided tour. While the text encompasses the subject completely, the reading time is adequate – not too stretched. In less than 800 coloured pages, nothing is omitted while still making sure that the student is not overwhelmed with hundreds of drug names. Concise layout, the intro deals with the importance of each chapter, then covers the [patho] physiological background, continuing onto the important pharmacological groups and individual drugs. The layout is precise; diagrams, tables etc are abundant and most helpful. The amount of detail is good, but, thankfully, spiced from time to time with petite-font historical or anecdotal comments which entertain, give the bigger picture and just make the text fun to read. Boxes with key points and clinical applications are great – this is where to look while revising – which also shows you what is really important in the accompanying text. You never get lost – it is written for the student! Online material is standard quality. Overall, an extraordinary bargain and one of the best-written textbooks I’ve come across. Of the moment, concerning usability, style, layout, up-to-dateness it beats its rivals in the field.

Posted 1st Jul 2008