Physiology

Human Physiology
$75.11
I ordered a textbook, got it on time, the description provided was good. I got just what I purchased.

Anatomy and Physiology for Dummies
$24.99
It's been 30 years since I was in a classroom, and I'm back to school working on a Health Information Mgmt degree. After attending my first basic anatomy lecture I walked out with my head spinning, ready to give up. What language was he speaking? The textbook helped some but it was full of jargon and I still didn't really understand. The Dummies books had always helped me out before (learning Access, public speaking, etc), so I was relieved when I found this book. I immediately read chapter 3 (Forming your Foundation), and it gave me the basics I needed to understand the textbook and lecture. Now, the night before a scheduled lecture, I read the corresponding chapter, and it's so much easier to follow. Oddly enough, Anatomy is now my favorite class.

This is not a replacement for a textbook, but if it's been awhile and you need to get back up to speed for an anatomy class, I highly recommend this book.

Physiology Coloring Book, The (2nd Edition)
$21.80
This book was purchased in advance of taking college level Physiology in order to review prior to taking the class. It's important to note that the course is being retaken after a hiatus of over 5-years because certain health care career programs require it. So if you've taken physiology before and want a great way to review the core information this is a fantastic book to do it!

PROs: lots of well drawn images/drawings and full of the central information

CONs: to do this properly you really should have a 36-color pencil set; if you try to do it with, for example, a 12-color pencil set you will probably become frustrated

Berne and Levy Physiology: with STUDENT CONSULT Online Access (Physiology (Berne))
$110.00
The key to selecting a useful textbook for physiology lies in knowing the depth of knowledge you actually need. Having gone through med school and learnt physiology as part of the course, i actually found that Berne & Levy was really too detailed to use as a primary text. I used B&L, Ganong, and Guyton primarily as references when i needed more in depth detail on certain topics. An excellent book for undergraduates is a text by the author Sherwood. This book gives an excellent conceptual account of human physiology, so that you understand the principles. In books like B&L, it's easy to lose the big picture in all the detail, particularly as a student when it's all new material.

Having said that, i'm now using B&L along with several other texts to study for my anesthesiology exams. It undoubtedly has the best cardiovascular chapter of any physiology text.

Take home message is that if you are studying physiology for postgraduate purposes, you'll probably need B&L as well as several other texts. As a student, i'd recommend using a more basic text and consulting B&L for the fine print.