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Principles of Anatomy & Physiology 8e Text + Learning Guide +
A solid scientific presentation of the principles of the human structure and function! The outstanding illustration program and innovative learning features frame a superb balance between anatomy and physiology that emphasizes correlations between normal physiology and pathophysiology, normal anatomy and pathology, and homeostasis and homeostatic imbalances.
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First published July 7, 1942
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
August 16, 2011
I would not normally add a textbook to my booklist, but this one is a little different. I spent two years with this book. I lugged it around everywhere in my backpack to the point where this book actually had a physical impact on my body. I spent so many hours reading, making notes and translating the information in the book into my mind and because of this I feel such an intimate connection to this book it wouldn't be right to leave it off my list. It taught me a lot.
July 19, 2010
Like a previous reviewer, Rachael M. Thomas, I too purchased this book from Amazon, but it didn't come with a CD. I believe I bought it about the same time she did (assuming she purchased it around the time she wrote her review in April '09). It's the latest edition (12th). Brand new. Yet no CD. I mean, it has a little CD pouch or holder inside the front book cover, as if a CD should be inside of it. The pouch is shaped perfectly to hold a CD. But no CD. Weird.
Still, I'm very happy with the purchase. The text and illustrations are excellent. There's just enough info for a first year med student - not too little, not too much. It is somewhat dry, but, well, this is a textbook, not a novel. But the information is clear and accessible. Also, I like how anatomy and physiology are integrated, so you learn where things are located as well as what they do. Form and function. Maybe it's a personal thing, but I find it helps in remembering to study the two together. There are some other features such as the occasional histology slide to help out too.
The main drawback of an integrated textbook like this one is that it tends not to be as in-depth as a standalone textbook focused on a single subject. So, for more detail, some students might instead prefer to purchase separate textbooks for each subject - anatomy and physiology.
For anatomy, there are texts and then there are atlases. Texts explain anatomy and anatomical relations and so forth in-depth, and also include some photos, diagrams, etc. Whereas atlases contain tons of photos, illustrations, and other diagrams, as well as things like radiological images, with a sparse amount of text. You can preview various texts and atlases via Amazon's preview feature, or often they're also preview-able on the publisher's website, to decide what's best for you.
* For an anatomy textbook, Gray's Anatomy for Students and either (baby) Moore's Essential Clinical Anatomy or (big) Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy are often recommended. The strength of Gray's is its beautiful pictures and diagrams. But I find the text and organization leave something to be desired. Personally, I prefer Moore's. For example, I appreciate its famous blue boxes focused on the clinical application of anatomy. I think Baby Moore's is more than sufficient for med school. But from what I've heard from other doctors and staff, primary care and other related physicians tend to prefer Big Moore's between the two. So it might be worthwhile investing in Big Moore's if you're considering going down this track. And, to complicate matters a bit more, surgeons have their own specialized anatomy texts (e.g. Last's Anatomy).
* For an anatomy atlas, the classic is Netter's. Also, others recommend photographic ones like Rohen's Color Atlas of Anatomy. The benefit of Rohen's is it includes actual photos of dissected cadavers, prosections, and so on. But the problem with Rohen's is that it doesn't go as in-depth or get as detailed as Netter's or other atlases. So some might prefer a non-photographic atlas like Netter's Atlas or perhaps Thieme's which don't have photos but instead have illustrations or diagrams but tend to be more detailed than the photographic ones. Also, in my opinion, Grant's is underrated. It's a really fantastic atlas. It's mainly diagrammatic but it also includes other things like some photographs and radiological images. It's quite detailed too. In fact, many of the diagrams in Grant's are also used in Moore's. (Not so coincidentally, both Grant's and Moore's share authors.) For what it's worth, if anything, if I had to recommend a single atlas, I'd probably recommend Grant's.
But to be honest, I think lecture notes + anatomy labs + either an anatomy textbook or atlas of your choice (not necessarily both unless you have extra money to splurge) are more than sufficient for learning the basic gross anatomy required in most med schools and for the USMLE Step 1. If you want to go beyond, perhaps if you want to specialize in general or other surgery, then you can buy specialized surgical anatomy books later down the road. But for med school a single general anatomy textbook or atlas to supplement the material your med school provides you should be sufficient for most students.
By the way, in case any med students are interested, this is obviously just my opinion, but I don't think you need to buy tons of textbooks for med school. Just a few, essential ones should suffice.
For example:
* An anatomy textbook. Tortora's is sufficient if you want to combine anatomy and physiology in one textbook. But if you go with a separate anatomy textbook, I think Moore's is great. Although if you decide on Moore, it might be better to get Baby Moore which is less detailed. It's sometimes easy to lose the forest for the trees with so much detail. Then again, this might just be me.
* Or an anatomy atlas. I prefer either Grant's or Rohen's. I'd probably go for Grant's. I know Netter's is classic, but, again, I think the underrated Grant's is better than Netter's, even though Netter's is classic. For one thing, Grant's contains radiological images like MRIs whereas Netter's doesn't or rather doesn't include as many.
* A physiology textbook. Tortora is good but not in-depth. Other good ones include Costanzo (the big one, not the review) and of course Guyton, which is classic. Boron's is quite good too. But it's immense and perhaps overkill for most med students. If it were me, I'd probably pick Costanzo's since it's relatively cheap so you can get quite a lot of bang for your buck. But Guyton's is of course far more comprehensive.
* A pathology textbook. Robbins Basic Pathology should be sufficient. But then again everyone seems to get the big one, Pathological Basis of Disease. I assume this is so they can reference it in their clinical years or during residency or whatever.
* A clinical examination textbook. Bates is often recommended. But I prefer Talley's which is used in the UK and Commonwealth nations.
* A medicine textbook. Everyone seems to love Harrison's. Yes, it's awesome. It's a complete Bible of medicine. But it's got way too much information. In fact, several resident and even attending physicians have told me it has more than what even they as physicians need to know. It's better to use something like the latest edition of Current's. Or I prefer one used in the UK called Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine. During rotations, you'll see several other resources (e.g. UpToDate). Of course, a subscription to the New England Journal of Medicine and access to the latest journal articles is a great idea here too.
* First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. An absolute must. Then supplement with Qbanks from places like Kaplan or USMLEWorld or the NBME itself.
Other books like histology and microbiology aren't absolutely necessary either. But some might like to get them. For histology, I appreciate Junquiera's over other ones like Ross or Wheater's. For microbiology many really like Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. But others like me prefer more traditional textbooks like Mims'. Pharmacology is important too but it's a growing and expanding field so it might not be ideal to spend the money to buy a textbook. If you do, though, I've found Katzung helpful. It's good on fundamental principles. Like many, I like Lippincott's for biochemistry. Books on embryology, immunology, genetics, medical dictionaries, and so forth really aren't necessary, I don't think.
I should note that I don't read through textbooks in their entirety, but use them to supplement lectures, or when I don't understand something, or when I want to look up things in more detail.
Also, I should mention that many if not most med schools provide students with access to online med books via places like Access Medicine. So no need to buy many textbooks since it's likely you'll be able to access them online via your med school.
I think the main focus for the first half of med school should be lectures. Of course, there's always more stuff to learn, but if you stick to your lectures and what your med school expects you to learn, then you won't lose sight of the primary concepts - which you can then build on as it suits you.
Anyway, just my two cents' worth.
(One reason I'm mentioning all this is because I wasted way more money than I would've liked purchasing all sorts of textbooks that I hardly seem to use, and don't want others to make the same mistake. I guess it's not "wasted," per se, since I have a bunch of books I can easily reference. But, still, it's probably not warranted for me to spend $100 or whatever on a book that I'll only use a couple of times throughout the course of med school when I could just have easily borrowed it from the library or another classmate. Oh well. Live and learn. On the plus side, now others can borrow from me.)
Still, I'm very happy with the purchase. The text and illustrations are excellent. There's just enough info for a first year med student - not too little, not too much. It is somewhat dry, but, well, this is a textbook, not a novel. But the information is clear and accessible. Also, I like how anatomy and physiology are integrated, so you learn where things are located as well as what they do. Form and function. Maybe it's a personal thing, but I find it helps in remembering to study the two together. There are some other features such as the occasional histology slide to help out too.
The main drawback of an integrated textbook like this one is that it tends not to be as in-depth as a standalone textbook focused on a single subject. So, for more detail, some students might instead prefer to purchase separate textbooks for each subject - anatomy and physiology.
For anatomy, there are texts and then there are atlases. Texts explain anatomy and anatomical relations and so forth in-depth, and also include some photos, diagrams, etc. Whereas atlases contain tons of photos, illustrations, and other diagrams, as well as things like radiological images, with a sparse amount of text. You can preview various texts and atlases via Amazon's preview feature, or often they're also preview-able on the publisher's website, to decide what's best for you.
* For an anatomy textbook, Gray's Anatomy for Students and either (baby) Moore's Essential Clinical Anatomy or (big) Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy are often recommended. The strength of Gray's is its beautiful pictures and diagrams. But I find the text and organization leave something to be desired. Personally, I prefer Moore's. For example, I appreciate its famous blue boxes focused on the clinical application of anatomy. I think Baby Moore's is more than sufficient for med school. But from what I've heard from other doctors and staff, primary care and other related physicians tend to prefer Big Moore's between the two. So it might be worthwhile investing in Big Moore's if you're considering going down this track. And, to complicate matters a bit more, surgeons have their own specialized anatomy texts (e.g. Last's Anatomy).
* For an anatomy atlas, the classic is Netter's. Also, others recommend photographic ones like Rohen's Color Atlas of Anatomy. The benefit of Rohen's is it includes actual photos of dissected cadavers, prosections, and so on. But the problem with Rohen's is that it doesn't go as in-depth or get as detailed as Netter's or other atlases. So some might prefer a non-photographic atlas like Netter's Atlas or perhaps Thieme's which don't have photos but instead have illustrations or diagrams but tend to be more detailed than the photographic ones. Also, in my opinion, Grant's is underrated. It's a really fantastic atlas. It's mainly diagrammatic but it also includes other things like some photographs and radiological images. It's quite detailed too. In fact, many of the diagrams in Grant's are also used in Moore's. (Not so coincidentally, both Grant's and Moore's share authors.) For what it's worth, if anything, if I had to recommend a single atlas, I'd probably recommend Grant's.
But to be honest, I think lecture notes + anatomy labs + either an anatomy textbook or atlas of your choice (not necessarily both unless you have extra money to splurge) are more than sufficient for learning the basic gross anatomy required in most med schools and for the USMLE Step 1. If you want to go beyond, perhaps if you want to specialize in general or other surgery, then you can buy specialized surgical anatomy books later down the road. But for med school a single general anatomy textbook or atlas to supplement the material your med school provides you should be sufficient for most students.
By the way, in case any med students are interested, this is obviously just my opinion, but I don't think you need to buy tons of textbooks for med school. Just a few, essential ones should suffice.
For example:
* An anatomy textbook. Tortora's is sufficient if you want to combine anatomy and physiology in one textbook. But if you go with a separate anatomy textbook, I think Moore's is great. Although if you decide on Moore, it might be better to get Baby Moore which is less detailed. It's sometimes easy to lose the forest for the trees with so much detail. Then again, this might just be me.
* Or an anatomy atlas. I prefer either Grant's or Rohen's. I'd probably go for Grant's. I know Netter's is classic, but, again, I think the underrated Grant's is better than Netter's, even though Netter's is classic. For one thing, Grant's contains radiological images like MRIs whereas Netter's doesn't or rather doesn't include as many.
* A physiology textbook. Tortora is good but not in-depth. Other good ones include Costanzo (the big one, not the review) and of course Guyton, which is classic. Boron's is quite good too. But it's immense and perhaps overkill for most med students. If it were me, I'd probably pick Costanzo's since it's relatively cheap so you can get quite a lot of bang for your buck. But Guyton's is of course far more comprehensive.
* A pathology textbook. Robbins Basic Pathology should be sufficient. But then again everyone seems to get the big one, Pathological Basis of Disease. I assume this is so they can reference it in their clinical years or during residency or whatever.
* A clinical examination textbook. Bates is often recommended. But I prefer Talley's which is used in the UK and Commonwealth nations.
* A medicine textbook. Everyone seems to love Harrison's. Yes, it's awesome. It's a complete Bible of medicine. But it's got way too much information. In fact, several resident and even attending physicians have told me it has more than what even they as physicians need to know. It's better to use something like the latest edition of Current's. Or I prefer one used in the UK called Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine. During rotations, you'll see several other resources (e.g. UpToDate). Of course, a subscription to the New England Journal of Medicine and access to the latest journal articles is a great idea here too.
* First Aid for the USMLE Step 1. An absolute must. Then supplement with Qbanks from places like Kaplan or USMLEWorld or the NBME itself.
Other books like histology and microbiology aren't absolutely necessary either. But some might like to get them. For histology, I appreciate Junquiera's over other ones like Ross or Wheater's. For microbiology many really like Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. But others like me prefer more traditional textbooks like Mims'. Pharmacology is important too but it's a growing and expanding field so it might not be ideal to spend the money to buy a textbook. If you do, though, I've found Katzung helpful. It's good on fundamental principles. Like many, I like Lippincott's for biochemistry. Books on embryology, immunology, genetics, medical dictionaries, and so forth really aren't necessary, I don't think.
I should note that I don't read through textbooks in their entirety, but use them to supplement lectures, or when I don't understand something, or when I want to look up things in more detail.
Also, I should mention that many if not most med schools provide students with access to online med books via places like Access Medicine. So no need to buy many textbooks since it's likely you'll be able to access them online via your med school.
I think the main focus for the first half of med school should be lectures. Of course, there's always more stuff to learn, but if you stick to your lectures and what your med school expects you to learn, then you won't lose sight of the primary concepts - which you can then build on as it suits you.
Anyway, just my two cents' worth.
(One reason I'm mentioning all this is because I wasted way more money than I would've liked purchasing all sorts of textbooks that I hardly seem to use, and don't want others to make the same mistake. I guess it's not "wasted," per se, since I have a bunch of books I can easily reference. But, still, it's probably not warranted for me to spend $100 or whatever on a book that I'll only use a couple of times throughout the course of med school when I could just have easily borrowed it from the library or another classmate. Oh well. Live and learn. On the plus side, now others can borrow from me.)
May 2, 2018
Recomendado por mi profesor de Anatomía, se trata de un libro asequible que proporciona una base potente de anatomía y fisiología. Especialmente las imágenes resultaban muy útiles a la hora de preparar las pruebas orales.
Lo guardo con cariño, pero eché de menos no haber tenido ocasiones de volver a utilizarlo posteriormente.
Lo guardo con cariño, pero eché de menos no haber tenido ocasiones de volver a utilizarlo posteriormente.
December 13, 2018
I would not ordinarily review a school textbook but I have to review this. This book has dominated my life for multiple months. It is the reason I don't have anything else to review. The tragedy of the semester aside, it was a great book. Not an easy read, but it did the job. I have an old edition of the book and I still managed to get through the class fine. It has the information that you need. Even if this is not your assigned textbook (which it probably is) I would grab it. It will help.
You can't get through the class without good graphics. This book has amazing pictures and graphs illustrating the topics.
I got a high A in the class. It was partly due to an excellent professor, but the book takes a lot of credit too. Now the Laboratory manual was terrible...
You can't get through the class without good graphics. This book has amazing pictures and graphs illustrating the topics.
I got a high A in the class. It was partly due to an excellent professor, but the book takes a lot of credit too. Now the Laboratory manual was terrible...
May 16, 2011
Phenomenal. Well written. Excellent graphics. So tastefully done that it has about the only photographs of dissected bodies that I can view and feel fascinated rather than nauseated. The only thing they need to work on is getting the graphics on the same page as the text they expand upon. Once this is done this book will be on par with the fifth reference edition of the _Molecular Biology of the Cell_ by Alberts in terms of greatness.
February 16, 2009
This is one of my all-time favorite texts, and I refer to it often. As a matter of fact, I keep it under my desk since it's just the right height for my raised chair, and I imagine all that material is seeping through the soles of my feet while I'm studying other things.
September 20, 2011
I love this text. Have the 8th edition. Probably my most referred to book.
January 6, 2015
regardless of it being my textbook to the phys lectures, i have read it. it was great simple, and self-study book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2017
Best. Anatomy book. EVER!
It needs no other words to tell you how good this is is. If you’re doing anatomy or physiology or both. GET THIS!!!
It needs no other words to tell you how good this is is. If you’re doing anatomy or physiology or both. GET THIS!!!
June 23, 2017
This is a book I would give more than five stars if I could. Not only is it extremly well written but the authors have taken a topic that can be complex and explained it so well and effectively that students are left wishing all their university books were written like this. The authors seem to anticipate questions that might arise and answer them directly and in doing this they sometimes repeat themselves which instead of being repetitive creates a full picture and ties different areas to each other. It's genuinely one of the best books I have ever read in this category and it deserves that acknowledgment!
May 13, 2018
This is one of the best textbooks I have ever come across. The integration of forms and functions of the human body is mesmerizing. Vivid description and very well planned arrangement of topics made the book a self sufficient one. It is handy , it is rich yet phenomenally concise. The illustrations are effective to such an extent that one doesn’t need to browse tons of reference materials in order to grasp the concepts. The concepts can be assimilated easily as if it is a package of monosaccharides. If there is any tool to learn A&P almost effortlessly then THIS IS IT. I grew a fervent feeling with this book.
June 13, 2020
This is a relatively good book to begin studying anatomy and physiology. Concepts are clearly explained, and it has good drawings as far as the anatomy concepts are concerned. From my point of view, however, two downsides of this book are: first, it includes very few real images, which I consider necessary for studying anatomy and, second, I believe that some physiology concepts (especially those related to biochemistry) are oversimplified. Moreover, the Spanish edition of the book has quite a few misprints and errors.
May 17, 2021
This is by far one of the most detailed textbooks I have ever read. Coupled with my studies in Anatomy and Physiology, it was the perfect companion. Due to the sheer volume of information covered, it is best to take a chapter at a time. The diagrams are exceptional and well-detailed. Each section presents ‘thinking’ questions and excellent topic wrap-ups at the end of the chapter. The Index, in particular, is well detailed and valuable. The book also comes in eBook form and is available at most libraries if you do not want to purchase it.
July 24, 2024
I have the 3rd Asia Pacific edition and it's so good. Quite easy to follow and there are a lot of great videos within. I'm using the digital edition. Ill be continuing to use this textbook throughout my course, but have read whole chapters and taken information from others
May 12, 2017
I can't say I read every page cover to cover, but I finished the course I had purchased the book for. Overall I really liked it and felt it enhanced my understanding of the material.
November 15, 2017
Great resource
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February 26, 2020Like nglfigg?unlock
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May 14, 2020Medicina 1º y 2º año. A pesar que no fue una de las bibliografías de base, fue un gran descubrimiento: conciso con esquemas tanto para compresión como para exposiciones.
May 19, 2020
after all of the medical books out there, Tortora always be my favs.
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October 18, 2020Anatomy
February 23, 2021
Got an A in anatomy! best course ever ❣️
March 21, 2021
Anatomía y fisiología básica y complementaria para aquellos aspectos del cuerpo humano que algunas disciplias sanitarias no profundizan.
Want to read
April 28, 2021Let me know if I can get a pdf of this book my email Address.
wainaina703@gmail.com
wainaina703@gmail.com
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December 9, 202115th
January 2, 2022
How to read it ....
January 27, 2022
Uno de mis mejores amigos durante los primeros semestres de Bioingeniería. Bien explicado e ilustrado para empezar con el pie derecho en las ciencias de la salud.
June 11, 2022
Very nice reviewers
June 2, 2023
Lots of pictures in it
September 16, 2023
Easy to understand
I am a nursing student and this is the recommended book for anatomy and physiology, I take note in class and use this book for a clearer understanding
I am a nursing student and this is the recommended book for anatomy and physiology, I take note in class and use this book for a clearer understanding
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews