Anatomy Recall Second Edition (Recall)

This was the first Recall book I ever purchased and it was immensely useful. I used it to review for Gross Anatomy and for a cadaver lab exam. It's quick and easy question/answer format made for easy reading, quick access to the information that I needed (and none that I didn't), and I was able to retain much of what was in the book. You know that you have impressed the proctor when you are able to not only answer them correctly and give other pertinent information regarding their question resulting in a wide-eyed stare from them!!! The book is small enough to fit in your back pocket, it was a little heavy, but it was a "good" heavy. It was worth the price. I have several other students in my class that are looking to get some of the books in the series. I have ordered the Pharm. Recall and can't wait to get it. I will stress though, that it is best for review and not learning the material for the first time. There is no way you would get out of it what you need to if you hadn't already had the material in your noggin. Best of Luck!

As a big fan of the recall series, let me talk to you about my particular experience with the Anatomy Recall. I bought the book in 2002 while I was doing my second anatomy course. In my first anatomy course at KFU in Dammam 2001, we practically had to memorize the whole Snell's Anatomy textbook regardless of how significant the details were as there was the possibility that anything might appear in the MCQs or in our essay questions. For those who read Snell's as undergraduate students would realize how hard the task was. It was very easy to fall into the trap of trying to memorize everything with the same level of priority and missing the essential information among the loads of the insignificant details. I had very hard time with anatomy then. In my second course at Otago University, I bought the book and was amazed how my life was made extremely much easier with the book. It helped my anatomy in three ways. First, it had enabled me to make sure that the must-know essentials have been covered with the appropriate priority level, which meant more efficient way of studying with regard to time spent to outcome ratio. Secondly, it had provided me the skeleton or the framework of the basic knowledge that I could build on using textbooks which potentially can be very helpful for answering your essay questions if you develop a clear framework of the subject you would like to write about. The third way was as a memory aid facilitated by the writing style used in the form of simple questions and answers. This style of writing makes it very easy to read without the need of the great level of concentration and ability to follow the thought line of the writer needed in the essay format. That makes an excellent book as a light reading. In addition, being small and easy to carry in your lab coat pocket, it can be used in the lab as a quick revision before you start your dissection or as a checklist of the important anatomical structures and relations that needs more attention. After you finish your anatomy course in your basic science years don't get rid of it because you will need it later on. As trainee intern now, I still use it as a crash course in anatomy for exams and as a refreshment of my anatomy for surgical runs cuz it usually have many of those important details, surgeons love to pimp their poor helpless students with. Having said all of that, I have never said anything about relying solely on it as a way of learning your anatomy. I believe it is a very useful tool to aid your learning in anatomy if used correctly. So, make sure that you have a proper textbook of anatomy, a hand drawn atlas, access to a dissection atlas (i.e. photos not drawings), go to your anatomy dissection labs, and discuss what you learn with your mates in the class and teach those who are less fortunate in anatomy wisdom than you are. Using all the different sensory modalities (I would not recommend using tasting though!) and your higher central nervous centres (i.e. your

This is a situation that most medical students will recognise. You've been humiliated by a surgeon in theatre and you desperately need to brush up on the anatomy of the wrist but you're tired, you're hungry, it's late and you just can't face trawling through a big anatomy text book to find the tiny pieces of information that your consultant will appreciate. Anatomy Recall is the answer to their prayers. Crammed into this relatively slim book is just about all the material that you'd expect to find in a standard anatomy tome. The difference here is that the information is provided in edible chunks. The entire book is laid out in a question and answer format, dramatically increasing the fact:word ratio and boosting your ability to recall it when quizzed. Diagrams are only included where absolutely necessary (brachial plexus etc) and contents, indexes and other `wasted' pages are cut to a minimum. This means that the book is small enough to fit into a white-coat pocket. However, there are probably more important things to occupy the bulging pockets of medical students and this book will stay on the shelf by day. Even so, the small size and bite-size nature of the text means that this book is perfect for reading on the bus, over breakfast or anywhere else that you can snatch a few moments. At the end of each chapter is a `power review' section providing the most salient and memorable points for when time is really short. There is even a handy bookmark provided to allow you to cover the question answers for self-testing. The authors claim that Anatomy Recall and a good anatomy atlas are all a preclinical student would need to learn anatomy. Having been there, I tend to disagree and feel that the only way to get a solid grounding in anatomy is by studying a respected textbook such as Snell's Clinical Anatomy for Medical Students. Anatomy Recall is useful for brushing up on anatomy knowledge once the foundations are in place but the edifice above is crumbling and decayed. This is a book that, in my opinion, no medical student can do without.

this book which is part of the immensley popular recall series focuses on active aquisition of knowledge as opposed to passive learning which is readily forgotten. With a topic as vast as anatomy, which is heavy on factual knowledge this text focuses in on key areas and delivers the must know facts clearly and simply. There are power review sections at the end of each chapter to help reinforce the most salient aspects of the anatomy and these really do aid with memorization of anatomy. It is not a replacement for a comprehensive text but with the aid of an atlas it is a fantastic method of maximizing your knowledge with minimum effort or as the series editor puts it high- yield information at your fingertips. buy it and get to grips with this immensley satisfying yet difficult topic.