Cecil Essentials of Medicine

This is a fantastic introduction to medicine and also an excellent resource for USMLE Step 2CK. It is definitely a step up from the usual review books and it requires more time to cover. However, it is still quite manageable and I enjoyed reading it. Highly recommended!

I always used this book as my lifesaver since its first edition. Although it is basically written for medical students, I beleive it is the best source for USMLE Step 2. Everybody has a problem preparing for Medicine part of Step 2 CK. This book does an amazing job of giving all clinical facts without going into unnecessary details. Step 2 CK is about pathophysiology, diagnosis and principles of treatment, and you can find those issues in this book without wasting your time reading bigger books. The new edition is very reader friendly and full of diagrams and algorithms. Don't look at big size. You can easily read this book in a short time. It is written very well and unlike other medicine books, it is not boring.

I've been looking for a book to be a companion for me throughout medical school and beyond. It should not read like the bible nor should it be flimsy. Cecil is solid, informative and user-friendly.

I found Cecil's essentials to cover just enough information to be readable. The explanations are much more concise and easier to understand, too. If you are one of those annoying overachievers who must know the full story, then take a year off med school and read Harrisson's. If not, this is the book for you.

I get a hernia when I pick up Harrison's. I've used it twice this year. I'm a graduating senior, and I've collected all of my upperclassmen's suggestions of books. Cecil's has a bit more info than I'd like, but it's a readable length if you're not a procrastinator like me!It's extremely well written, and easily understood. It stresses only those topics that we graduating seniors absolutely have to have a clue about by graduation, and it doesn't waste too much paper. It's not a pocketbook, but at about half the physical size of Harrison's, it's not easy to carry around, either.If I had to buy only one book out of Harrison's, Cecil's, NMS, and Blueprints, I'd get Cecil's. It's well worth the money.