Schwartz's Principles of Surgery

I found the 7th edition of Schwartz a chore to read. However, while the recent edition of Sabiston has abridged and cut detail in favor of glossy color pictures, the 8th edition of Schwartz is a well balanced textbook, with an appropriate level of detail and an excellent basis in basic science. The chapters are also immensely readable! This is the text that I intend to finish reading during my surgical residency...

I am a fourth year medical student going into general surgery and this is the only surgical textbook that I have read in significantly. I chose this book because it got the best rating in First Aid for the Wards. I have completed all but the last 100 pages of this 1870 page text. It begins with a 500 page, 14 chapter section entitled "Part I, Basic Considerations" that is mostly surgical basic sciences. This material is mostly well-covered. The clinical application is not always clear but that is not the intention of these chapters as far as I can tell. Chapters on SIRS, infection, wound healing, and cell/molecular considerations stood out. In "Part II, Specific Considerations" there are chapters arranged by organ systems that cover the various areas of general surgery, followed by individual chapters on surgical subspecialties such as urology and ortho. These chapters vary somewhat in style. The congenital heart disease chapter was brief and a bit hard to follow partially due to insufficient discussion of embryology and fetal circulation. The acquired heart disease chapter was too brief in my opinion. The esophagus and vascular system chapters very lengthy and thorough. The other chapters are adequate. The gyn chapter and neurosurg chapters in the subspecialty areas are actually pretty good and have some useful info for general surgeons. The chapters generally speaking are less oriented towards descriptions of the surgery performed. They tend to have a brief discussion of normal anatomy and physiology, followed by in depth discussion of diagnosis including various tests and imaging studies, followed by descriptions of benign diseases and their medical and surgical management, followed by malignant diseases of that organ and their management. The chapter on colon and rectum is an exception since it discusses the various resections separately from the disease entities. The gyn section is heavy on descriptions of surgeries. Since I cannot compare this text to others in the field, I am not sure how to rate it. The chapters have some variation in style. The discussion of diagnosis and management including diagnostic testing and imaging is very thorough. The descriptions of the actual surgeries is usually somewhat brief and not always complete. The illustrations of normal anatomy and of surgeries could be better. However, that may be more of a job for a surgical atlas, which is next on my list of things to read. The heart chapters (congenital and acquired) could be extended and improved. Otherwise, this is a pretty decent textbook that is mostly fairly readable.