Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple (Edition 4)
Description:
A brief, clear, thorough, and highly enjoyable approach to clinical microbiology, brimming with mnemonics, humor, summary charts and illustrations, from AIDS to "flesh-eating bacteria" to ebola, mad cow disease, hantavirus, anthrax, smallpox, botulism, etc. Excellent Board review.
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( 88 customer reviews )
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10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Great source for USMLE step 1 prepMar 21, 2010
By James H
"James H"
I used this book for my USMLE step 1 prep, and I'm definitely glad I did. It's a great supplement to first aid. After taking the step 1, I can't help but feel grateful to the authors of this book. It has everything you need to do great on the exam. The illustrations were amusing. The summaries were clear and concise. The material is VERY high yield. It is a VERY easy read, I finished the entire book in 4 days and felt enlightened.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
With more cartoons I would have given 6 starFeb 18, 2010
By James M There are numerous details in microbiology that have no rhyme or reason. How am I supposed to memorize all this? This book will help you do that in say 20% of the stuff you need to know. Yeah, it's not much. But, there really no other way to learn this stuff (or most things in life I guess) but just memorize them on your own. But with the amount of studying medical students need to do that 20% feels like a ton of bricks off your back. Now you just need to carry 4 tons instead of 5 tons. The cartoons help you remember.....the silly rhymes do that as well. I always read this book before reading the course material from the professor.
24 of 32 found the following review helpful:
Great for review, if you can stomach the humor or the ridiculously numerous typosSep 04, 2010
By L Peralta The silly references, wordplay, cartoons and mnemonics plus the conversational style of the text in this book makes a hefty subject like microbiology so much more bearable. HOWEVER, much as I enjoyed the book, I cannot rate it more than two stars because the numerous typo errors and wrong grammar drove me crazy. I can understand if the editor missed a couple of words but more than 10, no way. Surely Dr Gladwin, as the book is selling so well that a 4th edition has been published, can you not afford to pay an expert proofreader to edit it? I see that this is a common complaint mentioned by reviewers of previous editions. Major mistakes such as wrong spelling of drug names (delavirIdine for delavirdine, iNtraconazole for itraconazole) - how can the authors let this go to print?!? And what about misspelled bug names such as Staph aureAs - this is unacceptable for a microbiology book! Other errors: hepatoxicity, respiratory tracK infection, efficancy, "on the heals" (instead of "on the heels"), "have in confirmed" (instead of "have been confirmed"), "HIV viruses causes" (instead of "HIV causes"), "CMV virus invades" (instead of "CMV invades", as V already stands for virus)... and the list goes on. It's not fair to ask us to pay premium price for a shoddily edited book. Either improve the editing or reduce the price to reflect the quality.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Fantastic Book!Feb 18, 2009
By Kypdurron5
"Kypdurron5"
To all medical students: buy this book! And I recommend you do it before your micro block/section even starts. Ignore your lectures and use this instead, it will make so much more sense. Beyond the pictures, there are tons of little quips here and there to help you remember and group the information. It won't completely replace flashcards, but I do suggest turning to this book before starting flashcards. It's a good 400 pages, so plan accordingly, but I highly suggest reading this cover to cover before your micro exam. Also, this book will make a great board-review text as everything is clearly organized, charted, depicted, then written out in an easy-to-read long form. This is honestly the best $30 I've ever spent on a textbook, period.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Microbio ReviewDec 10, 2009
By Gabriela Perez
"Gabi P"
The title for "Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple" should probably be changed to "Microbiology Made Ridiculously Awesome"... The book is a great breakdown of clinical microbiology, and the content makes it ridiculously simple to learn. The organization is great, and there are hilarious comics and acronyms to make it fun and easy to study microbiology. Finally! A textbook that helps me study in a fun way! I strongly recommend this book!
based on 88 reviews
( 88 customer reviews )
