[.ca] Atlas of Human Anatomy, Student Edition (ISBN 1929007116)

The Gold Standard.:
This is a rather long review of the 3rd Edition. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy has been considered the standard against which other atlases are compared. It really needs no introduction, so i'll just speak of the pros and cons of this edition compared to other atlases as well as to previous editions. ---Pros compared to other Atlases--- 1. Drawings are in vivid "unrealistic" colors. This is in contrast to Grant's atlas, which takes a more "life-like" color scheme. I call this a pro for Netter because it improves contrast and greatly helps in finding and remembering the location of structures. McMinn's is a photographic atlas of dissections, which is great for the lab, but does not nearly cover the content that Netter does. I also find photographs harder to study from. 2. This is first and foremost, an Atlas. There are about 600 pages crammed with drawings. There is virtually no text apart from the labels. The illustrations are generally better, clearer, larger, higher quality, and more plentiful (showing many sections of the same area) than other atlases. 3. Labels galore. Initially some pages may seem intimidating because of the enourmous amount of labelling, but once you get used to it- it's really much better than not enough labels (ie. Grant's). Example: Much easier to find "Pharyngeal Recess" in Netter than Grant's. ---Cons as compared to other Atlases--- 1. Expensive. Well, you get what you pay for. It's also gotten more expensive lately for this 3rd edition, very unfortunate. ICON publishing may have raised the price after they took over from Novartis. 2. Sometimes I wish I didn't have to carry two anatomy books: one for text and one for pictures. Grant's is better in this regard as it has "just enough" text to explain the drawings. As I said above, Netter doesn't ---Compared to Previous Editions--- A couple things are new in this edition. And only a couple. 1. About 8 surface anatomy plates at the start of every section done by a different artist. They're okay. Clearly can't replace a dedicated surface anatomy book. 2. New Xray, CT, MRI, etc. plates showing normal radiographic appearance. They're okay I guess, but really useless if you have a dedicated radiology text/atlas, or even if you use some websites. 3. Some labels and drawings were corrected to reflect current knowledge. The index has been significantly improved and expanded. 4. New version 3.0 Interactive Atlas of Human Anatomy CDROM. Thank god. Finally they've left the medieval times and adopted 1024x768 res and higher quality pictures. Version 2.0 CD had an absurd and useless 640x480. This CDROM is now natively MAC/PC compatible, finally! (btw. Macs rock) ---Three Options--- It comes in 3 formats: 1. Soft-cover only. ISBN 1929007116 ($68.95) 2. Student Combo ISBN 1929007159 ($99.95): Soft-cover + _STUDENT_ edition of v3.0 Interactive Atlas of Human Anatomy. There is a mistake on Amazon.com in this listing: The student-combo is NOT hardcover. I confirmed this with ICON Publishing and have reported it to Amazon. 3. Hard-cover + v3.0 Interactive Atlas of Human Anatomy ISBN 1929007213 ($129.95) I thought the Student CD-ROM would be a cut-down version of the full thing. It is NOT. The Student version is the full v3.0 PLUS 250 case-based USMLE style questions and Clinical Correlates. The CD-ROM is clearly improved over the previous versions, but owners of the book may not find any additional benefit as it is almost a straight rip from the book. Please note. The hardcover and the CD-ROM are not available for individual purchase. They are only available in the 3 options listed above. ---Conclusion--- Owners of the 2nd edition won't find much new in this version. The hefty price is definately not worth an upgrade. However, for first time atlas buyers - this is clearly still the gold standard. I recommend buying the $99 Student Combo version w/ v3.0 Student CD-Rom if you can afford it (since you can't buy the CD-ROM separately later), otherwise go with the Atlas alone. The hard-cover is way too pricey for most students, and the exclusion of the USMLE questions further indicates that it's being marketed as a "Collectors Item" for graduates. Cheers.

Not just for students!:
A good anatomy atlas is invaluable in clinical practice as well! I regularly pull out my (previous edition) atlas to (1) teach patients the anatomy involved in various problems ("this is why we need to do XYZ"), AND (2) to localize an injury (dermatome pictures, foot and hand ligaments and muscles)... I wish this had been available when I was in medical school - it would have made anatomy a lot more accessible.

study Osteology from another book:
I'm not going to bother telling you how great this book is. To find praises just read the rest of the reviews on this book. I want to mention the problem that I found, which shouldn't stop you from purchasing this book. The only problem I found is that it doesn't concentrate enough on Osteology, particularly on cranium, bones of the hand and bones of the foot. Pages two to 14 are devoted to the skeleton of the head. The following illustrations are available: anterior, lateral and posterior views of the whole skull; lateral and superior views of a newborn; superior view of horizontal section and lateral view of midsagittal section; calvaria, mandible and temporomandibular joint; radiographs of anteroposterior view, lateral view, and atlantoaxial joint. That's all! It would have been more helpful if this book contained some extra drawings of the cranial bones individually and rotated those bones in such angels (or cross sections) which would have given more details about some parts that aren't visible while viewing the skull as a whole with the bones articulating with each other. Carpal bones and ligaments are between pages 435-441, and bones of the foot are between 505-510. Here are illustrated: palmar and dorsal views of carpal bones as whole; bones and movements of the writs; ligaments of the wrist, metacarpophalangeal and interphalangeal; dorsal, plantar, medial and lateral views of bones of foot as whole; medial, lateral and plantar vies of ligaments and tendons of the foot; 3 radiographs of lateral and anterior views of the ankle, and anteroposterior view of the wrist and the hand. Only one bone, calcaneus, is shown individually and its articulation sites with the other bones of the foot. Only one! The rest of the bones have lost their individual importance. Having mentioned these minor problems I want to state that this book is, by far, the best resource available for medical school students; it goes hand-in-hand with gross lab. For that reason I have given it five stars.

Quite Good:
Love the diagram especially it's all colour coded (but a little bit overwhelming when just start looking at it) but the sad thing it's a "pure" atlas the prob with it is that it doesn't hav any text or explanations at all

A good reference while you are studying:
This book serves as a good reference while you are studying your anatomy. The pictures and labelling is very clear.