Reviews Books

I found this book to be one of the most concise and well written I have come across in my training. There is a tremendous amount of material without any of the filler. I recommend this book to any medical student, non-anesthesia resident or first year anesthesia resident.

I found this book to be one of the most concise and well written I have come across in my training. There is a tremendous amount of material without any of the filler. I recommend this book to any medical student, non-anesthesia resident or first year anesthesia resident.

I thought the book was well organized and covered alot of pertinent subjects and algorithms commonly aked about and seen in everyday anesthesia practice.

Also the fact that the handbook can easily fit into a lab coat pocket makes it a great quick reference while in the hospital.

Although anesthesiology is an enormous subject the pocketbook book fullfills its purpose as a quick
reference. I would recommend it to any fourth year on an anesthesia elective or intern on an anesthesia rotation.

Great review for those who are new to anesthesia (med students and new residents).
Covers the basic in a concise paragraph form.
Covers lots of information, but is well written.

I loved this book! (I wasn't even interested in anesthesia until I read it.) This book can take a student who knows nothing about anesthesia and turn her into a functioning, knowledgable member of an anesthesia team in a matter of days. Read this book (or at least the first few chapters) the weekend before your start your anesthesia rotation, and finish it by the end of the first week. You will be able to answer questions from the attending, and ask even better ones! It is concise, easy to read, and very high-yield. To add to it, it fits in the back pocket of your scrubs.

The word on the street among Harvard Med students is that there are two textbooks that every med student should have and read cover-to-cover: Weinberg "Pulmonology" and Lilly's cardiovascular text. Now that I have discovered this book, I would say that there are three books, and this "Clinical Manual of Anesthesia" is one of them!

Good for telling your what your 1st step of action should be. It has simple cases that are very common in practice. The original cases are then expounded upon when one thing is changed. Good book.

This is as near perfect a surgery review text as you can find that will prepare you for both your third year surgery clerkship and NBME surgery subject exam and Step 2. This book is very quick reading and is FULL of tons of great diagrams, charts, CT, X-rays, U/S, angiograms, etc. It's written in a clinical cases format with specific and pertinent management questions and solutions, as well as differentials and diagnosing discussions, that will prepare you clinically for the wards, as well as prepare you for shelf exams (which contain a lot of patient management questions, many of which were discussed in this book). It also has enough anatomy and pathophysiology discussion for it to be useful as a source for background reading for surgeries you are planning on scrubbing in on. The radiographic images are especially useful, however, it would have been useful to have more diagnostic findings specifically labelled on many of the images. Most importantly, this is a book that you can realistically expect to finish and even master within the timeframe of your 8-12 week clerkship. Highly recommended.

I used five different review books on my clerkship and this was by far my favorite. Compared to Case Files, there are more topics and the format was definitely better.

I really like this book. The book is presented in a case-based question/answer format. The book is written in narrative form (no bullets, or choppy info). I like the design of the book and it's easy to read and understand. The cases presented are classic and in-depth. It's a long read though, and may be too much for boards when its crunch time. I used it mostly for reference and when I didn't understand something when I was studying for Step 2. It's a great book for 3rd year surgery rotation and the shelf exam. Good luck!!

I just finished my surgery rotation and took the shelf exam. I have to say that reading this book really prepared me for the shelf and also for the whole surgery rotation. I highly recommend this book. You may also want to have a question book such as pre-test surgery to do some practice questions.
Good luck in surgery.

This is one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read about my home state--in the midst of so much (generally) endearing weirdness, Jerome Pohlen manages to capture the spirit of this place better than any "Discover Wisconsin" ad campaign I've ever seen.

Pohlen casts a broad swath over the entire state, even above Highway 8 "up nort" (a lot of people tend to forget that we even exist, so it's always refreshing to find someone who hasn't), in search of the strange, the homespun, the downright wacky, even the morbid. And he finds it in spades. Whether you're a local Sconny looking for some ideas for day trips, or an out-of-stater passing through on the way to the Dells, there's something in this book that you'll feel compelled to stop & see. Well, if you're into fiberglass oddities and going somewhere other than Door County, that is.

This is a fun and interesting book about Wisconsin.
Each chapter, according to areas of the state, gets better and better. I couldn't put it down!

If you have an appetite for the curious or offbeat, this book will fill the bill. I don't have plans to visit all the places and things mentioned in this book, but just sitting and reading it was a hoot. Not just a guide to the oddball, but histories and trivia are included. This is Wisconsin at its best.

Most people when they go on vacation go to national parks like the Grand Canyon or theme parks like Disneyland. How many would go to see the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame with a giant embalmed worm on display? Or how about the world's biggest corkscrew? A serial killer's grave? The author saw these things and more in Wisconsin and compiled them into this book. It's an enjoyable journey through Wisconsin's strange side and is recommended for die-hard road trippers or those interested in America's stranger side.

Where does this guy get all this information? I thought the book would only be full of goofy things like monolithic cheese monuments and the world's largest six pack. Although it has that in spades, there are also plenty of historical places to see, like the shrine to the birthplace of the Republican party and the grave of Edward Gein, inspiration for Silence of the Lambs.

Growing up on the west coast, we used to watch movies about the midwest and say things like, "Wouldn't you go absolutely insane in some small town out there?" Oddball Wisconsin has answered my question.

This is a great book if you're in the area or just want to get out of Chicago for a while.

I have just recently become interested in the whole horror film genre and a friend recommended that I read Mr. Soister's book. I'm glad I did. I learned lots of interesting stuff about the whole Universal horror film business and had an easy time pouring through the chapters. It was fun reading and Mr. Soister's keen insights and humorous style kept me wanting more. I hope he has another book waiting in the wings! Congratulations on delivering a winner.

John Soister has been a contributor to various horror books in the past. His ability to capture the details of the horror films of the 20's & 30's truly entertaining. He expresses his opinions with humor yet based on fact.

Mr. Soister has done a remarkable job here! Not only has he covered some of Universal's greatest horror films, he has given them a new, fresh perspective. All the greats are covered here, FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA, THE MUMMY, etc., but he has also written about much lesser known and borderline horror films that I've NEVER seen written about, like the entire Crime Club series of the late 1930's. His book covers in great detail Universal's horror and mystery output from the 1930's, and wonderfully so! Here's hoping he does another volume for the 1940's films. Can't wait to see what he writes about JUNGLE WOMAN!! A 'must have' for any horror film fan!

Wonderfully written, full of intelligent, objective opinions, Soister's book is a breath of fresh air on a subject that I suspect most fans feel they already know thoroughly. "Of Gods and Monsters" opened my eyes to the many dozens of "forgotten" Universal films made in the 1930s, particularly their oddball mysteries (like the fascinating "Inner Sanctum" series). Sadly, few of these films are available on home video... yet. One hopes that perhaps NBC-Universal's execs will read this book and learn about their past history, and open up the vaults so that fans can enjoy these classics again, instead of having them gather dust.

If you have Soister's book, along with the Brunas/Brunas/Weaver "Universal Horrors: The Studio's Classic Films" (also from McFarland), you've got a fairly well-rounded coverage of Hollywood's great horror classics. I only wish that the publishers would consider allowing the author to do a second volume covering the rest of Universal's classic mystery/SF/horror films from 1940-1959. That would tell the rest of the story, particularly for the 1940s, which was a very rich period for the studio.

Usually I skip long, detailed plot synopses in movie books, but with Soister I look forward to them. Like most critics, Soister is even more entertaining when discussing a bad film -- I laughed out loud through his description of several stinkers in this entertaining book -- but this teacher from Pensylvania is never less than authoritative. Soister covers all the Universal horror, sci-fi, and related films 1929-1939 in this handsome volume, which no fan of the genres should be without. It doesn't matter that "Dracula" and "Frankenstein" have been discussed at length in previous works -- do yourself a favor and "see" them once more through the eyes of John Soister!

I love this book The Official All My Children Trivia book from the hit abc television show and at the first of it had the horse. This book looks like Tuck Everlasting, Tuck Para Siempre a spanish book of Tuck Everlasting, Owls in the Family, Black Beauty, Rodeo Bloopers 1. the video, Toby Keith's album Pull My Chain & Clay Walker's album If I Could Make A Living. In 2000 I made videos of William's America's Funniest Home Videos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 which is the Tenth Year Anniversary, 11 which is the tenth year anniversary, Special Edition of Bareback Riding, Calf Roping & Steer Wrestling the three rodeo events on video & All My Children/Roping Funnies the graduation of William's Funniest Videos 13 and someday I will put them in the store so people will by mine and order them on the website ...and they will love them ...My favorite T. V. shows on abc are All My Children, General Hospital & Who Wants To Be A Millionaire my favorite T. V. shows on abc. This book also looks like Mary Kate and Ashley's videos How The West Was Fun & The Case of The Logical I Ranch. This is an amazing trivia book.A

This is just a fun trivia book for fans of ALL MY CHILDREN. It has a lot of facts, some you might know, some you might not. A lot of quizzes, even one for the famous Erica Kane! While its not as comprehensive as the 1994 ALL MY CHILDREN coffee table book, it still has loads of facts and fun for trivia and AMC fans alike. It's pretty cheap too so its worth it if you want to know more about AMC or just enjoy trivia books.

This book is great. It is filled with so much information which the dedicated fan should know. It also has some great pictures. However, it is paperback and not hardcover like they say.

It's a great book, so pick it up because it's a low price for all that info.

This is an excellent book for ALL of us AMC fans: I'm pretty much a novice and it really gave me a good background and tidbits. It helped me learn the history and about characters who were gone before I started watching. It really helped put pieces of the puzzle together. My sister is a veteran and she was kept going "I remember that!" or "No way! Even I didn't know that!!!" And, it has great pictures. I recommend it for those of you who starting watching in the 1970's, and for AMC fans who were born in the 1970's.

As a 20+ year fan of All My Children, this book not only brought back great memories of my years in Pine Valley, but let me in some stuff I did not get to see, because I was too young.This is a MUST HAVE for an All My Children fan, old or new!!

I still have 3 chapters left to finish this book but so far it's been great and well worth my money. Almost every chapter starts with a review of some background information, then for each disease entity, he gives you a little paragraph summarizing important points before going into more detail discussing the pathology and special tests, etc. There are so many helpful diagrams, pictures, and tables and almost everything is in a list format (rather than big paragraphs of text). It's kinda like first aid for step 1 but not as comprehensive. I would have given this book 5 stars if it was more comprehensive and included some optics and other topics (as other reviewers have pointed out). Bottom line: not perfect, but great book/well worth your cash.

Very high yield review book with logical organization and systematic approach to reviewing clinical ophthalmology. There is no section on optics or pathology, but despite this shotcoming I can give no less than 5 stars. Dr Chern has done more for resident education with his books than almost any other single person in the field of Ophthalmolgy. When coupled with the Chern question book you should do well on the OKAPs and boards.

This book is truly a wonderful review book. It is well organized, has excellent pictures and tables, and focuses very well on high yield information. There are few things not covered such as optics. Some of the newer treatments in retina such as PDT, IVK, macugen, avastin are obviously not included. But a few other things that could be improved are discussion of visual field interpretation, corneal topography interpretation, a little more on surgical techniques, particularly cataract, and coverage of refractive surgery as this is now included on the OKAPS and boards.

What I have done is written notes in the margins of additional facts and info from other texts such as kanski or the basic science series to make one source I can use for review.

Highly recommended. The Chern question book is excellent too.

excellent review for the boards! a must read for all residents.

This is the best review book in ophthalmology. (I have 3 other ophtho review books that were hardly ever used in favor of the Chern book.) A must-have for any ophthalmology resident.

I've learned more about writing from this collection than I have from twenty textbooks on writing. A must-read for anyone interested in learning more about the craft of literature, whether as a writer or a reader.

5 stars for that incredible initiative of showing the way writers are writing, and behind this, thinking the stories, the personnages...
i have to say, that is a source of inspiration and of understanding of your own style/way of writing
something to really have on your shelves !!!

I have read tens of 'Paris Review Interviews' and once had almost all the volumes they put out.
This volume selects sixteen of the reviews including a number which for me were most memorable. ( Borges, Bellow, Hemingway,)

The total list is:
Dorothy Parker (1956)
Truman Capote (1957)
Ernest Hemingway (1958)
T. S. Eliot (1959)
Saul Bellow (1966)
Jorge Luis Borges (1967)
Kurt Vonnegut (1977)
James M. Cain (1978)
Rebecca West (1981)
Elizabeth Bishop (1981)
Robert Stone (1985)
Robert Gottlieb (1994)
Richard Price (1996)
Billy Wilder (1996)
Jack Gilbert (2005)
Joan Didion (2006)
Aside from the writers I have named I would have preferred a collection containing other interviews, including the famous one with Faulkner.
I would just like to point out the strange reversal of roles which has occurred in our Internet world. There are tens of Paris Review Interviews online, far more than are contained in this volume. It is almost as if the book here is a kind of toy, a mere adjunct to the total product which 'Paris Review Online' the Internet makes readily available to us.
I understand the value of having a volume to hold in one's hand. And like most people I would rather read from a book than from a screen. But the 'online business' takes away from the special pleasure one might have had once at getting a 'new book' of one's own.

If you love words and how they come together and how the best writers make that happen,
this is for you.

Perhaps this might be an obvious statement, for as the title indicates this collection of works from the Paris Review is a collection of interviews, but one that I feel need be made nevertheless. In reading over this wonderful work that contains interviews with Borges, Parker, Hemingway, Capote, Eliot, as well as many other legends of literature and 20th century intellectual thought, the reader is able to discover a truer sense of voice behind these renowned authors. We are given an amazing portal into the minds of these artists that ranges from how they approach their work and their diverse influences, to simply how they might view their lives and world around them. I would recommend this text to any person with even the most casual interest in literature, and for those who wish to immerse themselves with such authors and thought, I think this collection would be a perfect companion.

Pitching Tents. By Gail Mount. Huntsville: Texas Review Press, 2005. Winner of the 2004 George Garrett Fiction Prize: Novel

Where is Aaron Spelling when you need him? This rollicking novel needs a sitcom venue. Gail Mount, a Fort Worth native, Rice graduate, UT teaching fellow, and experienced short story writer and playwright, tosses sedate novel-writing aside, and gives us Ezekiel and Vida, two seniors with a love of life and devil-may-care schemes.

To the small town of Burro, Texas, Vida returns and immediately Ezekiel falls in love with her a second time. Mount's fast-paced plot and the characters fast-paced plotting make the story fast reading, delightful reading. Ezekiel is a painterly artist who even derives an income there from; Vida is a burning individualist, now 80-years-old. The town's citizens have long categorized both as trouble makers. They start off caring for Mad Betty's dead, naked body, he prepares an art show, she organizes a school for rebels, he deals with his mother, she deals with philosophy, and they touch each other gently. It is one rollicking scene after another. They wander apart and re-unite.

Finally, after a year or so, they decide to really get wild. They marry and drive off into the sunset. If the concept of two creative oldsters making love and being in love with raucous language and civilly unacceptable behavior offends you, die young or sad. This couple does neither.

Gail Mount clearly and consistently portrays an elderly man and woman who do what they want to do without violating the right of others to do what they want to do. Against community standards in central Texas, the man is much younger than the woman; they ardently make love (in their own way); and they want no place to call home. Nevertheless, they contribute to the social good, wherever they pitch their tent, through their artistic talents and human decency. They are more than aged hippies; they are exemplars of Mill's "Essay on Liberty."

I recently read and was thoroughly captivated by a fast moving and enjoyable story by Gail Mount, called PITCHING TENTS. It's about two hippies who become reacquainted and fall in love in their later years in small town Texas. Mr. Mount weaves a wonderful portrait of the two main characters, Vida Singer and Wayman (don't call me Ezekiel) Scott describing with clarity and humor how they meet life's continuing challenges, including getting to know each other, while maintaining their integrity. Each additional character introduced in this story is quite memorable. Some are likeable and some not very likeable, but all very real. The story has a nice ending. I was unable to put the book down until I had finished it. A second reading a few days later was just as rewarding as the first.

Joseph Erwin

I found Pitching Tents by Gail Mount to be very entertaining and easy to read. Having lived my whole life in Texas, I related to the surroundings and the people. The main characters show a lot of the 1960's spirit. They are very humorous and really seem real. When you think about the book, the people become real and the morals become real.

I picked this book up on a Sunday evening and did not put it down until I was done. It was a page-turner. My husband had to leave our bedroom and seek silence elsewhere because of my laughter. By page 40, I had been laughing so much I was crying and my diaphragm ached. It was a real joy to read. Write more Gail Mount. Write more.

Know these Vignettes! Nothing more to say. They will be tested over. Period :)

This book is small enough to fit in your white coat pocket for those down times on the ward. It is much more concise than Microbiology Made Ridiculously Easy and a much better study tool for Step 1 and Step 2. Microbiology is one of those very important areas of medicine that comes up again and again, regardless of what field you decide to go into. Mastering it is key and you'll get a good grip on it with this book. Very useful.

Great review of all the high-yield bugs in case-based format. Really liked the book's style, presentation, and content. Also has good figures and answer explanations, which helped me understand several important concepts better. Definitely worth the money.

If you want to do better than just pass step 1, you have to read more than First Aid for the Boards. I would recommend this series as a great complement to enhance your understanding and knowledge of important, high yield topics for the exam. This volume is a good representation of what the series is like - concise, high yield, and containing lots of good figures and photos. The case explanations are fantastic and pragmatic.

Wonderful review series for USMLE Step 1 preparation. This volume in particular lives up to its name, with outstanding case presentations and explanations that make sure you understand the underlying pathophysiology concepts. Memorization was not as important as key concept understanding on my exam, and this book, as well as the rest of the series, contained the high-yield info that was on my exam (took 6 weeks ago).

My score ended up being higher than I had hoped for, and I give much of the credit to this book and the rest of the series. Strongly recommend for Step 1 review!

Know these Vignettes! Nothing more to say. They will be tested over. Period :)

This is the best way to prepare for the exam! This guy knows his stuff and explains it VERY well. All case-based reviews - there are no multiple choice questions in these books. All the series is excellent except the anatomy volume was low-yield for exam.

Great way to review right before your exam. Helped me prepare for the case-based questions that now make up the majority of the step 1 test. The two pathology volumes give the biggest bang for the buck if money is tight, but I think the whole series (5 books: pathology I & II, microbiology, behavioral science & biostatistics, and anatomy & embryology) is outstanding.

I scored in the 87th percentile on Step 1 and credit much of my above-average performance to this series. The author seems very in tune with what's important for the boards. Lots of great info presented in the way it was asked about on my exam. Strongly recommend every book in the series, but particularly the pathology volumes. Check these out!

All my colleagues that recently took the Step 1 exam were raving about this series while I waited an extra two months to take the exam because I was so paranoid. I decided to buy the series after hearing all the hype and, for once, a book lived up to its reputation. This book in particular was extremely helpful to me in getting my mind ready for the types of questions that appeared on my exam. The format of the book has you guess/state the answer to various proposed questions at the end of each of 50 clinical vignettes, then you turn the page to get the answers and read a brief blurb of high-yield info related to the topic/condition. Great, concise, well-written explanations that give you confidence and understanding of important topics. Strongly recommend the whole series and this volume in particular.