More Drugs Please! (Pharmacology - H.P.Rang, M.M. Dale, J.M. Ritter, P. Gardner)

Member Name: ~tig~

Product:	Pharmacology - H.P.Rang, M.M. Dale, J.M. Ritter, P. Gardner
Date:	08/05/01 (510 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: well indexed, lots of tables/graphs

Disadvantages: Not exactly bedside reading, have found a few errors so keep your eyes open

Pharmacology is a relatively simple subject to understand but incredibly difficult to learn. Unfortunately, one night before the first year exams I had little alternative! Instead of drowning my sorrows in the med school bar I went searching the library and found this book...... I passed so it can't be all that bad! :-)

The book is set out in six main sections dealing with:
1)The Basics,
2)Chemical mediators,
3)Systemic Drugs,
4)CNS Drugs
5)Chemotherapy
6) Additional topics such as how drug metabolism varies between individuals and gene therapy.

Each section is then is sub-divided down into sections which are both sensible and manageable. So sensible in fact that it could have been written for my course it follows the order of lectures so well!

The text deals with the subject at a level simple enough for even a medic to understand ;-) but is never patronising. In addition, each page contains a diagram or more which enhance the ease of comprehension as well as being useful when it comes to revision or quick reference.

The tables are my favourite part, so often pharmacology texts make good use of pictures but neglect things like tables which make all the difference if you are studying to a deadline! There are tables for each class of drug detailing major actions, effects and side effects in a very clear form. (Enough raving about tables now you get the picture - except to say that the appendix also has a great set of tables which simplify things even further for last minute cramming).

One criticism would be the use of colour as it it uses only black, grey and blue - not particularly inspiring. That being said, the clarity of the diagrams is such that I doubt additional colours would add a lot too it (and they would raise the price).

Health Warning(1) - this opinion has been written from the point of view of a medical student and not a pharmacology student - if you are studying pu
re pharmacology then this book may not be sufficient for you although I would certainly recommend it as an introductory text.

Health Warning (2) - I would have given this book the full 5 stars but it does contain a few mistakes - use in conjunction with a lecturer and a biro :-)

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