Customer Reviews

Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, Companion Handbook

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When any medical student is studying, they usually end up with a copy of this book.

It's BIG - over 1200 pages of the tiniest possible readable writing, and covers vitually every disease in clincal medicine.

You'll find yourself referring to this one a lot, as it's the de facto medical bible, it's a wonderful reference text.

However, I'm not sure you'll want to learn from it directly, as the writing is disjointed from chapter to chapter (it was written by many authors), and it just doesn't "read" well. I certainly find an entire chapter at a time too much to bear in one sitting.

That said, you'll still want this book - the breadth of chapters is amazing, and it's hard to argue with its authority!

I purchased this book to find out how clinical issues were taught in medical schools. To my surprise I found the topics quite interesting and comprehensible. The writing is turgid and the font is quite small. Yet, when some health issue comes up, Harrison's is my first stop. I just pick a topic at random and go through the article. Occasionally, if a term does not make sense to me I check with my copy of Steadman's. I truly believe that this book makes for a good family medical reference if one is willing to put in some effort. Well worth the shelf space in my library.

Especially for the medical students it's important to carry a reliable handbook in ER or such places.The size and weight of this book make this quite easy.

This book is a medical tradition, and it is as important to doctors as their stethoscope.
It is very complete, there is no doubt about it. Every subject of medicine is covered, and for a reference book is a must-have. It is also written in an easy-to-read way, but some chapters are more difficult to understand than others, and like a good meal, in excess it can get heavy and occasionally become a brick, so slow-reading is advised. Also worth to mention are the atlases, that give a lot of pictographic information.
I would recommend it only as a reference book, because for the USMLE, or as a course textbook, it is impossible to read it all, especially if time is scarce.

This book is the Bible of Internal Medicine. Anyone considering a career in medicine should have this book in their library. Comprehensive and well written, it is the gold standard of medical textbooks.

I think harrison's should be the reference book for all the undergraduate students in the world. it is concise, yet awfully complete. it's my bible in my study

Fauci is a very poor scientist. He lets his own political beliefs bias his medical opinions. As he has been in high positions in NIH this serves to greatly retard medical science and cause much suffering to disabled Americans. An example is his steadfast support of Stephen Straus in his disinformation campaign on ME (aka CFS). Fauci still includes the deceased Straus' inaccurate article as the section on ME in this edition.

Internist Paul Cheney, MD, PhD, the world's foremost clinican and top researcher on ME said of Straus' findings in his most (self-)publicized study, "it's an absolute lie." Internist Dan Peterson, also one of the world's foremost clinicians and researchers on ME said "Stephen Straus is a snake." Straus was still doing grand rounds in the mid- late 90's saying possible retroviral association with ME made no sense because retroviruses cause neurological, cognitive, immunological and endocrine pathology, which aren't prominent features of ME. These are in fact the central, disabling features of the disease. And of course quite a few bench scientists have found retroviral involvement since 1986, most recently Judy Mikovits and Frank Ruscetti at NCI.

Now the theory is behind you and you are into Physical exams and History taking and diagnostics. This book is a must for you. In 397 Chapters it tells you about almost all human illnesses. Each chapter starts with theory (physiology), History taking, continues with Diagnosis and Treatment, it even tell you how to approach the patient what to look and what to disregard. Almost 2600 pages, takes two to carry, requires own stand in your home like Webster's dictionary but have more information compared to other 2600 page books due to fine print and unfortunately very minimal pictures or diagrams. You might want to get complete with pocket book edition for handiness when you need it. This book will not help in your diagnosis but when you think you had diagnosed than you can refer to this to see to confirm or rethink.

I have been using the Harrison's since my 2nd year in Medical School. It has been a great store of information. Harrison's is a essential for Residents in Internal Medicine.The 14 Edition is even better. Chapter on AIDS and HIV is fantastic.

An absolute must for the internist or any individual who would like to use the quint essential reference of internal medicine