Customer Reviews

The Phunny Pharm: The Ultimate Pharmacology Study

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My friends studied for weeks, while I studied for days, learning the way my brain likes to learn - using images and stories which connect the drugs to their actions. I would not be passing this class without this book!
Here's an example: Two bears named Nick and Nicky (both are NICotinic receptors) live in the Phunny Pharm Phorest. The forest is a metaphor for the Autonomic Nervous System. Nicky has three musketeer cubs (MUSCarinic receptors) to whom she must feed various kinds of fish (eg piloCARPine). The actions of the bears are responses of the PNS (eg, miosis).
If you need all five receptors 'cuz you're an overacheiver, you can imagine 2 more cubs. I did just fine with the three in the book. If you have more drugs on your list to memorize, you can imagine new kinds of fish.
This book removes a lot of the pain of rote memorization, and is actually fun to read. Imagine that! A FUN Pharm book!
Although a few drugs are not included in the Phunny Pharm, the presentation is such that you can easily connect anything new to the scenarios given.
Do not hesitate to buy this book if your learning style demands interconnections and the use of a thought process. It's not a stand-alone resource. Katzung's a nice resource book if you need more info.

The Phunny Pharm provides an alternative to the rote pharmacologic memorization that medical students face. By introducing you to a world where penicillins are in a baseball game, and cardiac phys is a train ride, you have a "story" to help keep the hundreds of drugs straight in your mind. Some of the tales require a real stretch of the imagination, perhaps more than it's worth. Overall, several of my classmates found it worthwhile, especially for the antibiotics. Some of the bizarre little stories are just weird enough to remember in the 4th hour of your pharm final...

This review book was excellent in that it used a lot of clever pneumonics and pictures to help memorize a subject that's all about rote memorization...With this book I rocked my boards on pharm!!! 2nd year med student.

Hello,
I have "The Phunny Pharm" book (1997) from HANLEY & BELFUS, Inc., Medical Publishers.
This book is too old for the board exams and not enough.
Some parts of the pictures do not have any explanations.
Ex.: In penicillin picture we have black squares and black fish, but no any explanation about it. How can I get the meaning of it?
It does not have any info about Cephalosporins 4th generation, dinoprostone, indinavir, ritonavir, zanamivir, oseltamavir, enfuvirtide, interferons, zalcitabine, stavudine, lamivudine, maraviroc, raltegravir etc...
I tried to contact with publisher, nobody answers the phone.
Your book is not cheap! It has these gaps! I did not expect these gaps for $350.
If somebody knows how to get any info about it, please send me a link to almazava@gmail.com.
Thank you for understanding.
I'll wait for the answers.

Becoming familiar with the drug names, the different classes, and general functions was my biggest challenge. Reading and re-reading Lippincott's and trying to remember the various charts in other review books did not help.

The pictures and associations in this book make it so easy to recall. You do have to learn some associations, but it really does not take much effort since they are so common and they are used repeatedly.

I found this book late in the class, and I wish I had found it sooner. I just took the pharm shelf exam, and 95% of the info. could be found in Phunny Pharm even though it is a little outdated. With a little updating of your own in the margins, you should have the info. you need to do well on the boards. This book will surely help anyone who has trouble memorizing lists of words.

This book is Amazing...

I purchased this book ($100 second-hand) since I was scared of the Pharmacology subject. As soon as I received the book, I fell in love with it, spending at least half an hour every day reading through... It is so fun to read through and helps you integrate pharmacology as part of your long-term memory... While I am only in the second year of med-school and have not taken the pharmacology course, I was able to go through the first-aid pharmacology section as well as my med-school notes from the previous years without a problem... While the book dates back to 1997, it still covers about 70% of first-aid drugs...

This is an example of mnemonics provided by the book itself:
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Class 1C Anti-arrhythmic:
Flecainide = Fleas can Hide
Propafenone = Pros can phone home
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Class III Anti-arrhythmic: (pigs = potassium)
Bretylium Tosylate = Bret tosses the pigs back in
Amiodarone = Amy dares the pigs to get out

For all mnemonics, there are images provided that will help with your recall
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In addition, after reading through this book you will learn to come up with your own mnemonics... For example, "TRASTUZUMAB", a drug used to fight "breast" cancer by reducing "HER" gene expression, is not included in the Phunny Pharm... so this is the mnemonic I came up with:

"Trust the Mob" and show "HER" "Breasts".

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Overall, I am highly satisfied with this book and recommend it to any first or second year med-student. Best for first year students to read this book during their summer break.

This book is AWESOME. I can't believe it's not in print anymore. Hello publishers!!! Anyway, after I got the flow with the concepts it's been SO much easier. To get a good understanding I copied the diagrams and labeled everything. After the first few I totally got the hang of it and everything started to "sink in" Thank you Phunny Pharm.

This is indeed an amazing book.

Never have I seen anything like this in literature.

My friend sent it to me from Florida since this book is

not available in India.

The cartoons and the mnemonics are truly fabulous.

If you want to really understand as well as remember

Pharmacology or even teach this subject, then this is the book.

Dr. Wiqar Shaikh
Hon. Asstt. Professor of Medicine
Grant Medical College, Bombay, India