Reddit mentions: The best health science books

Disclaimer: Some of this advice I consider 'no duh' but I figured I'd say it just in case.

On shelf exams:

1. Yes, all of the case files/blue prints/UW/OME are good resources.
   
   
2. Emma Holiday's clerkship review videos are all excellent.
   
   
3. If you're a DO peep and have to take COMAT shelf exams, go ahead and shell out for the COMBANK exam specific question banks. Some of those questions will show up verbatim on exam day.
   
   
4. If you haven't already, download the mobile app for UWorld, Kaplan, and/or Combank. Some of my preceptors actively encouraged me to do questions while they were charting and would jump in to work through some with me when we had downtime in the clinic.
   
   On electronic devices and apps:
   
   
5. I got an iPad mini at the start of the year and loved having it but it is not at all necessary.
   
   
6. Some people recommended starting off each rotation by saying to your attending/upper level "I have electronic textbooks/apps, is it okay if I use them while I'm with you?" (so that you're not accused of texting or being on facebook 24/7) but that was honestly never an issue for me.
   
   
7. Good apps to have: MDCalc (free), ASCVD Risk Estimator (free), Nodule (free), UpToDate (some hospitals will give you an institutional log-in if your school doesn't), GoodRx (free), Epocrates (free-ish), and palmEM ($10 but a decent investment if you're an EM gunner).
   
   On boards:
   
   
8. The best time to sign up for your Step 2 CS/Level 2 PE is the second you get authorization from your school. Those spots go quick.
   
   
9. DO peeps: the NBOME has affiliate deals with hotels for reduced rates. You can find the links and info here. Yes, this whole thing is stupid expensive but you might as well take advantage of what little silver lining there is.
   
   
10. If you need disability accommodations (extra time, electronic stethoscope), start those applications NOW. There's a lot of little parts to them (I have no idea why they needed a letter from my dean but whateva) and the committee to approve those things only meets once a month (so if your application arrives after they've met for the month, you're basically going to be waiting two months to hear back from them.) Anyone who needs help with this or has questions can feel free to message me.
    
    
11. I have no idea when the best time to take the written tests are. It will depend on your individual schedule and goals.
    
    On wards:
    
    
12. You'll probably get a lot of (pocket) book recommendations. You do not need to buy every book recommended to you. The two I found useful this year were The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine and Clinician's Guide to Laboratory Medicine.
    
    
13. Pre-round on your patients. Some people like the scutsheets from medfools but I found them a little constrictive once I knew what I was doing. If you are supposed to write an H&P, SOAP note, discharge summary, etc and your school didn't teach you, google it. There are a ton of decent guides out there.
    
    
14. You are there until your attending/resident explicitly tells you to go home. Your ability to ask to leave will depend on the culture +/- your gumption.
    
    
15. NEVER LIE. If you did not see the patient, you didn't see the patient.
    
    
16. Some people will tell you to always say "I don't know but I'll look that up and get back to you!" Honestly, my residents would roll their eyes and tell us to guess.
    
    
17. If you don't know where something minor is (cups, ice machine, extra pillows, extra blankets) ask to be shown so that the next time you can get it yourself. Yes, you will absolutely be asked to fetch people coffee, return that empty bed to the floor, help someone to the bathroom, grab an extra blanket, etc. Most people tend to think more highly of those that do this without groaning.
    
    
18. If you feel like you had a good time with a preceptor and they would be a useful addition to your application, consider asking them for a letter of rec at/near the end of your rotation. You don't have to apply every letter you upload for programs to see so there's really no harm in collecting more than three (but do not ask every single persona for a letter of rec - doctors talk about students, especially the ones they find sketchy or annoying).
    
    On evaluations:
    
    
19. I know the majority of this subreddit moans about how subjective and unfair evaluations are but my one point of pride this year is that every single preceptor gave me an honors level eval.
    
    
20. Yes, I am a woman. No, I am not attractive. I'm slightly below average to fair with a moderate amount of chunkiness.
    
    
21. Do anything you can to make your resident's life easier.
    
    
22. Be polite to every nurse, tech, nurse practitioner, receptionist, and office manager. Make small talk. Yes, I know you've heard this a million times. Yes, I did bake things and bring in boxes of donuts. Yes, you can call me a suck-up. I was still blown away when one office manager said to me "We really liked having you. None of the other students talk to us."
    
    
23. Be enthusiastic. Ask questions. Even if you're not interested in that specialty, you can still ask what applying to residency was like (for young doctors) or how things have changed since they started (for old doctors).
    
    
24. This is not the year to have debates. Some of my classmates got into arguments on guns, the president, or religion; sometimes the attending respected their chutzpah and sometimes they didn't. I preferred to play it safe.
    
    
25. Keep in mind every annoying social media professionalism lecture you've ever gotten. Techs, nurses, nurse practitioners, and more all wanted to add me as a friend on Facebook. Yes, you can choose not to add them (smartest move tbh) but I gave in after getting point-blank asked "why didn't you add me?!" Facebook is for that "magical feeling of wonder and joy" when you catch a baby for the first time or the "humbling awe" you felt when you first retracted the colon. Nothing else.
    
    
26. If you are sharing a rotation with NP student or PA student, treat them like another medical student and be cordial. Don't try to pimp them. Don't get into pissing contests. Doctors are expected to be leaders; now is your chance to actually demonstrate that.
    
    
    
    In general: Third year can be frustrating because it varies so wildly. Some of you will have cush rotations where you're done at 10:30 am. Some of you will enter the hospital before the sun rises and leave when it is setting. Some of you will feel like you're shadowing again. Some of you will be treated like interns (and abused because you don't have work-hour restrictions). Some will find out the thing they thought they wanted they hate and others will find out the thing they want is beyond their reach (because of family obligations, board scores, or another thing all together). Some of you will deliver 80 babies a month and some of you won't even do a Pap smear. Every hospital has a different culture; just be polite, professional, and let yourself be immersed. You'll pick it up soon enough.
    
    TL; DR: Life is short. Be excellent to each other.
    
    EDIT: Added some stuff, found out there's a size limit on comments, made a second part.

> I was thinking on drawing 50 arms, 50 legs and so on,

This will accomplish absolutely nothing if you aren't sure what you're doing in the first place. So, let's go over a few things to help you with this instead.

Let me tell you a few things that I picked up as soon as I saw your drawings:

• You aren't actually paying much attention to the subject you're drawing; especially if you have a reference, you're going to have to measure up and make sure what you have looks right. There appears to be lots and lots of guessing here, which is a habit you'll have to break if you aren't sure what to guess.
  
• You don't have a good grasp on perspective yet; this can be seen in examples 1 and 4 where you have the figures in such unnatural looking positions.
  
• You have lines in example 1 which seem to be you measuring her height using the head as a reference, which is interesting to me, as you appear to have grown impatient and drawn what you though would make her look better. I think some of the frustration here lies in the fact that her head is too tall, which made the rest of her body not line up the way you wanted it to.
  
• Your muscles look masculine, even with your women, and they also aren't what natural muscles look like.
  
• Your clothing textures are actually decent (some more practice and I think you'll have these down, definitely!), and aren't really much of a weak point for you.
  
  Let's take this apart step by step and see where some progress can be made. First, the face:
  
  
• You know what a face looks like, though you're having some difficultly constructing one. To learn how to actually make a face, one way to do it is by drawing a face head on so you get an idea of how the proportions work. It's also much easier to get a straight on look at a face and make less mistakes along the way, as you'll have the proportions directly in front of you. When it comes to drawing faces at an angle, however, this'll be more difficult, as you won't have the same guidelines to help you. Once you draw lots of faces head on, with practice on value/shading, etc. then it should be easier to construct one in your head and have an idea on what to work on for various other angles you're trying to accomplish. So here's a nice video that can go about showing you how to draw a face from different angles and here's another one that provides commentary along the way, and is a bit more straightforward as well.
  
• Your faces, similar to your muscles, all look very masculine, which tells me you don't know what women look like. I'm more so just pointing this out as something you should work on, so here's an article that goes over differences in drawing faces between men/women it'll take some getting used to at first, but it's something to study and fix before you try getting too involved with faces (otherwise you'll get good at making mistakes, which you don't want)
  
  Next, the body:
  
  
• Okay, you and I both understand that proportions/anatomy aren't a strong point for you. Not to worry, you can fix this! Proko is a great source on YouTube you'll see mentioned a lot here if you're having trouble with anatomy, since he goes over things in an easy to understand fashion. There's also Draw with Jazza whose channel I love, since he goes over material quite well. What may also help here is enrolling in a class in a university or community center that'll allow you to a draw a live model, where you can get feedback from a teacher and other students as well. There's also some books on anatomy, such as Atlas of Human Anatomy (keep in mind this one is not really a tutorial, just something to help give notes on anatomy), and this book, which is a bit more beginner friendly and has more instruction in it.
  
• Instead of trying to simply draw 50 arms and 50 legs, it helps to have some guidance on what exactly you're drawing and how to draw it. This is a clear tutorial that can help with that , and in case you also need a bit of reminding of what limbs are supposed to look like, this here can help you with body proportions so you can make sure your limbs match up, and gives extra tips on how they can do that. One thing I will note as well, is that it's not just your limbs that need work, so don't feel like you should only be focused on them when you work on the body, as you need to make sure the entire human form is comprehensible and works together. What's the point of having nicely drawn limbs if you have a shitty torso, for example. I'll also remind you that drawing limbs is a pain in the fucking ass and that it's not something that you'll pick up quickly (this is especially true of digits, hands/feet were and still are a pain for me to draw!). Speaking of hands, you seem timid when it comes to these subjects, and you're going to want to get over that, since if you don't know much about hands/feet, then many of your gestures won't look as appealing (plus, it's only going to hurt you since you'll get frustrated time and time again trying to get them right). Luckily, Draw with Jazza has a tutorial on those, and you can also purchase a hand mannequin if you'd like some extra help. Another great resource is looking at your own hands/feet, since they're always available and can get the job done in some natural lighting.
  
  Lastly, your (lack of) shading:
  
  
• Since there's no shading to speak of in these pieces, you're doing yourself a huge disservice as you aren't actually drawing the human form, but rather an outline of it (which in itself, isn't giving any details to speak of, which is adding to your lack of success with drawing people). This tells me you either a. aren't too familiar with how to create form, or b. simply don't understand yet understand the importance of shading when learning how to draw. This is all fine and dandy, as this link here will tell you all about form and how to shade properly. Some exercises you can practice for this are drawing objects in real life in shading them, and getting used to not erasing while you do so (when you don't erase, it prompts you to make less and less mistakes further along the road).
  
  And here's a last:
  
  
• Go slow. Drawing is a not a race, you don't have to finish everything within a set time limit. If it's taking you a long time to learn something, don't sweat it. There's no such thing as someone who is good at drawing everything when they first start out. Everyone sucks in the beginning, so it's better to take your time and focus on what mistakes you make so you can take note of how to improve later. And since you want to work with people, which is difficult because a. not only is the human form in itself hard to draw, but you have to make a human body be recognizable since unlike drawing animals, which don't have any particular likenesses that are completely relevant (for example, you can draw a golden retriever, and I can look at it, and see it's a golden retriever because animals don't have that look to them that really separates them), meanwhile humans have facial and body features that are distinguishable to us since we recognize our own species, and b. there can be a lot going on in a human drawing, such as us holding something, wearing certain things, having certain hairstyles, etc. which by themselves can be difficult to master. So taking your time and realizing that it won't be perfect right away will only help you in the long run.

Hi! I think the greatest thing you can do, is to join "Fundamentals of Neuroscience". It's an online course, but it's really nothing like most courses online. The production value is crazy high. It's truly experimental, because its purpose is to allow anyone to understand neuroscience without sandpapering the edges. I recently attended a university level introductory course in neuroscience. Our textbook was Purves'. Several of our instructors are published in Science and Nature. While the course was really great, the "Fundamentals of Neuroscience" delved deeper than the course and presented more nuanced pictures of the information. I can't think of any better introduction. To really learn this stuff, you need to learn a lot more than is presented in the online course, but you're very well off if this is your starting point.

As for textbooks, Purves, as mentioned earlier is good. Principles of Neural Science is mentioned often as its probably the greatest reference work, but it's not something you read as a first timer. Bear is good. I have read some of it, and it seems pretty good as introductory material. Both Purves and Bear are fine.

Ah, it also kind of depends of what your reason for interest is. If you want to learn about consciousness, attention, memory, and stuff like that, I would have different recommendations. If you want to learn about the hard biology of the matter, I have different ones. If you want to learn the computational aspects of how the brain works, I have different ones. I just assumed you wanted general introductions. As for general ones, I say the online course is top shelf. Bear is great as supplementary material. Purves as well.

I used several books but the best one was Mosby's Review for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination, 3rd edition. https://www.amazon.com/Mosbys-Pharmacy-Technician-Certification-Examination/dp/0323113370

This book will be great by itself if you already have experience as a tech but if you don't, you will probably also need a textbook with a dedicated math section. The amazon reviews mention that many of the questions have incorrect answers in the answer key but it's not a big deal since the corrections are posted online and the answer key has each answer written out. The most valuable part of this book is the practice exams in the back. They were incredibly similar to actual exam compared to any other book I used. Definitely get this book and spend the most time with it.




I also used books that were given to me by CVS which were pretty helpful. If you're currently working for a retail chain, there's a good chance they will give you books for free. The math one was great. I completed basically the entire thing and got all the math questions correct on the exam.

"The Pharmacy Technician, 5e" by APhA, Perspective Press and the accompanying workbook (pretty sure you can find the PDF online)

textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Pharmacy-Technician-Pharmacists-Association-Pharmacology/dp/1617314870

workbook: https://www.amazon.com/Technician-Certification-Pharmacists-Association-Pharmacology/dp/1617310727

"Complete Math Review for the Pharmacy Technician, 4e" by APhA

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Review-Pharmacy-Technician-Training/dp/1582121974

I'm going to copy and paste a previous comment of mine:

> My two cents:
>
> Realistically at the medical student level the most important study to be able to interpret is going to be a chest x-ray. So, if you’re looking for resources to go past the general anatomy and “approach to a chest x-ray” I would recommend Felson’s Principles of Chest Roentgenology.
>
> It’s a ‘programmed text’ like Dubin’s for EKGs, and goes through pathology topic by topic, with lots of opportunity to practice interpretation and to see if you are right or wrong. It’s a relatively quick read and there are lots of practice cases at the end as well.
>
> I stressed interpretation before because, sure you may have a test question about the difference between an epidural vs. subdural bleed, but it’s not like you are going to be interpreting CTs or MRIs.
>
> Knowing the underlying anatomy and the differential for the pathology would probably be a better use of your time than going through any of the introductory texts like Learning Radiology: Recognizing the Basics or Squire’s Fundamentals of Radiology. (My point here being that you need to know what you are looking at if you are actually going to be able to make sense of a study.) If you were considering radiology, one might be nice to have as a reference, but again, I do not think actually trying to read through the whole thing would be a good use of time.
>
> Without cases to practice with, a lot of that knowledge probably will not stick. Whenever you have the chance, trying to look at a film before reading the radiologist’s report to test yourself can be helpful, as is trying to actively correlate what you see on the film compared to the clinical exam.
>
> After having a good knowledge of chest x-rays, your next most common scenarios that require interpretation would probably be emerg related - again chest x-rays will be super common, but others like abdo series, extremity skeletal trauma, cervical spine, etc. will be useful.
>
> Having said that, there are online resources like “Introduction to Radiology” from the University of Virginia or Radiology Masterclass.
>
> ---
>
> TL;DR:
>
> - Felson’s to learn how to interpret chest films
> - Pay attention to the little things you might be tested on like the features of arthritis on plain films, epidural vs. subdural, etc. etc. as you learn the rest of your clinical stuff
> - Know your anatomy
> - Radiopaedia for everything else that comes up
> - a PDF of an introductory text might be nice as a reference for a rads gunner - not as something to try to read cover to cover

Hey, sorry for replying so late. So which state are you in? I'm pretty sure you need a PTCB certification and a state registration to apply for a hospital job.

You need to study a book for the PTCB examination. Some people recommend going to school, but I only studied a book to pass the PTCB test. It's quite easy.

I recommend this book:

http://smile.amazon.com/Mosbys-Pharmacy-Technician-Certification-Examination/dp/0323113370/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413195737&sr=8-1&keywords=mosby%27s+guide+pharmacy+technician

Pretty straightforward and easy to understand. Afterwards, just take the test. Make sure you are ready because it costs 150+ per exam and you can only have three tries per 6 months (or something like that).

When you get your PTCB certification, apply for the state registration. There's no requirements but your record must be clean.

Once you get both, apply for a hospital job. Always aim high, you never know where it'll get you. And never go for a retail pharmacy job.

Hope it helps.

Well, it depends on how hard you are willing to work,

Lazy and just want to kinda get used to terminology:
Learning Radiology by Herring

Willing to put in 2-3 hours every day during the rotation which by the way is entirely feasible since med students definitely aren't doing more than 40 hours a week, most do like 30 during a rads rotation. Use Core Radiology

Difficultish: Brant and helms, the harrisons of radiology. But unlike harrisons where legit everything is covered, if you really want to learn radiology you have to get subspecialty specific textbooks like the requisities series. That said, this is what I used back in the day during med school and I definitely don't regret it. I've read through core radiology as well, they are kinda similar in content, but B&H is a bit more formal and teaches radiologist principles better. If you are going into radiology, this is the textbook to buy since you'll probably use it in residency during PGY-2.

And in general, you are never going to read the entire textbooks during med school, but for IM or EM docs, Core could be super useful even though it will be beyond them for certain topics.

For physics, this is my favorite book by far. It can be a bit dense, and some in my opinion more ignorant radiologists who dislike extensive physics don't like it as much, but I learned during training physics makes the radiologist. Even among radiologists, too many doctors make basic physics mistakes that lead to misdiagnosis, especially with things like nuclear imaging. I frequently overread cardiologist and GI nuc imaging and am kind of appaled by the complete lack of basic radiation understanding. That said...

Here are the amazon links, you can probably find pdfs to some of the books and those that aren't you can probably find in your hospital library.

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Radiology-Recognizing-Basics-3e/dp/0323328075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500633396&sr=8-1&keywords=radiology

https://www.amazon.com/Core-Radiology-Approach-Diagnostic-Imaging/dp/1107679680/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1500633396&sr=8-2&keywords=radiology

https://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Diagnostic-Radiology-Set-Brant/dp/1608319121/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500633979&sr=1-1&keywords=brant+and+helms

Specifically for MRI:
https://www.amazon.com/Duke-Review-MRI-Principles-Case/dp/1455700843/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1500633869&sr=1-1&keywords=duke+MRI

^Great book for the basics of MRI artifacts and connects visual artifacts to the physics, although learning how to differentiate between artifact and pathology is going to take a residency ;). Also, make sure to get the online version because the paper edition is shit quality.

Yea, so all in all, everyone can find a book that will satisfy their level of interest in radiology, and of course, you get out what you put in. You put in a lot of time in the rotation, that is your decision and I think it was worth it. I learned more of my physics principles during my rotation(although it helped I was an engineer) than residency, so when it came time to take physics CORE, I didn't have to study. Physics CORE is basically the step 1 of radiology, the exam can be hard as shit, and unlike step 1, there is no UFAP or UWORLD lol.

Radiology textbook can be obscure in that they often don't explicitly mention physics principles, so if you don't them, you can't truly appreciate a textbook in my opinion, and how I studied radiology basically was I always had four textbooks open at any given time.

Robbins for pathophysiology, Whatever radiology textbook I was using, a copy of Netters, and maybe an embryology review book if I felt it was necessary. Never steered me wrong, radiology and anatomy textbooks open at all times are especially important, but try to keep the anatomy book and pathophys book closed while "interpreting" the textbook, only to re-correlated after you have thought about it and read a section to get a second more in depth look.

Costantly reminding yourself of principles is important and often missed. I am sure all of you know radiology is one of the most basic science heavy specialties, so reviewing your basic sciences, even well beyond medical school, makes for a fantastic radiologist.

However be careful not to get attached to any given textbook as well, you can't exactly have netters and robbins with you in the reading room.

I was in the exact same place as you near the end of my undergraduate years. I started college with the idea of getting an MD and joined a lab only to pad my application to medical school. After shadowing doctors, volunteering at free medical clinics, and working in two different research labs, I finally decided to do the PhD. I even went so far as to take both the MCAT and GRE. That turned out to be a good thing since I did well enough on the MCAT to teach MCAT prep for Kaplan and supplement my meager PhD stipend. Have you considered a combined MD/PhD program?

1. A PhD generally takes five years, but the range of people I know is from 4-7 years. The nice thing is that there is no debt. You get paid to go to graduate school. It's not much, but it's enough to live on.
   
   
2. The job market is pretty diverse actually. Academia is certainly a very common path, but tenure track jobs are hard to come by right now. There are lots of opportunities in industry (biotech, pharma), government (policy, advisory roles), legal (patent), or anything where an analytical mind and the ability to quickly adapt to new information is important. I know people who have gone on to all of those types of positions. None of my grad school colleagues are unemployed, but some of them have had to change their paths when their first choice didn't work out. I don't know about more comprehensive statistics on the job market for PhDs though.
   
   
3. If you want to learn more about basic neuroscience, I would recommend a textbook like this one:
   http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016
   It's a bit out of date, but it's widely regarded as one of the best basic neuroscience textbooks out there. I keep hearing rumors of a new edition, but the release dates keep changing.
   Depending on your level of skill and access, you could always check out new issues of the journals Neuron or Nature Neuroscience. It's a good idea to know a bit about what interests you so you can target your grad school applications.
   
   
4. Right now? Probably cancer. We don't know enough about how to work with these cells yet.

Photolabrat is correct. I just finished a pharm tech course here in California and can tell you they are %100 right. To break it down in simpler terms tho, here you go.

Here in the US you can either get a pharm tech license by state OR just pass the PTCB/PTCE exam which would then allow you to be licensed in ANY state in the US. That's because the PTCB is the preferred test here for technicians. Most employers will hire you with just a state license but they might require you to take it later on. Also, some employers pay you more for being PTCB certified.

As of right now in 2019, you can sign up to take the PTCB without having taken any prior courses. It's a great thing really if you're good at self-teaching. BUT, this will change starting next year and you WILL be required to take an accredited pharm tech course just to take the test. (The PTCB test itself will be undergoing an update next year as well.)

If I were you, I would just say screw it and do everything I can to take it this year. You already do tech work so it shouldn't be too hard to pass. I say this because you never know how long transferring any necessary paperwork might take you know? Also, transferring any type of license here in the US usually requires you to take the exam for said license anyway so might as well get ahead of the game.

https://www.amazon.com/Pharmacy-Technician-Certification-Examination-Reviews/dp/0323113370/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=mosby%27s+pharmacy+exam&qid=1570166947&sr=8-1

This is one of the more popular books ppl here use to study for the exam. I mean srsly, I have this one friend who is a total, total dum dum and all he did was work at a pharmacy and study this book, and he passed. It is the same book I'm using myself to study for the exam and keep the things I learned in class fresh. If you DM me I actually have a PDF copy of this same book that I don't mind sharing. I just can't post the link here for obvious reasons.

Useful links:

https://dopl.utah.gov/pharm/index.html This is the Utah board of pharmacy website which has a contact section where you can probably call them and ask them all sorts of questions. (Every state has its own board here, hope this link helps.)

https://ptcb.org/

https://home.pearsonvue.com/ptcb

Note: You'll have to register at the PTCB website and pay for the exam there ($129). Afterwards, after your payment is approved, you'll get a link in your email to the Pearson Vue website to schedule your exam.

My honest advice is to email some researchers whose work interests you. Grad school is a strange business, where the right advisor will want you to study under them and will pay you to make it happen. If you are really interested in doing research in a field for which your own country has no framework, you will have to move at some point. Grad studies are the ideal time to try it out, precisely because there isn't much financial risk.

As for teaching yourself, textbooks are your best friend. One that I really enjoyed was Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience by Purves et al.. Another panelist recommended a text book by Eric Kandel for a good background of basic neuroscience. There are also some good online resources like WikiBooks, though they are admittedly sparse or incomplete. Just start with the basics and work your way up.

Re: staying up to date, your current school may give you access to an online article database, which I would recommend scouring and reading everything you can get your hands on.

I usually recommend Bear-Connors-Paradiso as a first read, as it is simpler; almost in between a textbook and a popular book. And then you use Candel to go deeper on selected topics (or all).

And indeed, another approach is a "top-down" reading: download some papers from Pubmed, and start deciphering them. Use Wikipedia, and references from there, and reviews from Pubmed, to understand these papers - word by word, sentence by sentence. It's a long process, but extremely helpful. And there's no better way to charm the professor, and make them suspect that you are one of the best, most intelligent and proactive students ever.

This is how I understand the two most popular out there:

Principles of Neural Science (4th edition) has been the gold standard of neuroscience textbooks. It's been called the "bible" of neuroscience and a great jumping off point for anyone who wants to get a very technical and medical perspective on the various functions of the brain. The fifth edition is set to come out this October so I don't know if you'd want to wait or jump into this one but from what I understand this is the number 1.
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016

The other textbook that is popular, that I've read most of, is Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (3rd edition). This textbook makes a lot of the topics that you'd like to learn about organized and easy to understand. While this book probably doesn't go into as much detail as Kandel's, it is a wonderful jumping off point to learn a lot of the basics about neuroscience and to get a solid understanding of a lot of mechanisms controlled by the brain. I highly suggest this one if you're new to neuroscience and not in medschool.

http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038

My focus is theoretical neuroscience, but even still the best resource I found was taking an actual class. I took Introductory to Neuroscience from UC Extension in California. Other then that I also followed the course material from: http://redwood.berkeley.edu/wiki/VS265:_Neural_Computation

I also have read:
Principles of Neural Science, Fifth Edition (Principles of Neural Science (Kandel)) Although, I think it would be dense to start with that.

I really like the book from my introductory course:
Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0781760038/ref=wms_ohs_product?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The coursera course on Computational Neuroscience was interesting and if you are CS I highly suggest it as a way to get interested in the field.

Other then that I use Google scholar search to find papers about subjects I am interested in and read those. Currently doing a lot of reading in spare representation.

I had good luck with a book called Success! For the EMT Basic. It has practice tests in it, and the answer key gives rationale for why the answer is the correct one as well. Very helpful and not terribly expensive.

Linky: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0132253968?pc_redir=1413174377&robot_redir=1

Good luck!

If you want the standard sequence of Neuroscience textbooks, there is a rough ordering of 3 common books. Each are very comprehensive and more than you would likely be able to read cover to cover, but they get more sophisticated and comprehensive as you go. The last one specifically is essentially the bible of neuroscience and you will be hard pressed to find a more comprehensive coverage of any of the topics outside a specialised textbooks or research papers.

These books will cover the general overview of neuroanatomy, physiology, pharmacology and pathology but if you want to go further in depth, there are more advanced books for each of those and dozens of other subfields.

1. Purves - Neuroscience
   
2. Bear - Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain
   
3. Kandel - Principles of Neural Science
   
   I would specifically recommend Nolte - The human brain: an introduction to its functional anatomy as an exceptional example of a specialised text. Unfortunately, I do not recall the neurpharmacology text that I used, but it was very good too. I shall look it up and get back to you! For a more general introduction to pharmacology, the standard text is Rand and Dale - Pharmacology.

The textbook that originally got me interested in my PhD work in 3D heart tissue models was Lilly's Pathophysiology of Heart Disease. It was very interesting to learn about one of the most important organs in your body and how one minor problem leads to a cascading effect of more problems systemically. But, after 6 years of studying this I've moved on to other things. But this textbook really has a special place in my...heart. Its only $40 for a physical copy which for a textbook is pretty good. But, many schools make this available, making it very accessible.

This book is explicitly named as the book I am required to know, cover-to-cover, including all appendices for my candidacy exam. I have been going through it and it gives quite a broad overview of the field, but also has a lot of detail needed for a good overall knowledge of neuroscience. This book, in addition to your specific readings for your area of neuroscience, should give you all you need to do well in your program and your candidacy exam.

I am also doing my PhD in neuroscience, focusing on Prions and neurodegenerative diseases.

If you have any other questions, feel free to PM me and i'll do my best to answer them!

http://www.amazon.com/Tintinallis-Emergency-Medicine-Manual-Tintinalli/dp/0071781846
maybe his would help, i like that book, its simple,
if you want something a little bit more complete look for harrisons

buuuuuut, i like this one, (im on the internship) so we use emergencys haha


good luck on rotations :)

Lilly's 'pathophysiology of heart disease' is one of the best overviews available - it covers many aspects of heart disease from A&P to ECGs and is part of the core readings for many med students and paramedics. Plus you can find lots of used copies around for cheap.




Pathophysiology of Heart Disease: A Collaborative Project of Medical Students and Faculty https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1451192754/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_uB7XBb1AQ6VZY

I think the best resource for starting out, or for more advanced readers, is Principles of Neural Science by Kandel. You could choose the chapters you're most interested (e.g., embryology and functional anatomy) and read them in any order since each chapter is essentially free-standing. (Source: b.s. in neuroscience + m.d.)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0838577016?pc_redir=1405881514&robot_redir=1#productDescription_secondary_view_pageState_1405953363324

Per amazon: "The book is a feast for both the eye and mind. The richness, the beauty, and the complexity of neuroscience is all captured in this...book."

I don't know about the MBLEx, but Orthopedic Physical Assessment by McGee, and Clinical Massage Therapy by Fiona Rattray are fantastic. Grey's anatomy is always excellent for another anatomy reference if you need it, and the Netter Atlas and flashcards is what saves my butt time and time again.

Even if you don't need those books for your exams, they fantastic references to have in practice.

Assuming you didn't actually damage something serious on that roller coaster ride, here's what worked for me: Go to a university library and find Low Back Disorders by Stuart McGill. It's a dense, academic book but it has a short exercise program for strengthening your core. Dead simple: front and side planks, crunches, bird-dog, cat stretch, with some subtle instructions about alignment and bracing. Follow the recipe even if it feels too easy. You'll get stronger, the pain will disappear, and you will stop doing the exercises until you hurt again.

Here's the TL;DR of McGill's book: you can attempt to treat back pain through strength training, flexibility training or endurance training. Strength and flexibility will probably make the problem worse. The most effective way is through endurance training. So do low-impact exercises that avoid overloading your back muscles, and concentrate on held postures to help build that core strength.

EDIT: Of course respect_cat is right about the sketchiness of internet medical advice, but all the same, I proselytise McGill to everyone. Good luck!

Dubin's book may have been the book at one time, but it lags behind better books substantially. It doesn't really delve into more advanced ECG topics that absolutely are accessible at the EM/EMS level.

12-Lead ECG: The Art of Interpretation by Garcia is the best book we've found, after a pretty exhaustive hunt, for our students. Very thorough and works from an primer level up through advanced topics with lots of example ECGs.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763773514

edit: Added book receommendation.

I posted this a while back when someone was complaining of back problems: From Dr. Stuart McGill

It's five simple exercises that have been shown effective in preventing lower back pain and maintaining a healthy back and posture in general.

His more in-depth book is called Low Back Disorders if anybody likes to get down and dirty with the science of it. I've read it and it's great, but probably only for those who enjoy technical reading.

Tall people definitely have to be more proactive about back issues, but it would be a disservice to call back pain "normal" just like it's a disservice when people predisposed to being overweight accept it as "normal" and just eat however they want. We can't just sit however we want, but that's ok.

For the most part, you can have a lot of control over it. Your posture and musculature, body awareness are all key.

This book is unequivocally the greatest book I have ever read.

I get a hard on just thinking about it. Probably better than pathoma honestly, it's just a super limited scope of information so it's only good for cardio

https://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-Students/dp/1605477230

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0838577016/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517968463&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=principles+of+neural+science&dpPl=1&dpID=51aom9pcslL&ref=plSrch

Principles of Neural Science by Kandrl et al.

As someone who studies neuro and works in neuro I can safely say this tome is my bible. It is huge, 37 bucks new because it is an old edition, one of the few textbooks I'd call well written, and has huge listings of primary lit to read for each chapter. It's not primarily for entertainment like most of the books I've seen put here. Man, it is worth its substantial weight in gold. If you actually want to learn, and a diverse amount in the field, get this. If you ever get stuck on points the internet is a truly amazing resource. However, this book is so well written I doubt that will happen often.

Questions in the BOC book were harder than what I had in my test. Had the Harr book but didn't use it since I didn't like the format of the book

For study materials, I definitely recommend:

SUCCESS! in Clinical Laboratory Science

This has a lot of outline reviews that I found extremely helpful

Clinical Laboratory Science Review: A Bottom Line Approach

This book has a lot of tables, graphics, and charts to help you remember all this info

I passed my national on the third try. All three times I went up to 120 questions. First and second try were a week apart. the third test I studied for two months to make sure I passed. I got this book on amazon, studied every question, and any question I got wrong I wrote it on a google doc with the correct answer. By the end of the book I had about 12 pages of material I didn't understand. After that I just studied those 12 pages until I was ready. Like I said, the third time I went to 120 q's, but I was very confident in all my answers. Hope that helps.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but the most valuable thing for me when I was studying/taking the exam itself was to stop thinking. My instructor for the course made us realize that the registry questions aren't designed to have you sitting there, furiously mapping out exactly what would happen in the scenario; they're asked in a way that you can think on a basic level, so that if it was real life you'd immediately know what to do. I noticed that if I found myself second guessing an answer, I just needed to move on. Most likely, the initial instinct was correct.


A few other things:

• If scene safety/BSI is an option, that's most likely the correct answer.
  
  
• If ABCs are an option, that's most likely the correct answer.
  
  
• Study OB. It ends up popping up a LOT, and it's something that takes a lot of people by surprise.
  
  
• Look into getting this book if you haven't already. It's basically pages and pages of practice questions, and there's a CD with more practice exams on it. I went through it by sections of 10 questions; every 10 I would stop and check my answers and look up anything I wasn't familiar with.
  
  
• I also found the app EMT Trainer to be helpful as well, with information presented in cheat sheet format.
  
  
  Practice questions, practice questions, practice questions! The exam is probably more nerve-wracking than any EMS situation I've ever been in. But if you just drill yourself with questions, take a deep breath, and do your best to not overthink it, you'll do great.
  
  
  edit: formatting

Eric Kandel's Principles of Neural Science is the classic textbook used by everyone. It's pretty dense and may be a little outdated but it's still among the best and most popular out there.

http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016

Netter's Atlas if you just want a big book with lots of great drawings of everything.

The text book has all the background information and clinical correlations, but often not as many, or smaller images. Netter's Clinical Anatomy is good if you want something a bit slimmer and simpler that still has all the basic anatomy. If you want something more beefy I highly recommend Moore's Clinical Oriented Anatomy. It's a big book, but it has everything in it you could want.

Netter's Atlas

Netter's Clinical

Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy

Learning Radiology is a dope ass book and I highly recommend it.

As for free resources, check out the big online radiology websites like Radiopaedia which have tons of cases and some "how-to's" for certain things. And of course, Learning Radiology does have some of the tutorials for free, but they are much more comprehensive in the book, and the book has way more sections than the website.

Otherwise, Youtube is also your friend.

No problem, I'm glad it was helpful!

This is the book we used in school. I would say it is pretty advanced as far as EMS goes, but if you're think you're up for it, this could be an excellent read for a paramedic looking to really focus on cardiac pathophysiology. Make sure you've got the basics down first, then try it out.

Emergency Medicine Secrets or Tintinalli's pocket size edition

I like the former for studying - it's presented in a Q/A fashion in nice concise chapters. Great read for MS4 and intern year. The latter is a good pocket reference for use when you're on your EM rotation.

edit: formatting

I used these two:

http://www.amazon.com/SUCCESS-Clinical-Laboratory-Science-Edition/dp/0135126487/
This one has fairly detailed outlines for each subsection with plenty of questions.

http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Laboratory-Science-Review-Robert/dp/0803628285/
This one only contains questions, but it comes with a CD that has pictures as well.

Get plenty of practice and good luck!

http://www.amazon.com/Respiratory-Physiology-Essentials-RESPIRATORY-PHYSIOLOGY/dp/1609136403/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

This book has clearly, by far, the highest ratio of relevant medical fact to pages that has ever been constructed. The only problem is: you practically have to know every word.

Also, it principally deals with the adult lung, and the principles that allow understanding of the diseases of middle to late age.

Also it's dense. Chapter 7, innocently titled 'the mechanics of breathing', covers a staggering amount of material.

Best of luck.

Edit: Have to add, West is in my EDC. It is the bees knees.

I agree completely, Kandel's book is definitely my favorite neuroscience text. For a more undergraduate level introduction Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain by Mark Bear et al. and Neuroscience by Dale Purves et al. are good starting places.

This was what I used as well as my professor's notes! Good luck. As for anyone else taking the exam a piece of advice would be to not wait too long after graduating to take it. I had friends who were kicking themselves for waiting so long. I took it three months after I graduated which gave me time to study. I think the ASCP web site also has a list of guidelines on what to study. I will see if I can dig it up for you.

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: http://smile.amazon.com/Aeromedical-Certification-Examinations-Self-Assessment-Test/dp/061519124X/ref=sr_1_1


|Country|Link|Charity Links|
|:-----------|:------------|:------------|
|USA|smile.amazon.com|EFF|
|UK|www.amazon.co.uk|Macmillan|
|Spain|www.amazon.es||
|France|www.amazon.fr||
|Germany|www.amazon.de||
|Japan|www.amazon.co.jp||
|Canada|www.amazon.ca||
|Italy|www.amazon.it||
|India|www.amazon.in||
|China|www.amazon.cn||




To help donate money to charity, please have a look at this thread.

This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

hello,

going through the same thing! i am also 25, herniated my L5-S1 disc about 4 months ago. initially, i thought it wasn't anything serious as the pain was manageable. i did everything i shouldn't have been doing right after herniating my disc; the wrong stretches, not resting and sitting. at that stage, the pain was about 5/10. after 2 weeks, it went to a 10/10. went to an acupuncturist (didn't do anything) and massage therapist (felt good but i didn't experience any healing benefits).

started to self treat my self using the internet and books as a source. did stretches, mckenzie exercises and massages. didn't go too well.

i then saw an orthopaedic surgeon who gave me steroids and nerve meds (didn't do anything) and told me not to do any form of exercise as i needed to rest to start the healing process. he told me, if i needed to, to walk around the house for a half a minute or so. when i saw him again, i was improving slightly, and he got me to get an epidural shot. this did nothing. at this point, he told me i could wait it out and see if i would get better or opt for an operation. i decided to wait and go see a physical therapist.

the physical therapist has been a HUGE help. gave me exercises to do every 30 minutes that spared my spine and ensured there was minimal compressive loads on my back. i also started to take anti inflammatories 2 weeks ago (i'm not keen with meds and they affect my stomach) and will only be taking them for the 2 weeks. they have helped quite a lot with the pain.

overall, i have improved quite a bit from 4 months ago. the first 2 months i wasn't able to see anyone for my back as i was travelling in a rural part of a country where no one spoke english. so technically, i've been at this for 2 months.

my advice, after having done a lot of research on the internet and reading a lot of books due to not being able to do anything else;

• rest, rest, rest. when you're able to move a bit more without being in too much pain, move as much as you can! even if it's for a few seconds.
  
• you don't need to be stretching out your back. your back needs to be stiff to ensure stability.
  
• be careful with stretching. it might feel good for the moment, but it could actually make your situation worse. most of the time, the pain is from the nerves, stretching out your muscles won't fix that. you need to deal with the root cause, which is the disc impinging on the nerve.
  
• do core exercises that utilise your whole body. don't focus on just one muscle.
  
• learn about correct posture and neutral spine
  
• no sitting position is good for your spine. minimize sitting.
  
• find a good sports physical therapist (i have no experience with chiro's)
  
  take what i've said with a grain of salt, the above are my experiences with this debilitating injury. and do your own research! you'll have the time to do so, since you're not mobile ;)
  
  lastly, i think this book is very helpful. check it out:
  http://www.amazon.com/Low-Back-Disorders-Second-Edition/dp/0736066926
  
  
  

Hi my name is William B. Skates and i'm the author of The Art of Hemp Oil the book is solely focused on beginners who want to dive into the world of Hemp Oil and help them understand the benefits it has over traditional medicine, how to acquire it legally and also how to avoid scams when making a purchase. The book just entered its free promotion from 3/4 to 3/8. I would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments below.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B68T556

In The Art of Hemp Oil i touch on:

• The fundamentals of CBD and Hemp Oil.
  
• How to legally aquire CBD Oil and how to avoid scams.
  
• The health benefits of Cannabidiol over traditional medicine.
  
• Different recipes with CBD Oil for complete beginners.
  
• How to take care of the potential side effects of CBD.

The top comment is right that the Kandel is a great neuroscience text. I have it myself and it's my go-to. If you're starting out from the bottom and learning on your own I would suggest a more user-friendly text.

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain is good. I have the 3rd edition, which has probably been updated by now. Looks like the price is very manageable, too.

I personally used the Harr book since my program gave us a manual/study guide that was basically a review of everything. Harr is great for practice tests with easy access to the answers.

I had a classmate that swore by the Success in CLS book. It has an awesome review section if you need one.

For my own studying, I stuck to my study guide, the Harr book, and lots and lots of LabCE.

When do you ship? I ship on Aug 13.

I bought this one bc its recently published and cheap with good ratings:
http://www.amazon.com/Emergency-Medical-Technician-Practice-Preparation/dp/0738610062/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368246529&sr=8-2&keywords=emt+basic


But other good ones are (buy it used to save :p):

http://www.amazon.com/McGraw-Hills-EMT-Basic-Second-Edition-DiPrima/dp/0071751270/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1368246529&sr=8-4&keywords=emt+basic

http://www.amazon.com/SUCCESS-EMT-Basic-Edition-Joseph-Mistovich/dp/0132253968/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1368246529&sr=8-5&keywords=emt+basic

This is a great resource, and only $32 on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Certification-Recertification-Examinations-Assistants/dp/145119109X

I used a previous edition when I studied for the PANCE. I am actually taking the PANRE on Saturday and used a newer edition.

It has about 400 pages of content, a 300 question practice test and an online question bank (not sure how many).

When studying, practice questions are key. I also really like:

https://www.amazon.com/Physician-Assistant-Examination-Seventh-Allied/dp/0071845054

About $38 and has 1300 practice questions.

There is a book by Kaplan that is absolute garbage.

Six year program? As in a 3 plus 3 program? Nice!

I too am in the same boat and have asked the same question. From many responses that I've gotten, I'm preparing by by Netter's Atlas, I've heard it's a great supplement to any class.

Netter's Atlas here

If you scroll down you can also see the items that it's frequently bought with...I also purchased the flash cards and the coloring book....when was the last time you could say as in an adult you have an excuse to color in a coloring book!?

I'll echo what's already been said, don't waste money on an expensive suture kit. [These] (http://www.ethicon.com/healthcare-professionals/education/student-knot-tying-kit) are always on backorder but keep checking and eventually they get more... they are free.

The only thing I can't imagine doing without during my clinical (and something your program won't require) was [Pocket Medicine] (https://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Medicine-Massachusetts-Hospital-Handbook/dp/1451193785/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478036929&sr=8-1&keywords=pocket+medicine). I am convinced this book alone can get you through 90% of your rotations... It was the only pocket reference I carried in my white coat for every rotation. It's the only pocket reference I STILL carry from school. I think a new version is coming sometime this month so you could wait for that!

Like most people are saying below, the labCE questions are harder, but it's nice to practice how the actual test will be (the questions get harder and harder as you go, if you are answering correctly).
Also, as hamstercar11 said below, get the review book "Clinical Laboratory Science: A bottom line approach." (https://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Laboratory-Science-Review-Approach/dp/0967043425) I literally read that book cover to cover twice and did LabCE for the 2 weeks right before my exam and it was very helpful.

The textbook Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain by Mark Bear could be a great start: https://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038. Some books for the general public such as David Eagleman's The Brain or Rita Carter's Mapping the Brain are good too (although they might be too easy for you given that you are a med student).

As for brain mapping, not sure if you are talking about connectome or the Blue Brain Project?

Commenting to save! 😊 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B68T556

you should read up into the organization of the visual cortex and temporal lobes - learning about the structure and function of the brain is very helpful in understanding why the psychedelic experience is the way it is. an excellent introductory book if you are interested in learning about neuroscience is Kandel's Principles of Neural Science.

http://www.amazon.ca/Principles-Neural-Science-Fourth-Edition/dp/0838577016

Not accepting older editions!

$5CAD each Upping my offer for Epidemiology to $10USD paypal

Looking for:

[PENDING] PATTEN: EPIDEMIOLOGY FOR CANADIAN STUDENTS 2ND ED - $10USD

A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis: The Eightfold Path to More Effective Problem Solving, 4th Edition - $4USD OBO.

BANASIK: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY 6TH ED

LILLY: PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF HEART DISEASE 6TH

Anything from Oliver Sacks always worth reading imo.

• Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain!
  
  
• The Compassionate Brain: A Revolutionary Guide to Developing Your Intelligence to Its Full Potential: How Empathy Creates Intelligence!
  
  
• Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain!
  
  
• Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions!
  
  
• In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind!
  
  
• The Man with a Shattered World: The History of a Brain Wound!
  
  not really neuroscience, but interesting imho:
  
  
• How the Mind Works!
  
  
  *(hopes formatting works)

Swedish med student here. As far as an ordinary atlas goes, in my class it's usually down to:

"Sobotta"

"Netter"

"Gray's"

They pretty much covers all of it and are mostly useful for reference. In the end it's down to personal taste. I'd recommend to go to a local book store and check them out or i think google books have excerpts. If you simply want to learn the names and so forth, I'd recommend Netter's flash cards

I do however guess that you want to know more about function and actual injures and such stuff. If so, I recommend this gem instead.

(I haven't looked if the links are the latest editions. It's usually not much difference, so if you can get off with an earlier edition for a lower price, go for it).

Also, there are several iphone/android/ipad apps. I'd advice against it, but perhaps useful if you got such a device.

Overall, I think it was my instructor who really got me prepared for the exam. She's been doing it for so many years, she has it down to a science. But as far as what I did to prepare I used this book to do review. My classmates and I called it the cartoon book because it has some pictures to try and help you remember key things. But it has a nice run down of the main things you need to know. I feel like it helped a lot.

Kandel's Principles is a great one, and the textbook I used when I was a TA. You can buy older issues for like $15 shipped

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0838577016/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

Anything by Oliver Sacks is going to give you a really cool look at individual case studies.

LabCE, Success in Clinical Lab Science, and the BOC book. I also had this book from Louisiana State University. It's very bare bones, but it's written in a way that helps you remember key information. I found it very useful.

[This book was pretty helpful. It explains the entire program section by section lecture notes style and has plenty of good certification test style questions] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0135126487/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1487905341&sr=8-4&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=clinical+laboratory+science+review)

I did the labce adaptive learning exams. They mimicked the boc pretty well. Just don't get discouraged when you score a 40 or 50% on it. They give you really tough questions. Learn from them. For study guides I really liked the lsu book. It's usually cheaper on the school's website than Amazon.


Clinical Laboratory Science Review: A Bottom Line Approach https://www.amazon.com/dp/0967043425/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fRMWAbK16XCT1

This is my go-to review on the subject, written by the man who won a Nobel prize on the subject: Eric Kandel.

He also literally wrote the book on neuroscience.

Also, microbiology is the study of bacteria, viruses and protozoa. The term you want is cellular and molecular biology.

Just my 2 cents having just taken the NR for EMT-B...the best thing I found was the Crash Course book. It's a short read (lots of pages but not much text per page) but does a good job at condensing the important material from the orange book. At least 50% of the NR questions were things I knew from studying with that book. Passed first time at 70 questions and I know it's only b/c of that book.

If you're looking for some basic neuroscience (which you'll definitely need in neural engineering - I was looking into doing it as well), then I highly recommend Neuroscience 3D: Exploring the brain. It's a really good beginner-medium text book, that covers everything from how EEGs work, to how individual neurons communicate with each other to brain disorders.
Here's a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Brain-3rd-Edition/dp/0781760038

Source: I'm a neuroscience student and that textbook is prescribed for most of my courses

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Wikipedia is a good place to start for inarguable content like basic physiology, pathology, etc. Provincial treatment standards are often in the form of various (often conflicting) medical society guidelines. For Internal Medicine specifically (which is of course most of medicine in the end), Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (digital version available) is the "next level" and "bible" of internal medical education and for treatment principles. A concise, well-sourced reference like the Washington Manual or (IMHO better) The Sabatine Mass Gen handbook are great. Uptodate is great but expensive.

I'm an Internal Med hospitalist (U.S.) and also in the field of General Preventive Medicine and Public Health.

It all depends on what your intent is. Neuroscience is so broad and interdisciplinary that my recommendations depend largely on how much time and effort you plan to put into it. Are you trying to understand the brain so that you can go into research someday? Is neuroscience relevant to your separate field of research, and you just wanna get to know all the acronyms? Or are you just a curious layman who wants to understand the organ of understanding? In the latter two cases, many of the suggestions are very good; books by anyone from Ramachandran to Koch will suffice.

But if headed into neural research, you should really grab an introductory textbook that explains the principles of the brain (I recommend this one) and go through it, chapter by chapter, so you get the fundamentals down before you move onto deeper inquiries. If you have the money to spare, you should also pick up Principles of Neural Science as a reference book for more in-depth inquiries. The reason for this is that the Kandel book is really dense and somewhat poorly organized, which makes it rather inefficient to a neuroscience newcomer who mainly needs the basic ideas.

More important than which book you pick up, though, is how you read it. It's very important at this stage to really start thinking about the big questions in each subfield so that 1) you don't gloss over important details or, worse, crucial principles; and 2) you're preparing your mindset for research. You can't read it as a passive observer, absorbing information rather than processing it. Ask questions. How do we know this and this about the brain? What principles can we anticipate about the brain (and by implication: perception, memory, cognition) based on its structure and development? When do neurons first start firing anyway? If you're doing it right, you'll be making use of Kandel a lot to probe deeper — and eventually review/experimental papers when you're ready.

tl;dr - Read that shit if you're doing research and you'll thank me later.

That's really probably a lot to do/ask, especially before next week. Just as or more important, is to have the right resources to get them quickly. There are a few great medical calculator apps, but just about as fast is getting the "Purple Book" (formerly the green, then red, then blue book) for internal medicine and [Tarascon's Internal Medicine and Critical Care pocket books](Tarascon Internal Medicine & Critical Care Pocketbook). Between those two, I've only needed to look up extra calculators/equations for fairly obscure things.

The Purple book runs $40-60 usually, but I got my Tarascon for like $20-30 a couple years ago. For some reason it's more expensive than rent/a week of medical school/etc at about $485. No idea why.

*edit formatting

Campbell Biology 8th edition. Get is used, it's only a few bucks.

Neuroscience; exploring the brain is also a great book that goes far more in-depth. The first part of the book is devoted to the very basics of biology and cell structure following the same foundation as any other biology book.

http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Brain-Mark-Bear/dp/0781760038/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261782481&sr=8-2

It was my textbook this past semester for Neurobiology. I absolutely loved it. The things you're probably interested in (motivation, memory, learning, neurogenesis) form the last quarter of the book.

Thanks for the recommendations. As a masochist who does SMR with a PVC pipe, I have to say the trigger point book looks like a great resource.

I also wanted to add one for anyone with back issues:

Low Back Disorders by Stuart McGill

This book helped me study better for it after I failed my first attempt:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0738612359/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

All the pages are bullet points, very direct and easy to digest. I used it in tandem with my class textbook and made a ton of flash cards. I have a hard time reading a wall of text in the textbook, so this little guy help me compartmentalize everything and absorb the info in the big book better.

Kandel - Principles of neural science is the best by far, despite being just a little bit outdated on some areas (but so are all other textbooks in this field). Bears Neuroscience: Exploring the brain is a very easy read, goes down like yoghurt, but is far less comprehensive and not so in depth as Principles.

If you are looking into going aviation, I would recommend, Back to Basics, EMS -Ventilator Management, and ACE SAT. Those three books were the only thing needed to pass both the FP-C and the CFRN. I took them both in the same week, and they were virtually identical tests.

That and I used Med Cram or EM Crit when I needed visual references or a different approach to a subject.

Aviation is fun.

I personally picked up this book. You could probably find it used for a lot cheaper.

It's a back of the toilet book. I like that I can pick it up and read up on anything, or read about something specific after a particular call.

It's geared towards ED staff, but the more info the better!

I just bought this for the PANCE: http://www.amazon.com/Comprehensive-Certification-Recertification-Examinations-Assistants/dp/145119109X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410579591&sr=8-1&keywords=pance+review

I'd say it's pretty good. There is a pre and post-test section with answers in the book, plus it gives you access to their online question bank of some 1000 questions or so. The answers are contained within a separate section of the book, which means you have to flip back and forth, but they include explanations to the various answer choices. Overall, fairly basic info, but worthwhile.

This could be pretty helpful to you; I used it during my class. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738612359/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_G0zYCbGZVE7H9

I would say that if you're really interested I'd start with this or this. Here is one free article on just that specific topic.

But as an anesthesiologist I mostly see it in acute airway obstruction, such as a patient biting down on an endotracheal tube during extubation, a patient with an obstructive mass, etc. It certainly can happen during diving, especially with a kinked hose or breathing far past what your regulator can deliver or something - but I'm really not as familiar with that setting. It's easy to imagine it getting confused with regular drowning or near-drowning.

As others have mentioned, Bear's Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain (can get used very cheap here)

As a much lighter read I'd recommend Iversen's Intro to Neuropsychopharmacology. You can read the whole thing in a few weeks, and it is a good intro to all the neurotransmitter systems and their basic physiology and behavioral effects.

Undergrad level text books:

• Marie T. Banich - Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology
  
  &
  
  
• Mark F. Barry, etc... Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain
  
  These two are quite to the point. I highly recommend Neuroscience: Exploring the brain. Well worth it. Banich's book feels dated, but still a comprehensive look at cognitive neuroscience with less emphasis on the physiology.

Clinical Laboratory Science Review: A Bottom Line Approach is a good review book with a lot of helpful tips on remembering difficult-to-memorize facts that you'll need to know.

>So, when shooting a gun what muscles in your fingers, arm, shoulder are working?

https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Human-Anatomy-Interactive-Ancillaries/dp/1455704180

>How fast is your heart pumping?

https://www.amazon.com/Mayo-Clinic-Cardiology-Textbook-Scientific/dp/0199915717/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480547395&sr=1-10&keywords=cardiology

>How are your leg muscles prepared for the power of the shot?

https://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Anatomy-Plus-Winking-Skull/dp/9380378998

Anyone have thoughts on how to go about learning the very very basics of radiology? I'm awful at anything black/white/grey (CTs, MRIs, x-rays, etc.). I've read through a couple of posts, but I'm not sure it's worthwhile going through an entire book?... fwiw, I have 8 weeks until Step 1 with 5 of those being dedicated.

Any other resources people recommend?

I've always understood a stress test to be considered positive if chest discomfort is reproduced or EKG abnormalities consistent with ischemic heart disease develop. Reproducible stable angina is enough to consider the test positive even in the absence of EKG changes.

Tests are considered markedly positive if:

1. ischemic EKG changes develop within 3 minutes of initiation of exercise or persist 5 minutes after cessation.
   
2. Magnitude of ST segment depression > 2 mm.
   
3. Systolic BP drops during exercise.
   
4. High-grade ventricular arrhythmias occur.
   
5. Patient cannot exercise for at least 2 minutes because of cardiopulmonary limitations (I take that to mean extreme angina, SOB).
   
   Pharmacologic and nuclear testing are necessary in patients with absolute contraindications to exercise stress testing, such as severe arthritis, lower limb amputation etc.
   
   All this info is from: Pathophysiology of Heart Disease, 5th edition (Lilly).
   
   EDIT: Reading your statement again you are correct in that you cannot make a diagnosis, but you should consider the stress test positive when making your diagnosis.

This isn't an answer to your question, I just wanted to tell you about the book you're using.

I used the Physician Assistant Exam for Dummies practice questions too. During the cardiology section I was working through some questions with a classmate and we found out that one of the questions was blatantly wrong (I don't remember which). We checked a couple textbooks and uptodate.com and sure enough it was keyed wrong or they just didn't know any better. I haven't touched that book since.

This review book so far has been the best for material. It's well organized and has some practice exams.

The PANCE pearls book has been fantastic for learning what to focus on for the PANCE.

Take it in a little bit at a time. Focus on a couple things at a time instead of the entire daunting aspect of it all. You can do this.

These are EXCELLENT books. I bought both.

Cardiovascular: http://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-PATHOPHYSIOLOGY/dp/1605477230

Nephrology: http://www.amazon.com/Renal-Pathophysiology-Lippincott-Williams-Wilkins/dp/1451173385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412406478&sr=1-1&keywords=renal+pathophysiology

Just passed the PANCE a few weeks ago. I liked A Comprehensive Review For the Certification and Recertification Examinations for Physician Assistants

I recommend the Kaplan PANCE High Yield lecture videos and second the Kaplan PANCE Qbank.

I was not a fan of CME4Life. Seemed long and drawn out for little content, and most of his methods for remembering things weren't helpful to me.

Respiratory Physiology by John B West
http://www.amazon.ca/Respiratory-Physiology-John-West-PhD/dp/1609136403

Its highly recommended by most. I haven't myself read through it but I do intend to. Its a small book and heard its an easy read.

The chapter on the basal ganglia and related motor disorders from Eric Kandel et al.'s last edition of Principles of Neural Science has a very nice overview IMO. If you search around the dark corners of the web, I'm sure a .pdf will find you.

Take a step back and focus on rehab treatments.

First see a doctor. Get an MRI of your back if you haven't. You probably have some messed up discs. This doesn't mean you need surgery, the 5-ear outlook for people who have and do not have surgery is remarkably similar. But you should make sure you only have a minor herniation and not something really bad. If you don't have numbness you probably don't.

For exercise and rehab, I like these articles and her books for the basics:

http://www.drbookspan.com/clinical.html#Summary

You could be further injuring yourself doing stupid stuff: bending weird while reaching above your head, your posture while you watch tv, etc. That stuff makes a HUGE difference, more important than any particular exercises you might do.

She talks a lot about how to adjust other exercise programs for injuries. Things like Yoga should be good for you back, but there are some motions in there you will want to know to skip or change. There's plenty of hard core stuff in there that will tire you out plenty if you do it right.

This book for a technical approach, written more for doctors: http://www.amazon.com/Back-Disorders-Second-Stuart-McGill/dp/0736066926

Lilly: pathophysiology of heart disease.

https://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-Students/dp/1451192754/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Learning Radiology by Herring is a great basic book, written at the level of med students: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Radiology-Recognizing-Basics-3e/dp/0323328075

Dr. John West is a legend in pulmonology. He teaches at UCSD and his lectures can be found here: http://meded.ucsd.edu/ifp/jwest/resp_phys/

Pathophysiology lectures here: http://meded.ucsd.edu/ifp/jwest/pulm_path/index.html

His book: Respiratory Physiology is a great one.

https://www.amazon.com/12-Lead-ECG-Interpretation-Garcia-Introduction/dp/0763773514/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
great book, goes through each wave step by step. lots of example EKGs in the book that reflect what they're trying to teach you in the chapter.

The principles of neural Science:
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Neural-Science-Eric-Kandel/dp/0838577016

Great book all around. See if you can grab it used at a college at the end of a semester.

I used the Bottom Line Approach book with LabCE exam prep. I also had bought the BOC study guide book but didn't find it very helpful.

If you want the 'biggest head start', sad but true answer is a textbook. Preferably a used old edition of one. for example


Behave by Robert Sapolsky is usually the book I see here recommended when brain science comes up, though.

Maybe start with a textbook - consider getting a used copies and then follow up with cases from the very excellent EMS 12 Lead Blog

life saver

This is amazing! Totally aced my test thanks to this!

I know it's kind of expensive, but see if you can buy it used or rent it out from a library. It has a LOT of practice tests which helped prepare me a ton.

What I started with: Stethoscope, sphygmomanometer or a sphygmomanometer for the lazy, pulse oximeter, reflex hammer, tuning fork, a pen light, notebook, Maxwell, pocket medicine, clipboard, 48 pens (of which I somehow only have 2 left), and finally a pack of decoy pens to hand out to people that need to "borrow" a pen but never give back.


Seriously where do all of my pens go??? It turns out half them went into my gf's bag x(.

What I was given or picked up along the way: scalpel, needle drivers, tweezers, scissors, various types of vicryl, bandages, gauze, alcohol wipes, surgical lube (that I took from the hospital when no one was looking ;) ), and a pocket CPR mask. I took a bunch of normal saline and IV kits as well but they don't fit in the bag.

2 books I used for the nremt was a crash course book and a flash card book. The crash course book is really useful in pulling out everything from a emt textbook focusing solely on critical information. Really helps to narrow down important information. The book contains everything in a emt course and puts it in a outline format which was useful to me.

I attached both the old and new version of the crash course book. I used the old book which was super useful when I tested 3 years ago. Not sure if there is a updated version for the flash card book but I attached the version I used.

From my experience the two books really helped me study and prepare for the test. Worth the money. I still use the crash course book today when I want to refresh quickly on important information.


https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-Book-Online-Preparation/dp/0738610062

https://www.amazon.com/Crash-Course-Online-Practice-Preparation/dp/0738612359/ref=asc_df_0738612359/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312643571004&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9253904948108910438&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007783&hvtargid=pla-571042420061&psc=1

EMT Flashcard Book (EMT Test Preparation) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738611301/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_kwkaCbR2AXVNR

All you need:

http://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-PATHOPHYSIOLOGY/dp/1605477230

This book is excellent.

You may or may not have time for this but his help me out a lot

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0132253968/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_5Sfavb08Q5TFC
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0132253968/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_5Sfavb08Q5TFC

When I made the switch from Computer Science to Neuroscience for my PhD, I started by reading Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain. I found it to be a very effective introduction to all of the fundamentals.

Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain was my go-to when learning neuroscience coming from an engineering and physics background. It's pretty accessible for people from many different backgrounds. For example, it covers the requisite biology and chemistry you'll need to understand the basics if you haven't had exposure to those fields yet.

>Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences

Hey! Thanks for the suggestions. Could you confirm if you are referring to these books?:

1. http://www.paehub.com/download/Stats_Behavioral_Science.pdf
   
   > Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.in/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038

If ur going to buy a book, don't buy a text book. But a study guide. I'll put a plug in for my favorite: https://www.amazon.com/SUCCESS-Clinical-Laboratory-Science-4th/dp/0135126487.

Disclaimer: my professors wrote this book.

I've noticed you've posted a lot of questions to this sub reddit, and most of them go unanswered. You might find it helpful to take a course in neuroscience (like this one https://www.edx.org/course/fundamentals-neuroscience-part-i-harvardx-mcb80-1x#.VPuNwPmUdnY), or perhaps read a neuroscience textbook, like this one http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Brain-3rd-Edition/dp/0781760038

Even if you're not a student, it might be worthwhile looking in your local university library. So long as you don't check anything out I doubt they would stop you.

Most of my sources are textbooks and wikipedia for a quick search... On my desk I have Molecular Biology of the Cell and Principles of Neural Science both of which are decent reference texts to have on your shelf. Beyond that, I think I can scrounge up a few good reviews on the subject if there's any interest, but this being Reddit, most people don't have access to papers behind paywalls...

Learning Radiology by Herring is a good beginner's book.

Learning Radiology: Recognizing the Basics, 3e https://www.amazon.com/dp/0323328075/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gjZZxb5SK7XPW

I think Bear et al. (2006) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain is a good introductory book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038/

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Radiology-Recognizing-Basics-3e/dp/0323328075/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510081056&sr=8-1&keywords=radiology+books

and this if you like the style of Dubin's EKG book for chest x-rays:

https://www.amazon.com/Felsons-Principles-Roentgenology-Programmed-Goodman/dp/1455774839/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510081108&sr=1-2&keywords=chest+roentgenology#reader_1455774839

Personally, I recommend this one: Mosby's Review for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination, 3e https://www.amazon.com/dp/0323113370/ref=cm_sw_r_other_awd_czfFwb250MMQ7

Bear Neuroscience

Used this for my comprehensive exams.

> Robert S. Lilly

My bad, it was Leonard Lilly.

https://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-PATHOPHYSIOLOGY/dp/1605477230

Grapfruit and a handful of other things interact with heart drugs, these interactions aren't covered in too much detail in the textbook

I'd go with Purves' textbook or Bear's book. Both are very good introductory books. If you want something more difficult, try Principles of Neural Science by Kandel or (even more difficult) Fundamental Neuroscience by Larry Squire.

I’m liking the emt crash course book. It’s good for general outlines. It comes with a practice nremt access code.

EMT Crash Course with Online Practice Test, 2nd Edition (EMT Test Preparation) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738612359/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_HG40Ab0JMRXZ2

That first year is so tough. It's like drinking from the firehose of knowledge. I spent countless hours studying my first year. Difficult to find a break. We had a list of commons and my study group would break down those lists and present to each other regarding those commons on the weekends. If there was confusion, we'd talk about it. This bad boy helped with some last minute preparation as well.

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Radiology-Recognizing-Basics-3e/dp/0323328075

I just bought mine in paperback from Amazon. I am not aware of a digital version.

Perhaps this:
http://www.amazon.com/Aeromedical-Certification-Examinations-Self-Assessment-Test/dp/061519124X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397337547&sr=8-1&keywords=will+wingfield
Also, where about in KSA?

kandel
bear
purves
martin

Each of these books is aimed at a different audience, but this should get you started.

Mosby's Review for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination (Mosby's Reviews) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0323113370/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_imKCDbSQ6C0ET

https://www.amazon.com/12-Lead-ECG-Interpretation-Garcia-Introduction/dp/0763773514/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495424931&sr=1-1&keywords=12+lead+ecg+the+art+of+interpretation

Everything you need to know.

Also:

http://abg.ninja/ecg

Read this book. Take the practice test that comes with it.

For Gen Surg:

Pestrana's Surgery Notes

Surgical Recall (good for pimping)

ER:

Tintinallis (the manual NOT the big fat EM resident book)

by Garcia.
http://www.amazon.com/12-Lead-ECG-Interpretation-Garcia-Introduction/dp/0763773514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421422006&sr=8-1&keywords=12+lead+ekg&pebp=1421422010179&peasin=763773514

As in: http://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-Students/dp/1451192754/ref=sr_1_1 ?

Lily's

http://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Heart-Disease-Collaborative-PATHOPHYSIOLOGY/dp/1605477230

I'll vote for Bear's Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain

mosby's ptcb helped me a lot

Grab this book. It has helped many of the new guys on our department pass it the first time. Most of the guys that don't get it and/or do not actually use it, end up taking the exam at least twice.

book

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0323113370/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1396932271&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40

Is the one I used.

http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Medicine-Massachusetts-Hospital-Handbook/dp/1451193785?ie=UTF8&keywords=pocket%20medicine&qid=1463463929&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

Could not recommend it more. It has been invaluable so far on my inpatient medicine rotation.

I used this book for years and it was written by my neuro professors. I can't recommend it more highly: http://www.amazon.com/Neuroscience-Exploring-Mark-F-Bear/dp/0781760038 (can get used for a little over $30)

You’re doing it the right way straight out of high school. Took me a few years post high school to smarten up and realize I want to be a career EMT/ firefighter. Learn your states protocols and drug dosages and you’ll be golden. Everything tends to make sense and come together as the class wraps up and you do ride time. I was a little worried about my first few ride alongs as a basic student but after recently completing my advanced/ cardiac class, where I am actually able to start IVs and be more hands on, even stressful situations become a fun challenge. Everything will come together, just focus on protocols and dosages. ALSO buy this book! Helped me immensely.

EMT Crash Course with Online Practice Test, 2nd Edition (EMT Test Preparation) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738612359/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_i1mtDb9RAHCAT

No, I don't think magical books in which you write people's names causing them to die really exist.

As for physiological books, this was an excellent book.

http://www.amazon.com/Back-Disorders-Second-Stuart-McGill/dp/0736066926

Dr. Stuart McGill really pioneered the "train the core to resist motion, not create motion". His research showed repeated flexion-extension cycles of the lumbar spine (crunches, situps) could be damaging.

My SO uses this!

Edit: The 5th edition, my bad.

Imaging did nothing for you. Here's my source:

http://www.amazon.com/Low-Back-Disorders-Second-Edition/dp/0736066926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394309955&sr=8-1&keywords=low+back+disorders

Sciatica is caused by a disorder in the lower back. Your rehab routine would be the same regardless of cause. Aggravating factors would be different though, but imaging wouldn't help you here. I'll venture a guess that you're flexion intolerant without needing to see your imaging.

You can think that the bulging discs are the source of your pain, but it's not guaranteed. Again, that imaging is useless.