Reddit mentions of Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease: With STUDENT CONSULT Online Access (Robbins Pathology)

A great pathology textbook would be Robbins et. al. Pathologic Basis of Disease. It was what we used in medical school, and I have no complaints about it.

Edit - You may find some of the biology, and chemistry, and anatomy and physiology, concepts are above your head without a college level chemistry/biology/A&P background.... Unfortunately, I do not know good texts to steer you to on basic biology and chemistry. Reguarding A&P my favorite book is Marieb.

Edit 2 - No need to apologize, you speak (or write) English quite well!

Read ~1500 pages of ridiculously dense pathology material in two semesters while keeping up with the extra material from lecture. Then when you move onto 3rd year you can read ~4000 pages of Harrison's while doing rotations 8-12+ hours a day.

Undergrad is understanding 5-10 topics a week. Med school is understanding those same 5-10 topics in a single lecture x 8 lectures/day. Without exaggeration, we literally covered an entire semester of undergrad anatomy in our first week. Covered a year of biochem in 6 weeks at the same time with anatomy and other courses. The pace of material covered is not understandable until you get there.

btw if you still want to read textbooks, here you go:

http://www.amazon.com/Robbins-Cotran-Pathologic-Basis-Disease/dp/1416031219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373635912&sr=8-1&keywords=robbins+pathology

http://www.amazon.com/Harrisons-Principles-Internal-Medicine-Volumes/dp/007174889X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373635885&sr=1-1&keywords=harrison%27s+principles+of+internal+medicine

I would avoid test-prep books then-- those tend to skim the surface of things like pathophys and always seem to be more focused on important facts and associations, etc., and not on the science.

Sadly there is no quick answer for getting better at pathophys (it takes 2 years to cover the basics in med school). Working in an ED you don't have massive amounts of time to read either. As a resident I find myself wanting to review stuff all the time but am pretty busy too, so with that in mind, my recommendations would be:

-UpToDate/Dynamed/Medscape/etc. usually have nice sections in their articles on the pathophysiology of various conditions. The temptation is to skip to the "diagnosis" or "management" sections but there is usually some good stuff in those articles that you can read on the fly

-For critical illness and general physiology, The ICU Book is great and not too dry a read. If you want much more in depth stuff on medical conditions, Harrison's Internal Medicine is a great resource but reads like a phonebook sometimes. If you care about the microscopic level, Robbins & Cotran is basically all the pathology for the non-pathologist you will ever need- can also be a bit dry at times too.

-Look up the mechanism of action of meds you don't know about (Micromedex smart phone app is great for that)

-When you consult someone because you are unsure about something, ask them about what is going on (subspecialists are usually not shy about dropping knowledge if you ask for it); it may also help prevent future un-needed consults which they appreciate

Hope this helps.

I didn't remember any parituclarly so I made a random research and this is what came out for Robbins and Coltran Pathologic Basis of Disease. As you see there are some that, as normal, are cheaper than the new one but others arrive at 200 puonds. I've never contacted a sellers because I've found cheaper versions.