before purchasing one.

PATHOLOGY is the study of diseases and thus, another integral part of any health course. I've used all three of the recommended textbooks below and recommend them all. However, you should purchase the one that is needed for your level of study.

1. "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine" by Anthony S. Fauci et al.

Harrison's is considered the ultimate bible within the genre of pathophysiology. It is an extremely detailed book that covers almost everything there is to know about each disease. It comes in either one volume or two volumes (giving you an idea of its thickness) and while expensive, it is a very worthwhile buy. The latest edition is 17th edition. However, beginning health students may find its contents a bit too detailed.

2. "Robbins & Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease" by Vinay Kumar et al.

This is another great textbook that explains each disease very clearly. It is aimed at health students that have some basic understanding.

3. "Kumar and Clark's Clinical Medicine" by Parveen Kumar and Michael L. Clark.

This is very good textbook recommended to all beginning health students. It is divided according to body systems and gives a brief outline of the normal physiology before discussing the diseases of that organ system.

ANATOMY is another great area of health where there are way too many scientific names and a textbook is necessary to keep health students afloat. The two textbooks recommended below sort of go hand in hand so getting both textbooks is definitely worthwhile.

1. "Gray's Anatomy: the anatomical basis of clinical practice" by Susan Standring.

Warning: not to be confused with the popular TV series "Grey's Anatomy"

This is a very thorough anatomy textbook with colourful diagrams backed up by detailed descriptions. It caters for all health students regardless of their prior anatomy knowledge.

2. "Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy" by Frank H. Netter

This is an excellent book aimed at the visual learners. Most health students learn anatomy by having both textbooks side by side so that they could look at "Netter's" diagrams and learn by reading "Gray's".

Physiology, pathology and anatomy are the three basic integral components of any health course. Of course, many other fields such as histology, genetics and immunology exist and students may wish to buy textbooks but I feel borrowing from the library is adequate for these fields. Studying health courses is very expensive but I consider these textbooks as good investments for the future.

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