pharmacy books

[ali]

Hi Everyone!

Hope your all good.

I am about to start my first year of Pharmacy (...very excited!!)...

I would like to know what are the essential books I will require in my first year of studying?

Please help me!

Thank You.

Ali.

[ferretmanabu]

You'll get a book list from uni. Usually, they have a lot of books on there that you don't need or books that lecturers have written themselves and are just trying to push on to you. Wait a good few weeks before you buy anything and if you do buy, make sure you buy second hand.
In the first year, you'll probably need a good physiology book, an organic chemistry book, cell biology etc.

[Pharmanaut]

Originally Posted by ferretmanabu

You'll get a book list from uni. Usually, they have a lot of books on there that you don't need or books that lecturers have written themselves and are just trying to push on to you. Wait a good few weeks before you buy anything and if you do buy, make sure you buy second hand.
In the first year, you'll probably need a good physiology book, an organic chemistry book, cell biology etc.

Agree with that.
Get along to the library and use the reference copies. Sometimes its just the odd couple of pages or paragraphs that you need.
If you find you need Martindale etc find out if the department has that "Athens" type access to "Medicines Complete" which has Martindale etc on it. You can subscribe to the BNF online for free.
As another thought - there's that much on the internet these days you might not need to spend a lot if you learn to use the search engines. The textbooks often a very dry method of learning these days especially for dynamic processes. Some sites have some really good flash animations that get the point across.
A long time has passed since my undergraduate days, so I write this from a CPD standpoint.

[ali]

Well thank you, you two, I wasn't expecting a reply to my question that quick!!


Approximately how much do the books cost for this course?

[richtagg]

They cost a lot. New you can pay about £30 per book and most students expect a good price second hand.

If you're going to manchester I know someone with some first year books for sale for a good price ;-)

[johnep]

Yes I made the mistake of buying books before going to uni, mainly because BTC sold books in those days via their library.

As I was in London, found best source was Foyles.

Some of the books I had bought, I never looked at.
johnep

[mm45]

Hey. Im about to start my third year and to be honest it was only last year I brought any books, and only a handfull at that (but they are very usefull). Wait till you get to uni and are told which books to buy, and dont go crazy with the lists the lecturers give you. In my experience lecturers will give you a list of about 5books they expect you to read for each module, most you will never need again, so just get them out of the library. However some books like Pharmacology by Rang and Dale, Pharmaceutics by Alton, the BNF, you will use time and again each year so they would be worth getting, but there is no need to rush out and buy them yet.

ps. Always try eBay first, most of my books are second hand and Ive got most of them half price, books can be very pricey.

[mr_colt]

Some books such as the BNF are always convinent to have your own copy of. Don't waste money buying it for £30-50 from some bookshops. I got a copy of the BNF 52 (then the current edition) for £10 brand new off ebay including postage.

Martindale to be honest is a great text; especially if like me you come into contact with foreign meds often. However I think your usage would not justify buying the printed copy. You can get it through the athens account medicines complete subscription online. I do have a printed copy of the 33rd edition (2002) which still sells for about £150, I got it for £20 off ebay second hand. Though I think I was lucky the seller had no idea to its retail value.

It also weighs a ton, its not designed to be portable. Useful for bringing down on the head of a moronic and stuck up GP. They might learn something that way.

If you don't have an athens account yet; you can do what I do and use mytrashmail.com and register as many "John Smith" free 30day trials to different temp email addresses as you need to tide you over. Just don't give them your real details and they will be non the wiser.

Good Luck,

mr_colt.

P.S. I do not advocate use of physical force when dealing with problematic GP's. ;-)