Family Behavioral Issues in Health and Illness Book

I am a first year medical student, and have a very solid background in medical sciences before I got here. That being said, this book will not replace lectures, nor will it replace other textbooks. It is a very condensed, very well written quick reference for the scientific topics behind medicine. I would consider any medical student's complement of textbooks to be complete without it, however. I would not more suggest trying to learn all of medicine from this book alone than I would from First Aid USMLE

A number of people in my program do not, however, have scientific backgrounds and have found this book to be very useful particularly in how it presents information. When used in conjunction with lectures it is a very powerful tool for review and will help students master the basic sciences behind medicine. It is systems based, and the illustrations are clear and concise. It also cross references to the immensely useful Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine (Oxford Handbooks Series).

Like all Oxford books, the writing is almost unmatched in it's clarity and concision. It's also a tough book and will take all the abuse you inevitably throw at it over the course of your medical career - because you will find yourself using it a LOT.