Simon Kirwin reviews three anatomy books published by Manson and realises why he should have attended all those anatomy classes in the first year.

Self-Assessment Colour Review of Clinical Anatomy
    E J Evans, B J Moxham, R L M Newell, and R M Santer
Manson, 1999; £9.95
ISBN 1 874545 76 6

The Concise Handbook of Human Anatomy
    R M H McMinn, R T Hutchings, and B M Logan
Manson, 1998; £12.95 (softcover)
ISBN 1 874545 53 7

A Concise Colour Guide to Clinical Surface Anatomy
    N R Borley
Manson, 1997; £9.95
ISBN 1 874545 29 4

If, like me, your main interest in anatomy classes was the social aspect (yes, honestly, it was social to gather round a cadaver every day; all that time to make friends), then you might find some of the questions in Self-Assessment Colour Review of Clinical Anatomy a bit frightening. Origins of the lateral and medial pterygoid muscles anyone? They're making those names up, aren't they...?

What I soon learnt about anatomy is that you need to know only some things well. The rest is for those who want to be surgeons. And that is the beauty of this self assessment book - it presents a clinical case, with a short history and an x ray film or photo, asks for diagnosis and management, and then the comprehensive answer includes the anatomy you need to know for each particular (common) condition. Also, each section begins with questions on the anatomy you'll need to know to answer the cases. The pictures are excellent, and the cases well structured. Is there anything to complain about? Well, there's no contents page, so although the book is split into sections (locomotor system, cardiovascular and respiratory systems, etc), they are not easy to find quickly, and the index is not very comprehensive (looking for a humerus fracture took a while), but these are minor gripes.

If only my anatomy lecturers had taken this approach - but there has been much discussion over the teaching of anatomy recently. Cut out lots of it, and are you giving students a good grounding? Give them too much, and are you swamping them with facts? Well, the trend seems to be to cut things out, and the Concise Handbook of Human Anatomy reflects this. After a concise account of bones and joints, subsequent chapters split up anatomy into the traditional regions (head and neck, upper limb, lower limb etc). Each chapter consists of small explanations of the most important structures in that region that the authors believe are important to know. There does not seem to be much form to this, but it works quite well. Each page is also littered with "clinical points." I guess these aim to cover areas that confuse students, although the information seems a little random. I found the glossary explaining the origins of anatomical terms quite entertaining, but the index is irritatingly incomplete, and some page numbers are inaccurate. As a concise handbook, however, it is excellent, and a very good source of revision for final year students who have forgotten all their anatomy.

If you have ever been on a ward when a kindly senior house officer sketches a drawing showing the borders of the lungs, then Clinical Surface Anatomy is for you. The book is split into chapters on the viscera, head and neck, and the limbs, and there is a photo of the body surface on each page, accompanied by a drawing of the structures below. The text tells us borders, insertions, and origins of structures, so beloved by surgeons when they don't know what else to ask, but the best thing about each page is the clinical boxes. These outline structures felt when palpating, or those damaged in trauma, or those to avoid if injecting or putting in drains. There are some omissions, such as the location of the thyroid (commonly mistaken for the thyroid cartilage), but these are few. The book is excellent, and I am going to use it to catch up on the anatomy I should have learnt four years ago.

Now where are the pterygoids?