He has some idiosyncrasies, but he explains physiology better than any book I’ve ever read. If your program has interns in the ICU much, The ICU Book by Marino would be valuable. You need to start reading this a few months before January – October might be good – because although it’s a thin book, it is so crammed with information that you will not be able to absorb it if you try to rush through it in the month of January. The absolute best book, beyond regular reading, is The ABSITE Review Book. That’s what I hear from the residents who were interviewing this year. Regarding the ABSITE, the surgical intraining exam given in January: some programs care more about it than others, but it does seem that fellowships will look at your scores. 🙂 These books cover things like surgical infections, critical care briefly, trauma protocols, and medical issues in surgical patients, so this is probably the best place to review basic medicine from a surgical perspective. It seems like an impossible goal, but the more you can read at least a small amount on a regular basis, rather than sporadically, the better off you will be. One of my chiefs loves to advise us to read for one hour every evening. I started to say it will give you the information you need when admitting a patient for surgery but actually it’s way more information than you need on a day-to-day basis. This covers the information you will get pimped on as an intern. These books will give you a lot of basic science information: some anatomy, a lot of physiology and pathophysiology, and the decision-making tree, how to diagnose, how to treat, when to do surgery, when not to do surgery.

The chapters are a more manageable size, and the writing overall is better organized and more focused on useful information. I’ve been using Sabiston this year, and it’s ok, but I was recently pointed towards Greenfield, and I like it much better. Right now, I would recommend getting started on a basic surgical textbook, like Schwartz, Sabiston, or Greenfield. Since this is what I’ve been asked most often, we’ll talk first about good books to read in the month or two you have left, and also in the first year of residency.

Greenfield surgery textbook