Best Physiology Books
This is the 1st P of your basic medical sciences. The other 2 you will see in 2nd year. For Physiology, I would recommend buying one Indian author book and one international one. Indian author as the textbook and International one to understand the concepts.
INDIAN AUTHORS
1. Textbook of Physiology - A.K Jain
This is one of the most famous Physiology books for 1st year. Everything is written in points form making it a good book for reading before exams and passing them. This will be your savior in college examinations – bulleted information, flow charts, and easy diagrams – everything reproducible in your theory exam.
2. Comprehensive Textbook Of Medical Physiology G.K Pal
The second book for Physiology is G.K Pal. This book is also famous among students. The best part about the book is the in-depth knowledge of the subject. Everything about this book is A1. From exam relevance to Quizzing, everything is up to the mark in this book.
3. Essentials Of Medical Physiology: with Free Review of Medical Physiology
The book is a bit simpler than the above too. It is used not just by medical students but Physiology students too. I would recommend this book to students only if your main book is an international author and you just need an Indian book to pass exams.
INTERNATIONAL AUTHORS
1. Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology
Here is our gold standard book for Physiology. Some topics are very good in Guyton. The Understanding we get after reading Guyton is amazing. It is one of the most well-respected books among the whole medical community.
2. Ganong's Review of Medical Physiology
It’s a little difficult to understand in the first go. Because it is a review book, you may not find an adequate explanation of all topics. So it is best to read it with a more elaborate textbook-like Guyton and Hall.
One piece of advice – read a chapter from Guyton first and then from Ganong, you will understand the topic better and even remember the factual data of Ganong easily.
Must read CNS from Ganong- Best here.
3. Physiology Linda & Costanzo
A short and concise book for Physiology. Everything is given in notes form so it is easy to remember everything. I would suggest this book if you are preparing for USMLEs. All those complicated questions from physiology, all the concepts to solve those are covered in this book.
MCQ Books
1. Review of Physiology
This is our Indian Author MCQ book. It is very useful for Professionals as well as PG entrance. Everything is written in notes form so it is easy to review the stuff before exams. Still, it is not one of those books that can replace your textbook. You still have to refer to your textbook to understand physiology.
2. Guyton & Hall Physiology Review (Guyton Physiology)
This is not the big storybook for physiology. It only contains the Chapterwise MCQs. It not only helps for the MCQ exams but it helps a lot in the deep understanding of the subject. This is one of those must-buy books for Physiology in 1st year because you won’t have time to solve it after this.
For physiology, we generally use two books – an Indian author and an international author. The good part is that you can make either one as your main textbook. I would advise you to buy only 1 book and get a soft copy of the other one.
There are three Indian authors commonly used for physiology – Dr. A.K Jain, Dr. G.K Pal, Dr. K Sebulingam. If you don’t want to study physiology in-depth then you can read Sebulingam. If you want to understand the subject more thoroughly then go for Dr. G.K Pal or Dr. A.K Jain’s book. Among these two, I prefer G.K Pal as it contains a lot more information and everything is given in detail.
There are three international authors commonly used for physiology – Guyton, Ganong, and Costanzo. All three books are different from each other. Guyton is best for understanding physiology. The physiological processes are explained in detail. Ganong is a bit tough to understand in the beginning so I would not advise using it as your main textbook. It is a wonderful reference book so use the soft copy or in the library. Costanzo is the best book to use as your main textbook among all the books mentioned above. Everything is given in notes form and all the relevant material is covered in the book.