Bates' Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking, Ninth Edition with E-Book (Guide to Physical Exam & History Taking (Bates))

The index in the version I have is completely inaccurate. What's more, to obtain errata you're required to enter a code on the publisher's website. This code is not stamped on the book but is on the packaging which I unfortunately threw away before I noticed the index was completely inaccurate.

Save yourself the headache and get a different version.

Once again, the teacher recommended we buy the newest version.

I'm a rebel and a poor student.

The newer editions have nicer pictures, but an A is an A in the class.

Undoubtedly this book has gone a long way to perfect herself but certain gross errors exist , an example being an opening shap being mentioned as a "low pitched" sound (along with S3 and mid diastolic murmur) in page 307 and a picture of Herpes Zoster being labelled as Herpes Simplex in page 137 .
Considering the size of the book, the hardbound cover and the way of presentation,the coverage should be so as to benefit postgraduates also by inclusion of certain finer and additional details even at the cost of a mild increase in size.
The lucid explanations and clear illustrations are definitely invaluable and make the book outstanding in its field.
The few corrections can always be undertaken.
Professor K.N.Viswanathan, AVMC, Pondicherry, INDIA.

I liked this book but the one thing I wanted from it that it didn't have was a good musculoskeletal exam. For that, I highly recommend Pocket Guide to Musculoskeletal Diagnosis. Hoppenfeld is okay too, but Pocket Guide is better. I like Bates as a reference but it's not very practical for day-to-day use.

This book is the best one on physical exam that I've found, but is not great by any means. It's very boring to read. Unfortunately, physical exam is something you have to practice, and reading a book won't help much. You have to SEE someone with experience perform an exam for it to really sink in.

I think it's way too expensive.