For anyone who struggled to understand why the nephron concentrates, then dilutes, then concentrates again the urine, this book will do much to ease your pain. Since medical school I've purchased Editions 1, 3, & 5, just so that I could keep up with my interns & residents. Here's how he does it:
#1: short book, (you know how intimidating those tomes can be)
#2: lots of diagrams
#3: end-of-chapter questions (with answers & explanations)

If you want to understand the Kidney, no matter where you are in your studies or practice, I wholeheartedly recommend this text.

Renal physiology can be very difficult to truly understand, and yet an understanding of it is essential to understanding so many aspects of physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Studying diuretics for cardio pharm is nightmarish unless you understand the physiology of the loop of Henle. Vander takes this difficult yet important subject and makes it easy to understand. The book reads extremely quickly, and the flow-charts and diagrams are amazing. I never even opened Berne & Levy for renal phys--I read Vander's book (which is no longer than B&L's renal chapters) and cruised through renal phys. I am writing this review now, a year after I took physiology, because I am now studying for the USMLE Step 1. I have not looked at Vander's book in a year, but I still remember renal phys, and reviewing it now is the easiest part of my studying (the only easy part, in fact). That is because, thanks to Vander, I actually understand renal physiology. A great book!!

For any medical student that needs a comprehensive, but easily understood explanation of the structure and function of kidneys, I highly recommend Renal Physiology by Vander. It is very well written, and covers all the basic principles that you will need to know to understand pathologies associated with the kidneys.

This is all a Camaro owner will ever need for simple to even somewhat advanced maintenance and repair instructions for their car. From engine overhaul to routine maintenance schedules and procedures to removal and installation of the engine and transmission, with many pictures and illustrations including several exploded views and complete wiring diagrams, this is an invaluable guide. This is best for someone who is handy with and has ready access to standard shop tools, and enjoys "do-it-yourself" work, although instructions are clear enough to accomodate almost anyone with the recommended equipment (a full list of which is included).

Without any doubt, this is a comprehensive book in this field. However, because the authors tried to demonstrate their superior english writting abilities, they made the whole text hard to understand for students. From my point of view, as a new professor, I don't believe that recommending this book is appropriate.

This is a practitioner's book, not a scolar's. I'm not a scolar -- never have been and never will be. I love this book. It's lucid, it's sensible and it's great statistics. It goes thoroughly into the logic of linear model ANOVAs yet the bulk of the exposition is in the simple English language -- it has no calculus and no eigenvectors and almost no matrix algebra. You need an acquaintance with elementary one-way ANOVA but no more background than that. The authors pace it carefully and are not afraid of a bit of repetition for the sake of clarity (something I always appreciate when I'm reading new technical material). It's one of the best $105 dollars I've ever spent. I got loads out of it all the way through and it's a big book. The explanation of multivariate repeated measures is worth the price alone.

I continue to select this text for a graduate course in advanced experimental design. The book is not easy, and that is one reason why I like it. It presents a thoughtful scholarship on controversial issues pertaining to the use of inferential statistics as a tool to assist the researcher in making decisions about the validity and strength of functional relationships present in the data. The book eliminates the naive overconfidence that sometimes results from cookbook applications of algorithms to the results of experiments. It shows that the process of discovery and data analysis is never complete and that the general linear model is an imperfect technique by which to discern orderliness in nature where intersubject variability is a given.

This very useful book examines the details of British diplomacy during one of the most dangerous episodes of the last fifty years, the Cuban missile crisis. The record shows that the British Government, despite private reservations, supported and encouraged President Kennedy's appallingly reckless behaviour before and during the crisis.

From the start of the Cuban Revolution, the British Government backed the US Government's attempts to interfere in Cuba's internal affairs and to overthrow its Government. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan wrote to President Eisenhower in July 1960, "I feel sure Castro has to be got rid of, but it is a tricky operation for you to contrive, and I only hope you will succeed." After the US Embassy left Cuba, the British Embassy provided the Pentagon and the CIA with most of their information about Cuban affairs. Throughout the crisis, Kennedy treated the British Government as a satellite, not an ally. At every turn, he at best informed Macmillan of what he had already decided. In return, Macmillan supported every US move, putting a misplaced, and unreciprocated, loyalty to the US Government above every other consideration.

When Krushchev rashly sent the nuclear missiles to Cuba, Kennedy unilaterally decided to impose a blockade on Cuba. This was an undeclared act of war. Britain's Lord Chancellor, Lord Dilhorne, said bluntly, "the United States' conduct is not in conformity with international law." Then Kennedy imposed a world-wide nuclear alert on US forces without consulting his NATO allies, in breach of Article 4 of the NATO Treaty. When Krushchev weakly withdrew the missiles, without consulting Castro, Macmillan servilely applauded Kennedy.

Scott concludes, "The central diplomatic lesson of the crisis for Britain was that the price of access in Washington was loss of political independence. Such access did not of itself guarantee influence." Access without influence or independence is what a footman has! So much for the 'special relationship'. Loss of sovereignty is never a price worth paying.

Will Podmore

This is a great book to read for the real Firebird addict. I couldn't get enough of this book. If your in love with the Firebird, then buy this book.