Beyond Borders is a concise but hugely incitive book written by a 5th year medical student from Australia called Hamish Graham. He used the extensive knowledge and experience he built up on his numerous health placements to developing countries to write this book, which is an essential companion to anyone thinking of organising a medical elective; especially if the intended destination is very different to your own...

I personally feel this new version of Lasts (11th edition) is significantly more readable than the previous edition I read (which I think was the 8th edition, borrowed from the library back in 2002, after being recommended it by a surgical registra). 

I found this prior version a little hard to follow, not because there was anything wrong with the content, but because the layout and diagrams were so dull - and in a subject like anatomy, which requires focused attention to learn large amounts of detailed information, this was a real problem.....

As a pocket handbook it seems very important to me that the information is given as compact and short as possible. Clinical information is less important in a handbook. This book doesn’t give too much clinical information and that’s just right in my opinion.

I think the chapters aren’t as well organised as expected for a pocket handbook. Information is hard to find. I found schemes and tables inconsistent with too much text and explanationss.....

As a strength:

As a weakness:

After the use of this book it’s hard to imagine that a medical student would ever think about using another book on orthopaedics during study...

Strengths:

• Very easy reading, also practical in finding information on short notice.
• Great usage of pictures and tables/schemes.
• Comprehensive on the subject anaesthesiology.

Weakness:

This is the recomended paediatric textbook for undergraduates at any medical schools, however, we found it to be deficient in several areas. Certain core subjects were not explained in sufficient detail and the index is of very little help, not differentiating between pages containing the bulk of the informtation on a subject from those where the subject is mentioned briefly. On the up-side, there are some usefull tables and well presented images, however, we would recomed you look for an alternative revision source.

This book gives an excellent but very detailed account of the subject. It is probably written in too much depth for the medical student and is indeed intended for junior and senior doctors. However, it has an excellent section on emergency procedures in gastroenterology which most students will find helpful, particularly in preparation for examinations....