Foundation Year 2011-2012
Recommended Booklist
BIOLOGY LIST
GENERAL TEXTS
It is recommended that students buy at least one general textbook. The first textbook
recommended below covers most of the course to a reasonable depth. The second text
covers much of the material in Semester II with particular emphasis on human biology
and disease.
SOLOMON, BERG
& MARTIN:
"Biology"
8th Ed. 2008, Brooks/Cole; Thomson Learning.
D. D. CHIRAS:
"Human Biology"
5th Ed. 2005, Jones and Bartlett.
ADDITIONAL READING
We recommend that every student buys a Biology dictionary. Three are listed below.
BRUCE ALBERTS et al
"Essential Cell Biology"
3rd Ed. 2009, Garland Publishing.
PAUL GARD:
"Human Endocrinology"
2nd Ed. 2004, Taylor and Francis.
*R, S, HINE & E. A. MARTIN:
“ A Dictionary of Biology “
6th Ed. 2008, Oxford University Press,
KEYNES R. D. & AIDLEY D. J.
"Nerve and Muscle"
4th Ed. 2010, Cambridge University Press.
*E. LAWRENCE:
"Henderson's Dictionary of Biological Terms"
14th Ed. 2008, Longman.
BERNARD E. MATTHEWS:
“An Introduction to Parasitology"
1998, Cambridge University Press,
R. L. NUSSBAUM et al:
“Thompson and Thompson Genetics in
Medicine”
7th Ed. revised 2007, W B Saunders Company.
*M. THAIN & M. HICKMAN:
"The Penguin Dictionary of Biology"
11th Ed. 2004, Penguin.
* = one of these.
PRACTICALS
Students are required to have a standard set of dissecting instruments to participate in the
Biology component of the Biomedical Laboratory Science practical course. These may be
purchased before coming to Dublin.
CHEMISTRY LIST
The following is a core text and covers most of the organic chemistry component of the
Foundation Year Curriculum.
Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry, 6th Edition, by J. McMurry and E. Simanek,
2007, Thomson, Brooks/Cole, (ISBN: 0-495-12590-3)
There is a study guide and solutions manual accompanying this textbook that
contains all the answers to the problems in the text - ISBN: 0-495-01932-1.
This is an optional purchase.
There are numerous other textbooks available for consultation in the library and the following
in particular are recommended.
Organic Chemistry, A Short Course, 12th edition, by Hart, Craine, Hart, Hadad Houghton
Mifflin Company, 2007 (Previous editions of this book, which may be available from past
students of the course, are also adequate).
Fundamentals of General, Organic and Biological Chemistry, by John R. Holum, Sixth Edition, John
Wiley & Sons Inc. (Publishers).
Chemistry by R. Chang, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill (Publishers).
Chemistry. Matter and Its Changes, J.E. Brady, J.W. Russell & J.R. Holum, Third Edition (© 2000),
John Wiley & Sons Inc. (Publishers).
Chemistry and Chemical Reactivity, International Edition 7e by Kotz/Treichel/Townsend
Chemical Principles by W. Masterton, E.J. Slowinski and C.L. Stanitski, 6th edition.
General Chemistry by D.A. McQuarrie and P.A. Rock
Basic Inorganic Chemistry by F. A. Cotton and G. Wilkinson
Biochemistry by L. Stryer
PHYSICS LIST
It is sufficient to own one good textbook covering a range of general Physics topics at a fairly
fundamental/basic level. However, the Physics courses within Foundation Year at RCSI are very
different from the Leaving certificate, IB, or A-level courses in that it emphasizes the medical
applications of many of the basic principles, and hence it is essential that students consult textbooks
dealing specifically with medical applications.
The lecture notes are based mainly on the following textbooks (although some material may be
obtained from other sources);
Physics (3rd edition) by Kane and Sternheim, published by Wiley.
General Physics with Bio-science essays (2nd edition) by Marion and Hornyak
Physics (with health science applications) by Urone
Physics of the Body (2nd edition) by Cameron, Skofronick and Grant
(published by Medical Physics Publishing, 1999)
There are a range of general textbooks available covering the basic topics in Physics, however they
are insufficient on their own. Examples of these are;
Physics (4th Edition) by Cutnall and Johnson. Published by Wiley.
Fundamentals of Physics (3rd edition) by Halliday and Resnick. Published by
For some of the topics covered in the Physics courses (eye, ear, blood flow, lungs etc) you
will need to refer to a basic Physiology textbook (familiarise yourselves with these in the
library).
A good example is:
Human Physiology: from cells to systems (7th edition) by Sherwood.
(published by Brooks-Cole 2009)