Choosing the right anatomy atlas is a stressful decision, and one that is quite important. For many of you (students in medical, dental, optometry, and podiatry school) this will be one of the first decision you must make at your professional school. In order to help you sort through some of the most popular choices, let me highlight some of the pros and cons of each text. I am a firm believer that education should be tailored to the student. If your school/teacher tells you to buy a certain anatomy atlas, do not listen. This is like telling a left handed student that he/she must take a test using their right hand. You must find a text that allows you to learn best. There are many options and each has its own strengths.
One IMPORTANT HINT:
Check out each atlas on amazon.com, you can browse the pages of each book in full color by clicking the "Click To Look Inside" tab over each book. This is the best way to see what you are going to like.
- Updated April 2015
1. Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy:
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2. Rohen's Color Atlas of Anatomy:
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3. Gilroy's Atlas of Anatomy
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4. Grant's Atlas of Anatomy:
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5. Thieme's Atlas of Anatomy:
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6. Clemente's Anatomy:
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7. Gray's Atlas of Anatomy:
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8. Sabotta Atlas of Antaomy
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is the best selling anatomy atlas in the country, and my personal favorite. The images are bright and colorful. The detail is crisp and memorable. I am a visual learner, and the bright images helped me focus and remember better. In fact, the images were so vibrant that I could often see them in my head during tests, allowing me to remember specific details in each image. One downside to this atlas is its relative lack of information and detail. There is no text other than anatomy labels. There are no clinical correlations. There are not as many structures labeled as some other texts.
does not seem like anything special at first glance. However, I have never met someone who used the Gilroy atlas and did not love it. In fact, it holds the #2 position for 
is a well known text with a great history and crisp images similar to the Gilroy text. Many students use the companion, 
is well liked by its users, just Google the title and you will find loads of students who love it. However, I have never actually met a student who used it. We had a couple copies in our library, but no one every looked at them. If you are a textbook lover, you might want to look at the Thieme book. It reads more like a textbook than an anatomy atlas.
is a sort of cult-favorite atlas. Many believe the illustrations in Clemente are the best on the market. They are clear and straight forward. There is a good mix of clinical information. The price is low, and the satisfaction is high. I have not used Clemente's but those who have used it say that they would use it again.
is one of histories best-known atlases. However, I think that the atlases listed above have surpassed this historical text. There are newer versions, but I fear the TV show named after the atlas will forever be more famous than that atlas itself. The images are nice and there are a number of photos and radiologic images which accompany the anatomy illustrates. Because of Gray's historical status, it warrants a few minutes to flip through the pages, but I would not purchase this text myself.
My name is Andrew and I am a first year resident training to be an ophthalmologist. I created ShortWhiteCoats to provide medical students, residents, and the public with all the information I spent so many hours looking for during medical school.
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