ISBN9780073122861

I took Systems Physiology from Widmaier (the author of this book) and the course was phenomenal. The book served as an excellent reference and an exciting read. The only real downside to the book is there is so much interesting information that it is easy to get sidetracked when you are trying to study.

This book is really hard to plough through. It's not written in an energetic way -- it's enthusiastic, but not particularly bright. Sort of Gee whiz, but not scholarly. Very lame writing. Not great use of diagrams either, though there are a lot of them.

Between college and medical school I've had spent a lot of time with physiology books and this is a good one. If I want to pull one book of the shelf to look at some system or pathway this is the book I grab first. While the it is written in an accessible and engaging way the flow charts are its greatest strength. Vander's diagramming is the best out there. Often times a single figure will cover what other books need pages and pages to cover.

This book is great because it isn't trying to be all things to all readers. It is not an exhaustive reference text; instead, it is the sort that can be read cover to cover. I would describe Vander's as a great starting point for those who will go on in Physiology (MD/PhD) or look at physiology for those who are interested but do not aspire to mastery (the English major interested in science).
It sits somewhere between the crushing detail of books like Boron & Boulpaep and the "why it matters" approach of Costanzo.
For those who are looking to get their lifetime mastery of physiology from a single class experience Tortora & Derrickson might be a better bet.