The Merck manuals, for the docs, vets, and non-professionals, are a wonderfully helpful information resource.Product arrived quickly. Quality exceeded description. Excellent service and excellent home resource.This is an amazingly interesting and informative book for the kind of patient who wants to understand what the doctors have explained for the patient's specific case. In a particular situation recently, I was given large amounts of information about two maladies, which all made sense, but in a slightly disjointed and incomplete way.This 3rd edition Merck manual home health handbook not only agreed with everything I was told by two groups of specialists, but also joined it all together in a unified picture, and even extended my understanding beyond what they told me. For each malady, there were about 4 pages of clear explanation in this book. It helps me to understand why doctors ask certain kinds of unusual questions which initially seem irrelevant.So I would say that for the curious, or very curious, patient who wants to get more clarity and detail and background on what the doctors say, this book is really ideal. The problem with this, I guess, is that this manual is not useful on its own for self-diagnosis. A much better book for doing a kind of "self-triage" to determine if it's a good idea to go to a doctor is the "Generally this is an excellent reference. It is thorough, and conveys a heck of a lot of valuable info while still being understandable to intelligent, non-science oriented laypeople. I have learned a huge amount from this book including medical terminology which they helpfully include alongside lay terms and explanations. The best value of any medical book! (though it could use a lot more illustrations - I very highly recommend Alice Roberts' the Complete Human Body which has amazing illustrations, to complement this book for the layperson).However, because the info on my disease ME/CFIDS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) is a negative-five-star I am going to rate this only two stars.I really don't like rating this book so low and definitely understand anyone thinking it inappropriate to rate it so low considering the overall excellent content. After all, the ME section is only one section of very many. However, the amount of iatrogenic morbidity caused by this sort of egregious misinformation on ME is so tremendous, I think it is important to draw attention to it with a two star rating. Pls forgive me if you disagree.Editors: please make the section accurate by consulting the ME/CFS Canadian Consensus Criteria and the 2011 ME International Consensus Criteria and the 2012 IACFS/ME Primer (and me if you need more info) and I will of course be elated to rate the manual five stars.There are many patently invalid statements here such as "[s]ome studies have suggested infection with the Epstein-Barr virus... or HIV as a possible cause of CFS. However, current research indicates that these viruses probably do not cause this syndrome." p. 2109.ME is an extremely debilitating neuro-endocrine immune & mitochondrial disease, affecting 1 M Americans and strongly associated with otherwise extremely rare lymphomas (other than in AIDS). There is a bit of accurate info here, but mostly very misleading or incorrect such as 'CFS refers to severe fatigue of unknown psychological or physical origin' (p.2109)- actually that's Idiopathic Chronic Fatigue. This is like saying 'Alzheimer's refers to severe forgetfulness of unknown physical or psychological origin.' ME is a specific extremely disabling disease in which extreme fatigue is a prominent symptom, just like MS, Leukemia, AIDS and many other diseases.Again, pls see the ME/CFS Canadian Consensus Criteria, the 2012 ME International Consensus Criteria or the 2012 IACFS/ME Primer for accurate info.Thanks for your consideration and take care everyone,JustinThe Merck manual has been around for many years and has been the reference guide for doctors, nurses and anyone else interested in medical issues. This home edition has 2, 368 pages of medical information written by 300 medical experts. This amazing giant volume is organized into 26 detailed sections. They are as follows:(1) Fundamentals. (2) Drugs. (3)Digestive disorders. (4) Liver and Gallbladder disorders. (5) Kidney and Urinary tract disorders. (6) Heart and blood vessel disorders. (7) Lung and airway disorders. (8) Bone, joint, and muscle disorders. (9) Brain, spinal cord and nerve disorders. (10) Mental health disorders. (11) Disorders of nutrition and metabolism. (12) Hormonal disorders. (13) Blood disorders. (14) Cancer. (15) Immune disorders. (16) Infections. (17) Skin disorders. (18) Mouth and dental disorders. (19) Ear, nose, and throat disorders. (20) Eye disorders. (21) Men's health issues. (22) Women's health issues. (23) Children's health issues. (24) Older people's health issues. (25) Injuries and poisoning. (26) Special subjects.In conclusion, this is a book that should be in every home as a health reference guide.Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a Politician)My wife is a retired nurse and she researches medical things all the time. This volume is a recent update of the one she used for the prior 20 years and she has tremendous appreciation for the presentation of the material within these covers. She recommends it for family use.I have just started a Reflexology course and used this book for my first few pathologies. All the information I was looking for was in this book, hope this continues and would recommend.Bought this book for an elderly friend who has delved into it already and is very satisfied with the information providedAmerican version of Complete Medical reference, ideal for family health awareness. The sections are laid out logically and concisely, easily presented for the lay person. Delivered quickly and in pristine condition, huge saving on the well known high street bookstores.Excellent medical info written in language which is comprehensible to the lay person. Not for putting in your handbag, though, as it's a big fat tome.very useful