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The national reference reading list, reproduced here in full, plus the editions residents actually read in 2026 — with recommended journals, a year-wise reading plan, and the references you'll need for your thesis and practical.
These 20 titles come from the National Board of Examinations curriculum document for Microbiology, reproduced spelling and abbreviations included — MD and DNB candidates sit the same clinical work and read the same texts, so use it as your scope anchor and check your own university’s syllabus alongside it.
Reference list source: the National Board MD Microbiology curriculum
The books most residents actually buy. These are the editions in circulation now, with a note on whether each is something you read cover to cover, keep as a reference, or open only for the viva.
These are the microbiology titles residents send us to print most often — the books that actually come through the shop, alongside the official list above.
We print files you send us. We do not host, sell or supply book PDFs — send us a file you are entitled to print and we print and bind it.
Journal club and the “recent advances” parts of the theory paper come from here. You do not need to read all of them — pick the two Indian journals and one international one and follow them properly.
Three years is less time than it sounds. The order below is what works for most MD Microbiology residents — broad and readable first, reference-level later, revision and drilling last.
Read Ananthanarayan cover to cover alongside daily bench work, and start Mackie & McCartney for practicals; fix basics of media, sterilisation, staining and biosafety, and register the thesis protocol.
Move to Jawetz and Koneman for depth, work systematically through CLSI-based AST and hospital infection control, and cover parasitology (Parija) and mycology; collect thesis data and present journal clubs.
Consolidate with Mandell for clinical correlation, revise Ananthanarayan two to three times, do full spotter and OSPE practice from Koneman and Parija, complete the thesis, and drill past the National Board theory questions.
Protocol, methodology and reporting standards examiners expect you to have followed.
Books and material specifically useful for the clinical, spotter and viva stations.
Sitting the DNB instead? The same reading list, written for the NBE exam, is on the DNB Microbiology books page.
The national curriculum document for Microbiology lists 20 titles, beginning with Ananthanarayan & Paniker's Textbook of Microbiology, Orient Longsman. The full list is reproduced on this page exactly as it is published.
Ananthanarayan and Paniker's Textbook of Microbiology by Kanungo (ed.) is the usual anchor. First-pass reading and revision spine for the whole subject; most Indian residents build notes from it.
Yes — we list the edition in circulation now for each title. Editions move quickly, so confirm the current one before you buy or print.
No. Most residents own three or four and use the department or library copy for the rest. That is exactly why printing selected chapters from a PDF works out cheaper than buying volumes you will open twice.
We print from the PDF you send us. Send the file on WhatsApp with your page count and whether you want colour, black and white or mixed, and we print, bind and deliver anywhere in India. We do not supply copyrighted book files.
Black and white is 50 paise per page, colour is Rs 1 per page, and binding is Rs 40 per copy. A 400-page mixed set with binding usually works out around Rs 300 plus delivery.
Send the PDF on WhatsApp — colour Rs 1/page, B&W 50p/page, binding Rs 40. Printed, bound and delivered anywhere in India.
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