Good Reference Text, Bad For Class

Like every other med student in the world, I bought WAY too many books when I first started med school. For anatomy I purchased: Clinically Oriented Anatomy ("Big Moore"), Esential Clinical Anatomy ("Little Moore"), and every atlas known to man plus radiology texts. I have used this book the least of them all. I simply do not have time to sit down and wade through the masses of detail that the text contains. Not only does it take to long to read, it makes it more difficult to figure out what is key and what is irrelevant detail. Little Moore is much better suited as a text (when supplemented by good lecture notes and a good atlas) for reading and getting aquainted with the anatomy of a region. In fact, Little Moore really doesn't leave out too much detail.
The images in this text are taken from Grant's Atlas of Anatomy. This atlas is great for using in lab as a dissector companion, but as a refrence for studying it pales in comparison to Netter's. The images are too convoluted and don't effectively isolate the subject from the surrounding tissues (as Netter does so well). The side bars of clinical information are great and very interesting to read, but make the text even longer and denser and can be distracting if you need to get focused.
Overall, "Big Moore" is a great book to have on hand as a reference, but is just too wordy to use as a primary text in a medical school anatomy class. Of course all of this is my opinion and textbook choice is very personal, so in the words of Reading Rainbow, "don't take my word for it, read the book!"