e-reader/tablet

[Warped Apostle]

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With all these new gadgets out there such as e-readers and tablets, are there any gold standard medical textbooks that would be available electronically? I would imagine something as small as kindle would be cheaper and more manageable than those cumbersome textbooks.

 

[sgtbrushes]

KAPLAN offers free MCAT review materials once in awhile if you're signed off for their e-mail spam. As far as course-specific textbooks, none of these will be free - they are too new.

 

[Southcane]

With all these new gadgets out there such as e-readers and tablets, are there any gold standard medical textbooks that would be available electronically? I would imagine something as small as kindle would be cheaper and more manageable than those cumbersome textbooks.

Once you get into med school most school libraries will give you online access to databases that usually have online versions of most clinical textbooks so you can read them online or on an iphone or whatever.

Also, I don't know about all schools, but my med school and about 2 others that my friends go to actually don't have any textbooks for the first 2 years, just class notes... so nothing to worry about there.

 

[WingedOx]

Once you get into med school most school libraries will give you online access to databases that usually have online versions of most clinical textbooks so you can read them online or on an iphone or whatever.

Also, I don't know about all schools, but my med school and about 2 others that my friends go to actually don't have any textbooks for the first 2 years, just class notes... so nothing to worry about there.

I find the online versions of texbooks rather cumbersome to navigate, (of course I feel the same way about real textbooks too 😳)

but pirated versions of First Aid, pre-test, etc are everywhere in med school. Having a kindle for those alone is really nice.

 

[slatermd]

I find the online versions of texbooks rather cumbersome to navigate, (of course I feel the same way about real textbooks too 😳)

but pirated versions of First Aid, pre-test, etc are everywhere in med school. Having a kindle for those alone is really nice.

love those bootlegs

 

[alwaysaangel]

Internet versions of textbooks are annoying. Although, several med schools that are hoping to use more technology in their pre-clinical years are starting to push for textbooks to be available on kindle/ipad. Its not quite there yet though.

Another problem is that the reality is you don't read textbooks all that often in med school. There just isn't time. Its more about review books, practice questions, and online resources (MD by wikipedia anyone?). A lot of the printed material are already available in bootleg pdfs, and I'm sure as time goes on the books themselves will be available on kindle. Its just a matter of time.

 

[tkp]

See the problem with the Kindle is it is not in color. Most informative textbooks contain colorful illustrations so it wouldn't help much to read the book on the kindle. Plus, reading PDF files on the Kindle is very cumbersome.

Now the iPad is whole another matter. I think there is a lot of potential to use it as a textbook reader. Gorgeous color display, easy zoom function.

 

[deleted357625]

I wouldn't get any of those tablets..waste of money

if anything save $ for a laptop, more reasonable

 

[paul411]

There's about to be a new wave of awesome tablets now that run the latest Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS released today. Check YouTube for "Motorola Xoom" or "Motorola Atrix" and prepare to be wooed. They even allow you to even hookup your tablet to a monitor and use it like a normal computer with a keyboard and mouse.

I haven't made it to med school yet, but I made it through undergrad without buying any textbooks and using my Tablet PC. Keeping notes organized was really easy because they were digitized (Microsoft Office OneNote's handwriting recognition is pretty good).

 

[obscurehero]

No thank you. I have an iPad that I won through a contest, and I'm still trying to find ways to make it valuable. A few people told me just to sell it and buy a netbook when I won it, and every once in awhile I feel like I should have. I can't see it being worth the $500 or whatever they're charging for it.

That being said, I hope that I can make use of it as a good place to take notes or read journals and PDFs. I usually like more tactile things, and reading things on the iPad long term might be a bit frustrating. The nice think about the Kindle is the e-ink technology that doesn't rely on that annoying headache giving back-light that LCD's need. It's nice, don't get me wrong, but I think of a few better things to do with $500.

That's my $0.02 anyway.

 

[chrisoc13]

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