Kindle for EM texts?

[papichulodoc]

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I'm sick and tired of buying expensive books and having them sit on the shelf collecting dust until the next version comes out. It's not very functional to carry Tintinalli around with you. Has anyone purchased the Kindle or another ebook reader, and if so do you like reading textbooks on them?

Why can't we move ahead with the times, stop wasting paper and make books digital?

 

[SoCuteMD]

My alternate solution was to have Tintinalli chopped up into bite size pieces and bound. Now I carry sections around with me whenever I anticipate free time.

 

[BADMD]

I'm sick and tired of buying expensive books and having them sit on the shelf collecting dust until the next version comes out. It's not very functional to carry Tintinalli around with you. Has anyone purchased the Kindle or another ebook reader, and if so do you like reading textbooks on them?

Why can't we move ahead with the times, stop wasting paper and make books digital?

I have a copy of Casarett & Doull's for my Kindle. It isn't bad. The problem is that many images and tables are not formatted for a kindle size screen, and even with zooming can be hard to read. I haven't downloaded any other texts. I do like that I can whip it out at any point and do some board review.

 

[papichulodoc]

That's what I thought, that tables and figures wouldn't look right on a kindle. I'm ready for the technology but its just not there yet.

I too broke up Tintinalli and bounded it but it gets beat up. I would love the day when I can access all of my references on my handheld/ebook reader.

Can someone come up with the answer?

 

[Venko]

I have a kindle from before and have had an iPad for the past year now. I have multiple EM texts (First Aid for EM boards by Blok, pitfalls in EM by Goyal...) on my devices. The neat thing about the iPad is that you can run all the kindle books for free on it and they look as good if not better on the iPad. The kindle had the advantage of no glare in the sun, but the iPad can play my music while I read all from one device as I ride the bus and trains to work everyday.

I highly recommend the e-reader system for studying, but only if you can do without annotations for now. The other advantage by the way for the iPad is that I load all of my journal articles there and so when I get into a debate about the lack of utility of gastric lavage in Gi bleed, I can pull out the journals and show them to the questioning physician, resident, medical student, nurse or whomever....it ends conversations quickly 🙂

Cheers,
TL

 

[Stitch]

I have a kindle from before and have had an iPad for the past year now. I have multiple EM texts (First Aid for EM boards by Blok, pitfalls in EM by Goyal...) on my devices. The neat thing about the iPad is that you can run all the kindle books for free on it and they look as good if not better on the iPad. The kindle had the advantage of no glare in the sun, but the iPad can play my music while I read all from one device as I ride the bus and trains to work everyday.

I highly recommend the e-reader system for studying, but only if you can do without annotations for now. The other advantage by the way for the iPad is that I load all of my journal articles there and so when I get into a debate about the lack of utility of gastric lavage in Gi bleed, I can pull out the journals and show them to the questioning physician, resident, medical student, nurse or whomever....it ends conversations quickly 🙂

Cheers,
TL

👍

I love my iPad for this reason and have put a few med texts on it. It's cheaper than a standard text too, though not by much.

 

[Hamhock]

I'm sick and tired of buying expensive books and having them sit on the shelf collecting dust until the next version comes out. It's not very functional to carry Tintinalli around with you. Has anyone purchased the Kindle or another ebook reader, and if so do you like reading textbooks on them?

Why can't we move ahead with the times, stop wasting paper and make books digital?

As I remember reading your residency reviews way back when (thank you, by the way - they were great), I know you are no longer a resident, but if you are still affiliated with an academic program - or for resident/MS readers out there - it seems to me that the iPad is the perfect answer to this.

All the centers I have worked at over the past four years (admittedly only four, but still...) have had online access to both Tints and Rosens (plus many more). As long as you have an internet connection, reading these on the iPad is quite nice...my opinion: way better than spending money for each new version of the texts; way better than torn bits of Tints; way better the Kindle for anything; etc.

HH

 

[BADMD]

As long as you have an internet connection, reading these on the iPad is quite nice... way better the Kindle

If you want a book reader, choose a book reader. If you want an iPad, get an iPad. The Kindle e-ink gives far less eye fatigue and is faster at reading functions. There is no need to log into websites, as the book is aways ready to go, right where you left off. The battery life of the Kindle blows the doors off the iPad. For the $50 upgrade, you get 3G service included, so you can buy books from anywhere and even use the included Web browser. The Kindle is a fair bit cheaper. After using the two devices for book reading, both my wife and I chose to get Kindles. We went into it expecting to buy iPads.

 

[Venko]

If you want a book reader, choose a book reader. If you want an iPad, get an iPad. The Kindle e-ink gives far less eye fatigue and is faster at reading functions. There is no need to log into websites, as the book is aways ready to go, right where you left off. The battery life of the Kindle blows the doors off the iPad. For the $50 upgrade, you get 3G service included, so you can buy books from anywhere and even use the included Web browser. The Kindle is a fair bit cheaper. After using the two devices for book reading, both my wife and I chose to get Kindles. We went into it expecting to buy iPads.

As an owner of both a kindle and an iPad...I would chose the iPad

 

[mlw47]

What I really want is Tintinalli, Rosen's, and the other big EM texts to come out with iPad versions that takes advantage of the color screen and allows interactive capability so you can cross-reference stuff like the AccessMedicine site does. The problem with the Kindle is that the screen is still relatively small, it doesn't have connectivity to the internet, and the screen is grey.

 

[BADMD]

it doesn't have connectivity to the internet

Actually it does. No flash. But then again, neither does the iPad.

 

[mlw47]

Actually it does. No flash. But then again, neither does the iPad.

Yeah, but it's not the same. The kindle doesn't have real internet features. Granted, the iPad doesn't have flash, but it still does a lot.

I'm just waiting for the day that I can ditch real textbooks for something electronic. If you guys know something that I don't, please show me the light.

 

[deleted109597]

The Android slates are coming out, and unlike his holiness Jobs, know the utility of flash.

 

[papichulodoc]

Thanks for the feedback HH! Happy to hear you found the reviews were useful to you. Yes, I am at an academic program, thankfully we have access to the library and electronic resources. It's just now as the new wave of texts are coming out, I've come to the realization that half of my bookshelf have to be tossed out. And it's hard throwing out $300 books!

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[Antibodies]

Thanks for the feedback HH! Happy to hear you found the reviews were useful to you. Yes, I am at an academic program, thankfully we have access to the library and electronic resources. It's just now as the new wave of texts are coming out, I've come to the realization that half of my bookshelf have to be tossed out. And it's hard throwing out $300 books!

Thanks for everyone's input!

E-books aren't much cheaper from what I saw.

 

[confuse]

I'm looking into ebook readers. It sounds like the new Kindle is the best option according to CNET. In terms of Kindle vs. Ipad, there is a huge price difference. The new Kindle is $139 vs. $499 for an IPAD, and the Kindle does play music and contains wifi access. I'd figure I'll get the Kindle and with the price of an IPAD, I can get a decent Netbook which is a real portable computer vs. an IPAD which is a half ebook reader, half wannabe computer.

 

[Un rxed]

I agree with what's written here. Just wanted to add that the Kindle has an iPhone app (in addition to an iPad app) that allows you to read on the go without Wifi or 3G. Found it VERY helpful both in the department and studying for boards.