Kindle vs old school for books

[Sheldor]

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I'm looking at using some of my educational funds for some books and am finding that most of the Rad Onc books are offered in both a kindle and traditional format. They are priced very close to each other (Really? $10 less for an electronic copy??), so price doesn't really factor into the decision.

Part of me likes the old school shelf ornament way of doing things. The other part of me thinks it would be nice to have my entire rad onc library on my ipad for when I'm on the floor or at tumor boards.

What are the thoughts of current residents/new attendings? Did you wish you had an electronic version?

Thanks for anyone's thoughts!

 

[medgator]

Many books will give you a code for online access on the web

 

[RadOncRudy]

I have an iPad mini that I use all the time with the kindle app for books. I have frequently referenced protocols there and have ended up buying a few of the handbooks I like to also have in the kindle format. I have really liked having these for quick reference as needed throughout the day. One word of caution I have heard about the bigger texts (Gunderson etc.) for kindle is that because of copyright issues there are apparently some images or tables that are not included in these versions. The online codes in the larger texts are great but even if you have apps to allow you to look at the online versions of these on a tablet, I find it's easier to use the internet version on a regular computer or in good old paper format. Good luck!

 

[Carotenoid]

I have several handbooks and small texts on my regular-sized iPad, and I love the ability to have everything in one place, ready to go. I find them not necessarily as easy to use as paper format (hyperlinks don't work, and it is difficult to find the content you are looking for; you can drop bookmarks, but then they are not alphabetically sorted) - but because these handbooks and Springer publications are relatively compact, it doesn't create a huge headache.

Regarding larger texts, such as Gunderson, these difficulties are magnified. The TOCs and the index are not necessarily correctly hyperlinked to the relevant pages in the text (it takes some time to get to TOC; then you click "cervix" and it takes you to the prostate; then you need to get back to TOC, which is not that easy, and note the page for cervix, and scroll through...); many figures and tables are either not included (as RadOncRudy mentions), or are reproduced very small AND in raster format, so even if enlarged they are useless. I do have Gunderson on my iPad, and it is handy in a pinch, but I certainly MUCH prefer the paper version.

In summary, a book that one reads through, page by page, works great on Kindle. Reference books (e.g. travel guides) are still better in print version.