pathbooks on Kindle

[pathstudent]

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Has anyone bought any path books on kindle. i think they would be awesome but they are not that much cheaper than the regular text.

Also it would be great if journals like AJSP would be available on kindle.

 

[oldfatman]

Has anyone bought any path books on kindle. i think they would be awesome but they are not that much cheaper than the regular text.

Also it would be great if journals like AJSP would be available on kindle.

How are going to have a work-life balance if you carry all of your stuff around with you all of the time?

 

[pathstudent]

How are going to have a work-life balance if you carry all of your stuff around with you all of the time?

It would just be nice to have all your texts on one electronic device. Sort of like getting rid off all the CDs. And I think journals would be fantastic on a kindle. Imagine if as a resident they just gave you a kindle or an ipad with Rosai, Odze, Weiss, Kurman et al...., AFIP books and WHO books on it.

I think I will try one and see if it has drawbacks versus just using a book. I would be more incentivized if it was considerably cheaper than the physical text.

 

[KCShaw]

Does look like they have them in color now, but I haven't seen anyone with a path book on one yet. I have several texts in large PDFs that I use from time to time, but most of my regularly used books are still a strained wrist away on the shelf. Personally can't see myself spending that kind of cash, nearly that of the hardback (many with accompanying CD), on such a "new" format, especially with a rocky DRM history. Some other books, though, are absurdly cheaper in kindle format..

 

[BU Pathology]

I have had a Kindle for over 2 years, I love it and use it every day. From pulp fiction to President Eisenhower's biography, plain text is great to read on the device. For $14 a month the NY Times gets automatically downloaded at 5 AM for reading. It is great to have it perfectly formatted and no ads.

However, I would not use a Kindle for a pathology textbook or to read a pdf of a scientific paper. First, the screen resolution for pictures is only fair, and you will never get the detail that you need. Second, graphs and other figures are sometimes distorted because of the formatting. Third, while bookmarking is easy, it is difficult to jump back and forth.

The Kindle is a great product, but is would not be good for path books.

 

[Aubrey]

FWIW, I think the electronic implementation of Sternberg is pretty darn good. Searchable, easily convertable to PDFs to take along with you, good image resolution. I say check it out.

 

[pathstudent]

I have had a Kindle for over 2 years, I love it and use it every day. From pulp fiction to President Eisenhower's biography, plain text is great to read on the device. For $14 a month the NY Times gets automatically downloaded at 5 AM for reading. It is great to have it perfectly formatted and no ads.

However, I would not use a Kindle for a pathology textbook or to read a pdf of a scientific paper. First, the screen resolution for pictures is only fair, and you will never get the detail that you need. Second, graphs and other figures are sometimes distorted because of the formatting. Third, while bookmarking is easy, it is difficult to jump back and forth.

The Kindle is a great product, but is would not be good for path books.

Thanks.

That is all I need to know.

 

[KCShaw]

Anyone have comparisons of book/scientific image quality on other newish portable devices, such as an iPad or android based pad? With kindle readers making their way to such devices that becomes an option too, and at least on a desktop or decent laptop my PDF textbooks and journal articles are dandy (though I agree with the relative difficulty of flipping back and forth or just flipping pages to scan semi-blindly for certain things).

 

[Sulfinator]

I have been using an iPad to view PDFs of journal articles. It works pretty well and is at least as comfortable to read on the iPad as on a laptop. I still find that 'ease of reading' is better with a paper copy, but the iPad sure makes it a lot more convenient for keeping up with the articles and searching them. The resolution is very good, even after zooming in to look at the figures (be they graphs or microscopic photos). Overall, I give it a thumbs up.

I haven't ventured into using the iPad to read any books that are rich with graphics (like your typical pathology book).

 

[DrBloodmoney]

I have a rooted Nook Color which is an android based tablet. I use it mainly for reading journal articles and several pathology books of uncertain provenance. It's pretty great. Hopefully we'll all have our libraries on there in the future.

I have a Kindle also. It's probably my favorite gadget and it basically goes everywhere with me. It's awesome for reading fiction/non-fiction, but it is not very usable for reading path pdfs. It works but you won't want to use it for that after the novelty wears off.

 

[oldfatman]

I have a Kindle also. It's probably my favorite gadget and it basically goes everywhere with me. It's awesome for reading fiction/non-fiction, but it is not very usable for reading path pdfs. It works but you won't want to use it for that after the novelty wears off.

I need paper. My eyes glaze over after staring at a screen for a few hours.

 

[gbwillner]

However, I would not use a Kindle for a pathology textbook or to read a pdf of a scientific paper. First, the screen resolution for pictures is only fair, and you will never get the detail that you need. Second, graphs and other figures are sometimes distorted because of the formatting. Third, while bookmarking is easy, it is difficult to jump back and forth.

The Kindle is a great product, but is would not be good for path books.

I disagree with the above. I have the Kindle DX (which is like twice as big as the regular kindle), and have many of the standard Path books in it.

A lot of these books are available in PDF format (look at your local medical library for a copy). The Kindle can display the PDF in ~85% of the native size while looking it vertically, and ~115% while looking at it horizontally (you have to scroll to see the whole page). The resolution of the image is actually excellent.

There are two main downsides to this approach. First, you lose the color. While this may be a big deal for a first year resident, if you already know somehting about the enitity you are looking up/reading about it is much less important. Secondly, archiving is a pain on the device, and if you have a 2500 page book (like the new Modern Surgical Path textbook) on a single file, it is very slow to turn the page, much less search for your specific query. You can change the format of the file to the Amazon format, which improves its funtion dramatically (you can have the device read the book to you, annotate, etc.) but this is only available on a small number of texts. The solution to this problem is to archive each book as a folder and each chapter as a separate book.

Using the above technique I have successfully added books such as Odze, Mod Surg Pathology, the entire Foundations series and WHO series, and others, into a single device. Now, if I'm at my desk and have those books handy, of course I will grab the book. But if I'm at home, or at a coffee shop or lab or whatever, I have access to all the same information. It is also good for just picking up and reading a chapter.

I agree though, that unless you have the DX version the above would not be worth it.

 

[Deucedano]

http://www.kno.com/the-kno

an electronic device specifically for that function among others. This is a topic I have been thinking about for the past few months. It lead me to all the new tablet computers coming out within the next few months (most will be announced at the upcoming CES 2011 on Thursday).

Its pretty exciting and crazy how many/diverse these things are getting. Also check out http://www.engadget.com/topics/tabletpcs for updates and a preview of whats coming.

 

[gbwillner]

I have been using an iPad to view PDFs of journal articles. It works pretty well and is at least as comfortable to read on the iPad as on a laptop. I still find that 'ease of reading' is better with a paper copy, but the iPad sure makes it a lot more convenient for keeping up with the articles and searching them.

That's the advantage of the Kindle. It "feels" like reading paper. the iPad is a glorified iPhone with an illuminated computer screen. This causes a lot of eye strain. I can read news articles on the computer since they are short and I don't have to pay that much attention. But a paper or book chapter? Forget it. It hurts my brain, and I can't focus. The Kindle eliminates that problem. Similarly, the Kindle can be used daily for weeks before needing to be recharged, while the iPad lasts 10hrs.

 

[fenixmxpx]

Hello dear partners, I just want to know where i can download Foundations in diagnostic pathology books in PDF, especially genitourinary pathology.
Thank you very much.

 

[yaah]

Hello dear partners, I just want to know where i can download Foundations in diagnostic pathology books in PDF, especially genitourinary pathology.
Thank you very much.

Any such request would likely be a violation of copyright rules, and thus cannot be discussed here.

 

[KCShaw]

Feel free to deluge (legitimate) publishers with requests for making their texts formally available as an ebook of some sort. Amazon.com, for example, has a link with its books to do basically that -- forward a request to the publisher to make it available on Kindle (which has a free reader for most any platform), at any rate. Legitimate ebooks, while not free unless they've reverted to public domain, are generally oodles cheaper and obviously more convenient in many ways, though often strapped with DRM. Unfortunately most textbooks make essentially all of their money off of a small niche market, unlike popular non-textbooks and novels, so the price difference if/when they go the ebook route may not be as dramatic as it sometimes is with wider market books. But if a publisher can get away with printing only a few example texts, or none at all, and avoid the printing costs...well, they have some motivation to go the ebook route too.

 

[tco]

That's the advantage of the Kindle. It "feels" like reading paper. the iPad is a glorified iPhone with an illuminated computer screen. This causes a lot of eye strain. I can read news articles on the computer since they are short and I don't have to pay that much attention. But a paper or book chapter? Forget it. It hurts my brain, and I can't focus. The Kindle eliminates that problem. Similarly, the Kindle can be used daily for weeks before needing to be recharged, while the iPad lasts 10hrs.

I know...Isn't it really inconvenient to have to charge those pesky electronics devices while you sleep? It's almost like you can't even use them then.