Question about textbooks vs iPad textbooks

[AJ77]

Hello everyone this is my very first post as I have been reading many posts on here for a while now. I am an MS1 about to end my 2nd block and I had a question about replacing textbooks via an iPad. I discovered from a classmate that she uses "Inkling" which is an app where you can buy all your medical textbooks and you never have to carry around books again and can always read on the go etc. Although this concept is very interesting i was wondering if it is as effective as having a physical textbook (I know most peers just use the lecture notes / power point notes given by the professor but, I on the other hand like to use both these notes + books for references and such). I know UCI, stanford, brown, cornell have all adopted the iPad concept and we are more than welcome to use an iPad at our school but i wanted to get some feedback from others that have used this concept of replacing textbooks completely and rather stored on the iPad.

I really appreciate it and thanks again!

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[Epinephreus]

I have tried really hard to be successful with E-books on an iPad and to be honest, it just never works out. I really rely on the physical text and being able to physically highlight for things to stick. But on that note, there are people in my class who seem to do well with Ebooks, so to each their own. Only thing to do is see what works for you.

 

[chronicidal]

prediction: all medical education materials will be predominantly electronic in 5 years. additionally, in 5 years, the majority of medical students will prefer electronic materials over textbooks. get with the future edge of the bell curve, or else you'll show your age.

 

[CodeRedDew]

I have tried really hard to be successful with E-books on an iPad and to be honest, it just never works out. I really rely on the physical text and being able to physically highlight for things to stick. But on that note, there are people in my class who seem to do well with Ebooks, so to each their own. Only thing to do is see what works for you.

I felt exactly the same way entering medical school this semester; however, I've learned to love the E-books on the iPad. Actually, electronic books in general. You don't ever have to lug any physical books around, and you can always conveniently whip out any of your reading material when you're on the go. Also, the highlighting problem can be circumvented as the iPad allows you to do that, while also allowing you to enter notes, pictures, etc. into your reading material. It's great and I plan on digitizing all of my medical books in the future if they're not available online.

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

Hello everyone this is my very first post as I have been reading many posts on here for a while now. I am an MS1 about to end my 2nd block and I had a question about replacing textbooks via an iPad. I discovered from a classmate that she uses "Inkling" which is an app where you can buy all your medical textbooks and you never have to carry around books again and can always read on the go etc. Although this concept is very interesting i was wondering if it is as effective as having a physical textbook (I know most peers just use the lecture notes / power point notes given by the professor but, I on the other hand like to use both these notes + books for references and such). I know UCI, stanford, brown, cornell have all adopted the iPad concept and we are more than welcome to use an iPad at our school but i wanted to get some feedback from others that have used this concept of replacing textbooks completely and rather stored on the iPad.

I really appreciate it and thanks again!

I am a happy Inkling user. I carry around 15 books with me all the time including Harrison's Internal Medicine, big Robbins Pathology, and Costanzo's Physiology. If only First Aid were on there I would be golden.

There are some great things about Inkling ebooks that are better than the physical textbook or even other ebooks. There are no pages and so the text just flows like it should with you finger swipe. Pictures can be brought up to full screen with the press of a button. The search feature is a godsend when you are trying to look up a particular disease or topic. Many articles have videos imbedded in the text that you can watch. I use a lot of BRS review books and the ability to do a multiple choice chapter review and then erase my answers is a nice feature as well. You have the option of buying chapters instead of full books if you want. You have access to your books even with no internet connection.

There are some cons to Inkling. The books are still almost full price and you can't resell them, obviously. If you get a lot of book like me you end up taking a lot of room on your iPads hard drive, though you can erase books from you hard drive and then download then from the cloud when you want to read them again. The apps still has a few bugs now and then and you have to close it out because a chapter won't load and freezes but its not too bad.

Inkling is free and I encourage you to try it if you are curious. Each book gives you one free chapter and you can see how you like it. The three I mentioned at the beginning are the ones I probably use most.

 

[deleted500612]

(To the above poster: with a quick google search you'll see that you can download first aid in pdf format)

 

[AJ77]

I am a happy Inkling user. I carry around 15 books with me all the time including Harrison's Internal Medicine, big Robbins Pathology, and Costanzo's Physiology. If only First Aid were on there I would be golden.

There are some great things about Inkling ebooks that are better than the physical textbook or even other ebooks. There are no pages and so the text just flows like it should with you finger swipe. Pictures can be brought up to full screen with the press of a button. The search feature is a godsend when you are trying to look up a particular disease or topic. Many articles have videos imbedded in the text that you can watch. I use a lot of BRS review books and the ability to do a multiple choice chapter review and then erase my answers is a nice feature as well. You have the option of buying chapters instead of full books if you want. You have access to your books even with no internet connection.

There are some cons to Inkling. The books are still almost full price and you can't resell them, obviously. If you get a lot of book like me you end up taking a lot of room on your iPads hard drive, though you can erase books from you hard drive and then download then from the cloud when you want to read them again. The apps still has a few bugs now and then and you have to close it out because a chapter won't load and freezes but its not too bad.

Inkling is free and I encourage you to try it if you are curious. Each book gives you one free chapter and you can see how you like it. The three I mentioned at the beginning are the ones I probably use most.

Thanks! i really appreciate you taking the time to give me some feedback on Inkling. The netter's atlas isn't available as well right?

 

[AJ77]

Thanks all for responding to my post i do appreciate it! I am trying to figure out if Ebooks is a better fit for my needs rather than having the physical textbook but it is sort of hard to adjust not sure if its because i have been using a physical textbook all my life.

 

[CodeRedDew]

Thanks all for responding to my post i do appreciate it! I am trying to figure out if Ebooks is a better fit for my needs rather than having the physical textbook but it is sort of hard to adjust not sure if its because i have been using a physical textbook all my life.

Take the plunge! It may be weird at first but you'll learn to love it and it becomes much more efficient in terms of organization and accessibility.

 

[ulikedaggers]

Ebooks are great for referencing. I would never want to read pages and pages of an ebook though. Search function as well as always having the book with you on your computer/tablet is great when the book is only being used as a reference.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

So far the rate limiting step has been availability and an intuitive platform.

I think inkling is an awesome format (and to its credit now has 2 of the 3 major surgical textbooks), but it still only has <25 medical textbooks available in total.

The "online versions" that come with a lot of textbook these days are really difficult to use.

I think publishers are slowly starting to come around, but having everything you need at your fingertips (in an easy to read format) is still a ways off.

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

Thanks! i really appreciate you taking the time to give me some feedback on Inkling. The netter's atlas isn't available as well right?

No but Netters has its own app that is very good.

 

[AJ77]

No but Netters has its own app that is very good.

Which app is this the 70-90$ one for the iPad?

 

[AJ77]

Take the plunge! It may be weird at first but you'll learn to love it and it becomes much more efficient in terms of organization and accessibility.

I do need to take the plunge! But just hesitant because it could glitch one day and you loose all your notes ?

 

[AJ77]

Ebooks are great for referencing. I would never want to read pages and pages of an ebook though. Search function as well as always having the book with you on your computer/tablet is great when the book is only being used as a reference.

Do you just prefer reading physical text?

 

[ulikedaggers]

Do you just prefer reading physical text?

Yeah. Highlighting and annotating is also much quicker (for me) with physical text. I also don't carry around several text books though.. Usually I only have the course syllabus and maybe the HY book; which you already know is tiny.

 

[deleted500612]

I do need to take the plunge! But just hesitant because it could glitch one day and you loose all your notes ?

You can have all your notes and documents automatically backed up on iCloud or google drive

 

[AJ77]

Yeah. Highlighting and annotating is also much quicker (for me) with physical text. I also don't carry around several text books though.. Usually I only have the course syllabus and maybe the HY book; which you already know is tiny.

Yeah I agree I do annotate and highlight faster with the physical textbook as well.

 

[mvenus929]

Ebooks are great for referencing. I would never want to read pages and pages of an ebook though. Search function as well as always having the book with you on your computer/tablet is great when the book is only being used as a reference.

Agreed. I have no issues using ebooks for quick references, but I had to buy all my review books in hardcopy form, because that was the only way I could really use them. I do use my iPad for storing all my journal articles (via Dropbox), though, so that's nice when I need to reference something quickly, and I can usually do whatever annotating I need on there pretty easily.

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

Which app is this the 70-90$ one for the iPad?

yes

 

[madcowz]

Be careful with Inkling. I bought Grant's atlas on Inkling and later got a look at a classmate's physical copy of the same edition. There were so many useful images left out on Inkling. No other complaints... but that's kind of a big one.

 

[AJ77]

Be careful with Inkling. I bought Grant's atlas on Inkling and later got a look at a classmate's physical copy of the same edition. There were so many useful images left out on Inkling. No other complaints... but that's kind of a big one.

Oh wow! that's good to know thanks!

 

[notbobtrustme]

I used to be gung-ho about iPad review books and got a bunch of pdfs for M1. It was a pain in the ass to use, especially when you are trying to look something up.

If I wanted to use a reference, I just found it easier to google it on my laptop. Having a physical book is so much more convenient. I may change my mind next year when on the floors, but right now, I much prefer the physical book, because you can find **** so much faster.

 

[ulikedaggers]

I used to be gung-ho about iPad review books and got a bunch of pdfs for M1. It was a pain in the ass to use, especially when you are trying to look something up.

If I wanted to use a reference, I just found it easier to google it on my laptop. Having a physical book is so much more convenient. I may change my mind next year when on the floors, but right now, I much prefer the physical book, because you can find **** so much faster.

Eh idk, I can find stuff much faster in a searchable PDF than a physical book. I still prefer to read/study from physical books though.

 

[Taels]

I am a happy Inkling user. I carry around 15 books with me all the time including Harrison's Internal Medicine, big Robbins Pathology, and Costanzo's Physiology. If only First Aid were on there I would be golden.

There are some great things about Inkling ebooks that are better than the physical textbook or even other ebooks. There are no pages and so the text just flows like it should with you finger swipe. Pictures can be brought up to full screen with the press of a button. The search feature is a godsend when you are trying to look up a particular disease or topic. Many articles have videos imbedded in the text that you can watch. I use a lot of BRS review books and the ability to do a multiple choice chapter review and then erase my answers is a nice feature as well. You have the option of buying chapters instead of full books if you want. You have access to your books even with no internet connection.

There are some cons to Inkling. The books are still almost full price and you can't resell them, obviously. If you get a lot of book like me you end up taking a lot of room on your iPads hard drive, though you can erase books from you hard drive and then download then from the cloud when you want to read them again. The apps still has a few bugs now and then and you have to close it out because a chapter won't load and freezes but its not too bad.

Inkling is free and I encourage you to try it if you are curious. Each book gives you one free chapter and you can see how you like it. The three I mentioned at the beginning are the ones I probably use most.

I second that.

I think inkling is an awesome format (and to its credit now has 2 of the 3 major surgical textbooks),

Sabiston is coming to Inkling on early 2014.

 

[CognitiveCheese]

Physical textbooks are way easier to flip through, easier to highlight, and easier to notate with post-its. iPad textbooks are wonderful because it is possible to search for keywords and it is way lighter, but that's the only thing it has over a physical book. I prefer carrying ebooks around, since they are lighter but wold rather read a physical book at home.

Pdf books (just images) on iPad are terrible. I used 2 pdf textbooks this semester and really missed the physical book. They were so tedious to use in every way.

 

[CodeRedDew]

Physical textbooks are way easier to flip through, easier to highlight, and easier to notate with post-its. iPad textbooks are wonderful because it is possible to search for keywords and it is way lighter, but that's the only thing it has over a physical book. I prefer carrying ebooks around, since they are lighter but wold rather read a physical book at home.

Pdf books (just images) on iPad are terrible. I used 2 pdf textbooks this semester and really missed the physical book. They were so tedious to use in every way.

Just out of curiosity, was it a PDF book without bookmarks? I find that a PDF book with bookmarks that correspond to the table of contents is easier to use than a physical book. You just click on the chapter and bam, you're there. No need to flip through pages to get to a certain chapter.

 

[CognitiveCheese]

Just out of curiosity, was it a PDF book without bookmarks? I find that a PDF book with bookmarks that correspond to the table of contents is easier to use than a physical book. You just click on the chapter and bam, you're there. No need to flip through pages to get to a certain chapter.

Yeah, a couple of the books were just pdf copies of the textbook pages. No links from the table of contents. Also, no way to search words. I used them because they are free online copies that come with the purchased textbooks. Definitely not better than a real textbook.

I used kindle bookmarks to get to chapters and the glossary/index more quickly and that was ok. It became tedious when I was looking for specific sections in a chapter if I wanted to cite something or check myself. It would have been much easier to flip through a book. I also like to write down definitions from the glossary for every chapter, and that was also harder.

Maybe there are better apps than kindle. For me it has been easier to jump back and forth between parts of the book by holding pages with a pencil or my finger, rather than searching through my kindle bookmarks.

 

[vagabondrunning]

I like the GoodReader app for annotating and reading PDFs. I sync it with my Dropbox or Box account.