Customer Reviews

Miller's Anesthesia 2 volume set: Expert Consult - Online and Print, 7e

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased the electronic edition for my Kindle reader (not a DX) hoping to have this gold-standard reference text in a portable format. This is not a review of content (which, in its 7th edition, accumulates a hundred-plus years of collective anesthetic knowledge) but of the electronic formatting applied to a well-regarded text.

The single star rating sums up my assessment of the electronic adaptation of the textbook.

1. Failed font application
--The font grayscale covers a wide spectrum depending on organizational heirarchy (title, authors name, subject heading, captions, sidebar text, main text) but is often so faint as to be nearly illegible. I posit that this may reflect adaptations of colored printing to a B & W format, nevertheless, it's a crucial editorial oversight/neglect that renders this text nearly unusable

2. Poorly developed table of contents
--The TOC should have a direct link from the menu, instead, the reader must click Menu / Go-to... / 5way navigate to the TOC button
--The TOC lacks subheadings for the chapters. This is a 3000+ page textbook in 102 chapters giving an average 30+ page chapter length. Thirty paper pages is likely thirty pages on a DX but a lot more on the standard Kindle, or when font size is enlarged for ease of reading. The information dense text is extensively subdivided into topic headings that are, essentially, brief articles within each chapter. There is no effective means of skimming chapter sub-headings.
--The main TOC should have expandable subheadings. Each chapter should begin with another active TOC for sections within that chapter.

3. Awkward incorporation of graphics
--Most of the graphics are reproduced with adequate resolution (with zooming) and are accessible from active links within the text.
--The (low-res, small format) graphics still appear as part of the text-flow and interfere with cognitive continuity while reading and increase the number of page turns for a given subsection.
--Chart and table navigation is acceptable but clumsy when spread over more than one screen, more a device limitation than formatting issue.

Note to the publisher: developers of Miller (or any textbook) for electronic format would do well to look at how the New Yorker Magazine is put together for the Kindle.

I can't believe I'm the first to write a review for this new edition that's been out for months. I searched online before purchasing recently to find if anyone had a review comparing this with the sixth edition and came up empty. I ended up purchasing after browsing a copy that a colleague had purchased.

This edition is about 100 pages shorter than the sixth edition across both volumes (3100 vs 3200). However, the two volumes of the seventh edition stacked together manage to be a solid inch less thick. This seems to be achieved with a slight, acceptably smaller font, as well as notably better quality paper. What's truly impressive about this revision is the addition of color throughout... lot's of color pictures and graphs, as well as borders that generally make the book much more visually stunning. I can't comment on the extra online features that come with the pricier version, but this version gives searchable online fulltext like the prior edition.

The few chapters and sections I've read seem to have been edited much better and I think this text is in general much more approachable than the last edition. In my practice, I've previously reviewed Barash or Morgan/Mikhail for brief matters and only consulted Miller when I wanted to really delve into a topic. With the way this edition reads, I'm solidly in the Miller camp and will use this as my primary reference.

I bought this book, from this seller and the order only included 1 volume!!!!!
The description says it's a hardcover book, over 3000 pages, but it doesn't say thy are selling you HALF the book.
Now I am stuck, because no one sell the other voleme by itself.

This book is excellent assistent for begginers and for professionals. Strongly reccomend it for all professionals.