Fields Books

MEDLINE archives change daily and PubMed services change almost weekly, yet it's been four years since the last guide to MEDLINE was published, and there have been only two books before this one that focused solely on MEDLINE and were intended for professionals, rather than consumers. If you choose only one guide, this is the one to get.

Chapter 1 provides an overview of medical bibliographic databases and tips for when to use which ones. Chapter 2 is an orientation to MEDLINE's structure and to basic search strategies, as well as an intro to the pros and cons of PubMed (free) vs. Ovid (fee). Stave goes into both in considerable depth in separate chapters devoted to each service. The two appendices cover Ovid's evidence-based medicine reviews collection (Cochrane's Database of Systematic Reviews, for instance) and other databases, such as ClinicalTrials.gov and LOCATORplus. There's a five-page glossary at the end, too, so you'll know what terms such as "check tags" and "explode" mean in this context.

HIGHLIGHTS:

This smallish book is filled with full-color screenshots, often two or three to a page, which is invaluable in helping the reader understand the explanations in the narrative text. The author gives detailed instructions for designing search strategies and other approaches to try if your first attempts don't produce the results you need. The effect is like looking over the author's shoulder while he patiently explains things to you, step by step.

The core sections on PubMed and Ovid are each broken down into three subsections:

* Overview, Screens, and Tools;
* Searching (by single citation, author or using various methods for topics); and
* Post-Search Data Management.

The data management section covers downloading and saving your search results, using commercial citation management software, and ordering full-text articles when they're not available free. The orientation to MEDLINE's relatively new Cubby service, alone, will make your searches less frustrating and time-consuming almost instantly. And did you know that, contrary to what many supposed experts say, you can search online for articles published pre-MEDLINE, from 1985-1965? (See LOCATORplus.)

This is a book you need to keep handy while you're working on becoming more of a whiz at online research, so it's designed to tuck into a lab or suit coat pocket (about 8 in. H x 4.5 in. W). It's basically a lucid, logical tutorial. If you invest the time to go through each of the five or so search strategies included in both the PubMed and Ovid sections, you will not only get better results, but you will surely save countless hours ever after.

LIMITATIONS:

Overall, this book is a gem. The only serious drawback is that the narrative text is in 8-point type, which makes it extremely difficult to read if you're over 40 (or younger, but tired). It would also be far easier to use in spiral-bound rather than perfect-bound format. If the publisher reprints it, let's hope they ditch the pocket-sized guide idea and whatever motivation to save printing costs that influenced the decision of the design for this first edition and make readability and usability higher priorities.

SUMMARY:

The Field Guide to MEDLINE is a clear, comprehensive and simple but not simplistic guide. It's an essential how-to and reference book for anyone who needs to search medical literature online, either frequently or occasionally.

Some of my favorites?...Assholius Trentlottius (p.23), The Weeping Goddwit- "Assholius Religious" (p.19) and the Starr-Eyed Smirker- "Assholier Thanthousis" (p.69)

If you need a good laugh, you will deffinately find it here. I am surprised this one isn't a National Bestsleller! Has America lost its sense of humor or are we getting sensitive?

My last piece of advice: The Politically Correct crowd should deffinately avoid this one!

As a child growing up on the eastern seaboard of the U.S., and obsessed with seashells, the gastropods of the Pacific Ocean beckoned to me more strongly than any seaweed bedecked sirens in my 8th grade Latin book.

And this was the book that fueled by imaginations. The heck with Botticelli and his "Venus on a half-shell" or Cyndy Crawford's teeth -- this book illustrates and explains some of the most beautiful pieces of calcium carbonate ever secreted by man or mollusc.

And this was the book that fueled by imaginations. The heck with Botticelli and his "Venus on a half-shell" -- this book illustrates and explains some of the most beautiful pieces of calcium carbonate ever secreted by man or mollusc.

Any photographer who is interested in capturing the true strength of a tree (or trees) on film should hunt down this informative guide for some serious tips and technique. Allen Rokach is a gifted photographer and his work is presented in color photographs throughout.

Well worth the effort to find it.

New Zealand is indeed fortunate in the number of bird books which have been published over the past century. Back in 1953, the Ornithological Society of NZ published a "Checklist of New Zealand Birds". In 1959, the Society approached RA Falla, RB Sibson & EG Turbott to compile a practical field guide.

In 1966, this appeared as "A Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand", published by Collins. It rapidly became the bible for several generations of field ornithologists. Several revisions of the original field guide were made, up to 1978. They all grace my bookshelf.

Finally, in 1976, almost 20 years later, this new guide has appeared. It isn't quite as portable as the original, but contains a wealth of information. The guide is divided into two sections.

The first 150 pages are an indentification guide, with brief descriptions and distribution maps facing colour illustrations of the species. The remaining 260 pages provide much more detail on the distribution, population status, breeding and behaviour of the 328 endemic and introduced bird species found in New Zealand.

Barrie and Hugh are to be congratulated on the depth of research they have done to compile the text. Similarly, Derek Onley's illustrations give much better detail of recognition features than do most photographs.

This is the one essential book for local naturalists, or overseas birders visiting New Zealand.