Apart from the information overload of medical school study, modern technology adds to the problem.  While technology has made it easier to find information, its distractions can be time-consuming.

Primitive laser surgery (From Med'Toons, by S. Goldberg, Medmaster)

We depend on the Internet but sometimes it is down. There is the beloved “Error” message that punctuates computer illnesses of unknown origin. Email, texting, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Google searches, the same news multiple times per day, and a zillion different apps compete for our attention. It is as if we have taken a step backwards in the way we read, switching from the centuries long efficient and easily grasped format of print books to the variable ways of reading books electronically, with smaller pages on mobile devices. Certain ebooks can only be read on certain tablets, and some tablets only allow certain reading apps, and certain ebooks are listed in only certain ebookstores.  This can be upsetting to students who would like their ebook library to be available in ebook format on a single tablet or computer and available from a single source.

Hopefully, the way we read electronic books will become standardized so we can purchase and read ebooks anywhere, and not depend on a particular reading tablet, ereading app, or ebookstore.  Personally, I think the optimal way to read ebooks in the future will evolve toward reading on the web.  In that way, ebooks can be read anywhere in the world by anyone who has internet access, on any computer or tablet, and will not depend on having a particular brand of reading tablet, a particular reading app, or a particular ebookstore.  There would be little concern about the time and expense of shipping print books, and books could be updated continually.  At Medmaster, we are looking into the most optimal ways we can offer our books in electronic format. Presently, the field is not yet ready for prime time, due to different format issues with complex books, publisher terms with ebookstores, and the great variety of competing, often mutually exclusive reading apps and tablets.  We receive inquiries from students as to when Medmaster will have all of its books in ebook format.  While we have done so for a few books, we are exploring the evolving ways of presenting them and hopefully we will shortly be able to offer the remainder of Medmaster titles in ebook format as an alternative to print for those who prefer that way of reading.