Essential Endocrinology and Diabetes: Includes Free Desktop Edition (Essentials) [Paperback]

Must have book for any student of medicine in general or endocrinology in particular. Exceptionally well
planned lay out by Holt and Hanley dividing the contents into Foundation, Biochemical + Clinical Endo and finally
a complete section on Diabetes. The added bonus is the online addition which is worth the print fee alone.
Clear, colourful graphics, case studies and clinical tables make this a worthwhile 'essential' for any student's library.

As a herbalist, I found this book has explained a great deal about endocrinology in greater detail than the anatomy and pathophysiology books that I used during my training. This is going to be particularly helpful as part of research into alternative treatment of Type II diabetes, and related endocrine disorders.

The book itself is in full colour and written in a more approachable style than many of the books I have browsed on the subject, with a variety of tables that provide information in a more swiftly accessed manner. Case histories and a full discussion of each of a variety of different endocrine disorders are provided, which allows the reader to attach 'faces' to the various disorders instead of just merely having a list of symptoms and diagnostic tests to remember.

I would strongly recommend, however, that readers have a solid background in basic endocrinology before they tackle this book as this will provide sound building blocks that will make the text more understandable.

All in all, a worthwhile investment, especially for anyone with a specialisation in the various endocrine disorders.

This is an excellent overview of the endocrine system aimed at medical students. In ~ 300 pages it concisely covers all key areas of endocrinology with around a third of the book being focused specifically on diabetes. To aid learning each chapter has common divisions: `Key topics', `Learning objectives', `to recap', and `cross reference within the text book'. There are numerous high quality figures, tables, and a list of abbreviations, which together illustrate how hormones are produced in the body, how they are regulated, the diseases which arise when things go wrong, and how they may be managed/treated. There are around 6 brief case histories per chapter with answers. E versions of the book are available some which are free on purchasing the book. (See below for review of e versions).

The book is aimed at students. Endocrinology is a complex subject and this would be heavy going for some one with out basic knowledge of anatomy, physiology, disease or huge enthusiasm to learn about it. I would not give this to my relatives with diabetes for example, although the list of complications arising from the disease might make them watch what they eat, it could also give a sense of helplessness if the information is not put into context by an experienced health care professional familiar with them, and their situation.

The text is dived into three parts and 15 chapters.

Part I Endocrinology

Ch1 Overview of endocrinology Ch2 Cell biology and hormones synthesis, Ch 3 Molecular basis of hormones action, Ch 4 Investigations in endocrinology and diabetes

Part 2 Endocrinology Biology to clinical practice

Ch 5 The hypothalamus and pituitary gland, Ch 6 The adrenal gland, Ch 7 Reproductive endocrinology, Ch 8 Thyroid gland, Ch 9 calcium and metabolic bones disorders, Ch 10 pancreatic and GI endocrinology and endocrine neoplasia.

Part 3 Diabetes and obesity

Ch 11 Overview of diabetes, Ch 12 Type I diabetes, Ch 13 Type II diabetes, Ch 15 Obesity

There are few negatives- It would be helpful if at the end of each chapter there were further reading lists with more in depth publications or text books cited.

E versions

Inside the book is is code which can be redeemed on line to download a colour version of the book. (This is not a kindle or i book.) The e provider is Vitalsource. The book can be downloaded onto PC (Window XP/Vista/7) and MAC OSX 10.5 and later) and also i and Android devices. A Kindle version is available however that would be an additional/separate purchase, and has not been reviewed.

To download the book to a pc an installer from the Vitalsource web site has to first be downloaded. Then an account has to be created, the redeem code from the paperbook entered, and then the book can be downloaded. For download to an i device there is a free app available in the app store search Vital Source Book shelf. (12.8MB). (There is supposedly an additional e variaition `coursesmart' which has additional features, priced at 40% off for book purchasers, its not entirely clear what extra is avaialble. The UK web site at the time of writing suggests coursesmart coming soon, book rental is mentioned as a feature but with no details.)

The e versions are available off line and allow searching, hyperlinks from headings to topics, enlargement/reduction of text size/colour, and diagrams, adding personal highlights with several categories and notes. There appears to be a facility to share highlighted sections with friends who are also registered with Vitalsource. Personal highlights very quickly synced between each electronic versions. On the PC version you can turn on a reading facility. I found this a little like the reading facility in Kindle, but not as good, an American voice reading too fast (Stephen Fry would be preferable!) I couldn't find this facility on the Android and i versions. On the pc and i versions the contents page can be viewed at the side or turned off, or on i removed if the orientation is turned from landscape to portrait. The i and Android versions crashed several times but could be due to the devices as much as the applications. I personally find phone sized devices too small for long term reading (cramming on the way to the exam hall perhaps an exception) On my Android phone the app took 22MB of storage with the data 216kb (seems low) it wouldn't allow me to move the information to the SD card. Further investigation into app, document sizes and phone capacities could be time well spent if ones entire text book collection was to be stored on such a device.