B.S. Katcher, ed. San Francisco: Ashbury Press; 2006, 148 pages, $31.95.
In this 148-page soft-cover book, the author sets out to instruct the reader on how to perform a Medline search. Medline is the largest component of PubMed and is the most important index in the medical literature of the world. Interesting background information is given early in the book concerning historic perspectives on the origins of the National Library of Medicine, the extraordinary contributions of John Shaw Billings, and the relationship between Medline and PubMed. Various terms (eg, “MeSH”) are defined and the indexing scheme is explained. Additionally other chapters deal with medical subject headings, various publication types (eg, clinical trials, meta-analysis, validation studies, case reports, and so forth), and practical tips on how to successfully query Medline to obtain optimal results. The best way to use this book is to have it by your side as you are inputting the site on your PC. Although probably most will agree that for a quick search for medical information, Google works extraordinarily well; for an in-depth search, Medline is more robust.
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