Abstract
By Marek H Dominiczak
Philadelphia, USA: Elsevier: Saunders, 2012
285 pp, Price £23.39
ISBN: 978-0-3230-8193-1
This set of medical biochemistry flashcards provide the reader with 230 clinically relevant colour coded revision aids. The cards are aimed at medical students studying clinical biochemistry and are specifically designed to provide a quick and easy-to-use exam preparation tool. They are not intended as a standalone method of learning, but attempt to emphasize the key points around which further knowledge, presumably acquired from their parent textbook ‘Medical Biochemistry’, can be added.
Each flashcard contains an image on one side. These have mostly been taken from the parent textbook, are of reasonable quality and are well explained. The triggering image on the front, with key facts on the reverse, provides a useful tool for the diligent student to check their memory and understanding. The text does not draw specific links between the diagram and the explanation, leaving the reader the task of deciphering the image for him- or herself.
On some of the cards, there is no diagram to complement the content on the reverse, but a table instead. These particular flashcards seem of less value. On others – for example, ‘An Overview of Homeostasis’ – the diagram is far too complicated for the size of the card. In these examples, the diagram does not aid learning, and it feels as though it complicates the subject with a series of incomprehensible arrows, pictures and microscopic writing. The reverse of the card provides too little information to enable the reader to decipher the diagram. Of course, this is achievable using the textbook, but this begs the question, why not just use the textbook in the first place?
The content on the reverse is concise, broken up into the key facts linked by arrows. This makes the cards a good resource for aiding factual recall and making certain of the key points. It is in essence a distilled version of the larger textbook. The cards are not, however, designed to be used as a standalone resource; they have to be complemented with prior knowledge or additional resources, for example the parent textbook, to ensure understanding.
The flashcards are organized in a logical manner. Each one is numbered and also displays the chapter number clearly at the top. This makes finding specific cards much easier. One concern is the lack of reference to the page numbers within the textbook, meaning that if the user needs to look something up they must trawl through the textbook to find it – rather defeating the purpose of a handy revision aid! The flashcards have been hole-punched and the user is provided with a binder making them easily accessible and portable. Moreover, they are also accessible via the internet (handy if you happen to have left them at home) or via an E-reader (such as a Kindle). Despite the phenomenal number of apps around, we were unable to find an appropriate one that would allow for the flashcards to be used on an iPhone. We all agreed that this would be the most beneficial improvement.
It is clear that these cards are designed as an adjunct to the textbook. The cards retail at £20–£25, while the textbook is available for £40–50 depending on where you shop. A combined investment of at least £60 seems rather a lot for what is essentially the same material, albeit printed in a different format.
So would we recommend these flashcards? We are not sure. It is telling that, on the ‘Acknowledgements’ card, the author states that ‘these flash cards emerged in the aftermath of editing the Medical Biochemistry text’. Although at conception the cards may have set out to provide the ‘essential concepts and substance’ to clinical biochemistry in a framework that ‘facilitates repetition’, they only partially satisfy this aim because they are rather difficult to use, requiring continuous referencing to the much more comprehensive and, in fact already succinct, parent textbook.