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Wolf and Crowder's "programmed learning" text, An Introduction to Body Fluid Metabolism, was marketed in the spring of 1964. "Programmed learning," and its place in medical education, remain insecure although popularity is growing. Its efficacy has not yet been evaluated by controlled educational experiment. The text was read by a home-trained rapid-reader in eight hours but accompanied by a disturbing number of errors. Three first-rate medical students read the text in 12-14 hours making about the same number of mistakes. Cold comfort!
Chapter headings include water and fat relationships, water content, compartments and spaces, nomenclature of solutions, osmotic pressure relationships, water balance, clearance concepts, renal function, water excretion and diuresis and isorrhea, whatever that is. The book is arranged in ten lessons; notably absent is the treatment of hydrogen ion concepts and regulation.
The book is well-written with good sentence structure and, with a few exceptions, communicates ideas and concepts