Your letters

Direct-to-consumer ads

Thanks for your article "Depression & Anxiety," in the July 2010 issue. The U.S. is one of only two countries that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Doctors should know what to prescribe without being prompted by patients who have little to go on but ads. As you point out, talk therapy and drugs together are best, but we don't have ads for psychotherapy, and the great majority of prescribing doctors are not psychiatrists. Health reform should help trim budgetary fat while improving diagnosis and treatment in many specialties, including mental health.

E. James Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H.
Potomac, MD

Electronic books

As a Nook owner and a librarian, I agree with your assessment of e-readers ("Kindle Tops Our E-reader Ratings," available to subscribers, July 2010). But I suggest another point of evaluation. Many public libraries offer downloadable e-books that work with both Nook and Sony readers. The service doesn't work with the Kindle, or with the iPad or iPhone, although the vendor has hinted at this possibility in the near future.

Sono Domburian
Lafayette, LA

In your review of the Kindle and its competitors, you neglected a valuable asset the iPad offers: The ability to enlarge the font. This is a major boon to vision-impaired readers. The iPad has given them back the joy of reading.

Sheila Strickler
Tucson, AZ

The iPad does have large-font capability, but it is dependent on the app you use.

Déjà vu all over again

In "3D Comes to Cameras" (available to subscribers, July 2010), you should have said either "3D comes back to cameras" or "3D comes to digital cameras." My father took 3D color slides in a 35-mm camera in the 1960s. This produced color slides with two pieces of film, which could be viewed in a binocular, illuminated device. In any event it's good to see 3D make a re-entry into mainstream photography.

Gerald Pollack
Fremont, CA

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