Essential Echocardiography: A Practical Handbook with DVD (Contemporary Cardiology) by Scott D. Solomon

From the reviews: "This is a basic echocardiographic textbook that encompasses all aspects of cardiac ultrasound. The accompanying DVD provides a unique and indispensable platform to illustrate anatomical findings. … intended audience includes anyone interested in developing the skills required to either acquire and/or interpret cardiac ultrasound images including students, sonographers, cardiology fellows, and echocardiographers. … a book that is well suited as a text for trainees and as a refresher for practicing clinicians. … this book has raised the bar for a basic echocardiographic text." (Michael C Cunningham, Doody’s Review Service, January, 2008)

Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
When I started cardiology fellowship, everyone in my program recommended Oh and Otto. The problem is that for someone who has never read an echo, those books might be a bit intimidating. Enter Solomon's book --- it covers the basics nicely in an easy to understand manner. It has an accompanying DVD with sample echo images. It even has a step by step guide on how to scan an echo. However, a caveat would be that the book does not cover topics in depth and is not as extensive on topics as the other books. In summary, this is probably the best echo book for someone who has never seen or read echo's before and is great for fellows or techs starting out. For more intermediate depth, Otto and/or Oh are better. For the most comprehensive text, most would agree that Feigenbaum is the way to go.