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Show Books Received Walsh and Hoyt's Clinical Neuro-Ophthalmology: The Essentials Jonathan D. Trobe, MD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan jdtrobe@umich.edu 3rd edition. Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer; 2015. 487 pages. $112.00 ISBN: 9781496318732 This is the third edition of the trimmed-down version of the hardcover encyclopedic reference, often considered the "Bible of Neuro-Ophthalmology." The sixth edition of "The Bible" was published in 2004, itself a reduced version of the fifth edition, down from 5 volumes to 3 volumes, but still hardly portable at 1163 pages. This paperback version is hardly compact. But at 487 pages, it is shorter than the previous paperback edition published in 2007. The first author, Neil R. Miller, MD, remains on top. There are 2 new authors: Prem S. Subramanian, MD, and Vivek R. Patel, MD. All authors are, or were, from Johns Hopkins University. Other authors have contributed to some of the chapters. They are appropriately given credit. As in the previous editions, the authors have jettisoned the bibliography and the many case examples. They are aiming at a teaching text and have succeeded marvelously. What makes this book a top choice? First, the authors have again performed a superb job of presenting the principles of examination. Second, the writing is fluid. Not having tons of references and case citations to interrupt the flow makes the text read more like a story. Of course, the reader must accept the authors' often overarching assertions, but then these are brilliant neuroophthalmologists with a track record of solid contributions to the field. I could find little to quarrel with. Third, nothing important seems to have been left out. All the rules, and even the exceptions, are here. Fourth, the illustrations are superb. Just about everything the authors mention is pictured-right there on the same page. Very few of the faded black-and-white photographs from the original editions are still around. Most of the clinical photographs and cartoons come from the host institution. Where they needed illustrations from elsewhere, they have chosen the classics. The secret of success here is that the original tone is authoritative, but it took the skill of a great condensing artist to turn it into a teaching textbook. I learned a lot from reading it, and I give much of the credit to Dr. Miller, who has been with this project for more than 40 years. He is very good, and it shows. Books Received: J Neuro-Ophthalmol 2015; 35: e29 Atlas of Gross Neuropathology: A Practical Approach Kathreena M. Kurian, Tim H. Moss, Sandra Camelo-Piragua. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2014. 234 pages. $114.19 ISBN: 978-a-107-07318-0 This book is intended for physicians of all specialties and medical students, who should find it extraordinarily valuable. Why? Unlike most pathology texts, which emphasize histology, this book uniquely presents photographs of gross brain and spine specimens as the autopsy pathologist first views them, so that you can see surface pathology, and after the specimens have been cut, so that you can see internal pathology before it has been disturbed. The gross specimens are displayed next to stained histologic sections that highlight the lesioned tissues. The three authors are seasoned neuropathologists (2 from the University of Bristol, England, 1 from the University of Michigan) who provide short but sweet legends that show off their ability to simplify. You will behold transtentorial herniation as it looked at death-how it compressed the cerebral peduncle and caused a Duret hemorrhage visible as a brown stain in the midbrain. You will see cerebellar tonsillar herniation and a squeezed medulla. You will see subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGAs) of tuberous sclerosis as they appeared at the mouth of the foramen of Monro, and as they look in histologic section of the same case. The 12 chapters cover a wide spectrum of neuropathology: developmental and perinatal disease, vascular disease, brain and spine trauma, infection, white matter diseases, metabolic disorders, phakomatoses, neurodegenerative disease, tumors, spine disorders, and cysts. Great care was taken to choose the important entities and to photograph them to best advantage. You will encounter neurologic disease as you have never seen it in an easy and memorable read. Jonathan D. Trobe, MD University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan jdtrobe@umich.edu e29 Copyright © North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. |