A Primer of Cardiac Diagnosis.

Abstract

The foreword of this new 216-page volume indicates that it is aimed at senior medical students, residents, general practitioners, and others who need a primer of current techniques. It should complete their preparation and should induce them to increase their cardiological knowledge through further reading and practical training. Unfortunately it cannot be recommended for such an audience. It is often easier to describe an entity or a technique in detail than to describe it in a few concise words. This book suffers from numerous inadequacies, the consequence of incompleteness, unfortunate choice of words, and frank errors. On page 5, we find a description of angina pectoris which is so brief and inadequate as to be useless even to a second-year medical student. At the bottom of the same page, we are informed that fatigability (asthenia) is typical of valvular stenosis or heart failure but may be caused by anemia, lack