Auxology. Edited by HermanussenM. Schweizerbart Science Publishers, Stuttgart, Germany, 2013, 324 pp, XII, 283 figures, 89 tables. Product dimensions 25 × 17 cm. Price €39. ISBN 978 3 510 65278 5.

Abstract

This book is an impressing collection of data on all aspects of growth. Hermanussen has edited a book that can be enjoyed by both the practicing physician that evaluates child growth in their daily practice and scientists who want to set up a study protocol that involves auxology in some form. To meet the criticism by some that statistics and mathematical models make too heavy reading, the editor has lightened the presentations with amusing drawings and cartoons that relate to the text. But more importantly, each mini-chapter, which is condensed into one page only, is matched by an opposing page with diagrams and tables from the literature. In case the reader is not satisfied with the sometimes ultra-short chapters of important topics, he or she can go to the almost 700 references listed. A detailed glossary makes the text readable also for those not familiar with the field. The editor and main author Michael Hermanussen has enrolled 56 experts to write one-page summaries that cover ‘everything’ about this topic. With due respect to these experts, the most enjoyable chapters (probably half of all) are written by Hermanussen himself, who is fully devoted to the subject. Apart from critically scrutinizing the methodology most often used by paediatric endocrinologists for evaluation of a short or tall child, he gives an historical review of auxology at large that is enjoyable also for the most experienced scientists in the field. He challenges the general belief that the apparent secular trend in growth that is noted in all parts of the world is the result of improved nutrition and health only. Instead, he introduces a new hypothesis: that ‘tall stature communities will generate tall people and short stature communities short people’, irrespective of the socioeconomic and health situation. If true, this hypothesis would have a major impact on the way we look upon child growth as an indicator of socioeconomic and health status of a given population. However, he does not present a biochemical or physiological mechanism that can explain how child growth is adapted to fit in with the peer group. The book can be considered to be a handbook of mathematical models of growth and the construction of growth charts. At the end, reference tables for growth in a number of countries are given. Most readers of this book will probably not go through it from first to last page, but rather look into the chapters that are of special interest to him or her. The reader will probably find the information sought for, or at least references to further reading. It should definitely be an obligatory item in any paediatric library, but also valuable for others who have an interest in human growth.