Book Reviews

Abstract

Whether this classic text book can still be called ‘A Short Practice of Surgery’ is debatable. It now runs to 1500 pages and 5 kg: a weighty tome indeed! Interestingly, my 20th edition, the yellow coloured book, weighs 2.5 kg. Nevertheless, this is the 25th anniversary edition so one should expect something extra special. The editors are to be congratulated on maintaining the consistently high standard, which had been developed during Chris Russell's 4-year reign as senior editor. Much of the traditional style is preserved and this is highly desirable. The historical attributes and vignettes, the hallmark of Bailey and Love since its inception, happily remain. Each of the 77 chapters is preceded by a series of learning objectives, designed to ensure that the reader is familiar with what should be understood having read the chapter. The book is beautifully illustrated with clear and descriptive colour photographs of a very high quality. Even the X-rays and scans are easy to read and interpret, and the publishers are to be congratulated for this. The chapters that particularly interested me (gastrointestinal and oncology) were easily readable and informative. There is a remarkably consistent style, which is clearly, once again, a tribute to the editors, especially since there are 102 contributors. Bailey and Love is still a major reference book from which one can both refresh and keep up to date with rapidly developing surgical concepts. At the same time, it provides a comprehensive explanation and revision of those important basic principles that remain constant. This book remains a useful reference for final-year surgical students and for first and second-year surgical trainees who are looking for a broad view of surgery prior to sitting membership examinations. There is no doubt that Bailey and Love provides exceptional background information for all of surgery in general. For these reasons, the book remains at the very forefront of surgical texts and I have no doubt that the 25th edition of Bailey and Love will prove as popular as its predecessors.