BRAIN'S DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 11TH EDITION

Abstract

BRAIN’S DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, 11th edition Edited by Michael Donaghy 2001. Oxford: Oxford University Press Price £150. ISBN 0192626183 The sixth edition of Brain’s Diseases of the Nervous System (1962) was the first and only textbook of neurology I ever used more or less regularly, between the decision to choose neurology as a speciality and the actual beginning of my training period. The senior neurologists I subsequently came across quickly introduced me to monographs on subdisciplines such as neuromuscular disease or neuro‐ophthalmology, and to medical journals. Therefore the strategy my colleagues and I soon developed if faced with a difficult problem in patient care (research is another story), was to turn to one’s private collection of cherished and well‐thumbed books, or sometimes to an appropriate review article. For reasons that I cannot recall I later nevertheless acquired John Walton’s ninth edition (1985), but it was only rarely consulted and with little success. Hence the pristine condition of that dark blue tome on top of my bookcase (it may well have been the first in the series that was too high to fit on an average shelf). This waning attachment to single‐volume textbooks equally applied to the American counterparts into which I sometimes looked—the main problem was the obsolescence of the omniscient neurologist rather than the shortcomings of a particular author. The only textbooks I bought since then were old or very old. Personal compendia written by Pratensis, Boerhaave, Romberg, Dejerine, Gowers and others are perfectly suited to give historians of neurology an informal view of the state of neurology at a given time and place, without the hedging style that so often characterizes original publications. The invitation to review Michael Donaghy’s eleventh edition was a welcome opportunity to renew my acquaintance with …