Handbook of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Abstract

This new text has 25 contributors, all but four of whom are physicians. The editors do not state the purpose or expected readership, but we can infer that the book is meant for residents preparing for specialty certification in the field. The 36 chapters are divided in three parts: evaluation of the patient, techniques of management, and evaluation and management of specific disorders. Parts 1 and 2 adequately cover the subject matter. Part 3 would almost require a separate volume; it is now much too cursory to be more than an introduction to the care of the specific syndromes. The book suffers from the fate of all books put together by different cooks—a lack of a unifying point of view. Thus, the paragraphic psychic recovery in the chapter on spinal cord disease is so inadequate and so out of tune with chapter 6 (Psychologic Assessment and Management) that it were