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Diagnostic neuropathology. A practical manual
Journal of Neuroimmunology, 24 (1989) 169
169
Elsevier JNI 00843
Book Review
Diagnostic Neuropathology. A Practical Manual. Margaret M. Esiri and D.R. Oppenheimer, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford LondonE d i n b u r g h - Boston - Melbourne, 1989, 403 pp., £59.50. On very rare occasions I have attended a lecture so informative but so entertaining, that time passes without note and, when the performance concludes, I can see from the faces around me that we have all been brought back suddenly to the everyday: for once, the lecturer has made plain the fascination, the obsession that an aspect of scientific endeavour can have. This book has the same effect. It has the depth and breadth of knowledge consistent with a lifetime of thoughtful neuropathology. The first chapters on post-mortem technique and brain cutting are the best possible introduction to obtaining suitable specimens. The authors have taken the sensible decision to stop compartmentalising the specialty. Obviously tumours are different to obscure abiotrophies but comparing and contrasting their effects can be very useful (cf. remote effects of carcinoma) and the book covers these subjects well, along with the necessary neuro-anatomy and, an unusual but helpful feature, neuropathology of the very young. All the chapters are relevant but the authors' exceptional ability to clarify difficult problems is particularly well-illustrated by those on develop-
mental malformations and assorted malfunctions. Some tables are very helpful, e.g. on the use of monoclonal antibody identification in tumours and selective neuronal loss. The pictures are superb: macroscopic photographs are abundant but never redundant and the microscopic photographs demonstrate why black and white satisfies neuropathologists - - but the colour plates are also good. References are up-todate - - A I D S and tropical spastic paresis are included and the index is well laid out. The appendix on stains reflects the high standard of the department's technical help. The work appears to be a deliberate attempt to take obscurantism out of this most difficult specialty: apart from working and would-be neuropathologists, all neuroscientists can come to it for information on basic morphology, techniques and h u m a n diseases. But it is more: it is entertaining. The anecdotes, the sly, off-the-cuff phrases will keep the reader entranced. Who else could report on head injury sustained during chess, bicycle, spokes as a cause of paraplegia or why hedgehog quills are essential for the neuropathologist. Like all the other readers this book deserves I shall now approach the weekly brain-cut, here compared to a ceremonial love-feast, with new enthusiasm.
0165-5728/89/$03.50 © 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division)
WILHELMINA M.H. BEHAN Glasgow, U.K.
169
Elsevier JNI 00843
Book Review
Diagnostic Neuropathology. A Practical Manual. Margaret M. Esiri and D.R. Oppenheimer, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford LondonE d i n b u r g h - Boston - Melbourne, 1989, 403 pp., £59.50. On very rare occasions I have attended a lecture so informative but so entertaining, that time passes without note and, when the performance concludes, I can see from the faces around me that we have all been brought back suddenly to the everyday: for once, the lecturer has made plain the fascination, the obsession that an aspect of scientific endeavour can have. This book has the same effect. It has the depth and breadth of knowledge consistent with a lifetime of thoughtful neuropathology. The first chapters on post-mortem technique and brain cutting are the best possible introduction to obtaining suitable specimens. The authors have taken the sensible decision to stop compartmentalising the specialty. Obviously tumours are different to obscure abiotrophies but comparing and contrasting their effects can be very useful (cf. remote effects of carcinoma) and the book covers these subjects well, along with the necessary neuro-anatomy and, an unusual but helpful feature, neuropathology of the very young. All the chapters are relevant but the authors' exceptional ability to clarify difficult problems is particularly well-illustrated by those on develop-
mental malformations and assorted malfunctions. Some tables are very helpful, e.g. on the use of monoclonal antibody identification in tumours and selective neuronal loss. The pictures are superb: macroscopic photographs are abundant but never redundant and the microscopic photographs demonstrate why black and white satisfies neuropathologists - - but the colour plates are also good. References are up-todate - - A I D S and tropical spastic paresis are included and the index is well laid out. The appendix on stains reflects the high standard of the department's technical help. The work appears to be a deliberate attempt to take obscurantism out of this most difficult specialty: apart from working and would-be neuropathologists, all neuroscientists can come to it for information on basic morphology, techniques and h u m a n diseases. But it is more: it is entertaining. The anecdotes, the sly, off-the-cuff phrases will keep the reader entranced. Who else could report on head injury sustained during chess, bicycle, spokes as a cause of paraplegia or why hedgehog quills are essential for the neuropathologist. Like all the other readers this book deserves I shall now approach the weekly brain-cut, here compared to a ceremonial love-feast, with new enthusiasm.
0165-5728/89/$03.50 © 1989 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (Biomedical Division)
WILHELMINA M.H. BEHAN Glasgow, U.K.