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Textbook of Anal Diseases
April 1999
written with short, crisp, mellifluous sentences. It is also exceptionally well produced, with a font fashioned for the presbyopic and meticulous referencing and indexing. Nakayama brings a unique perspective to the epidemiology and historical aspects of bile and gallstones, including key Asian sources often ignored or unknown in the West. Despite our dithyrambs, we have minor reservations. Although the book is carefully produced and designed, the author has not been thoroughly served by his English editors. Misspellings of authors’ names are frequent, and even cholesterol itself does not escape injury. Not only is it misspelled in several places, but the initial printing of its structure (Figure 7) is missing both the double bond at the 5–6 position and the methyl group at C18. Perhaps this is not a cardinal sin for a surgeon, because we note that even Konrad Bloch (Nobel Laureate in 1964 for elucidating cholesterol’s biosynthesis) is not spared. His remarkable work, Blondes in Venetian Painting, the Nine-Banded Armadillo and Other Essays in Biochemistry, incurs a similar mistake. There are further instances of editorial negligence, such as the duplication of a phase equilibria plot and omission of another in Figure 3. In any other book, one would ignore such blemishes, but in an expertly crafted, beautifully produced, and felicitously written work they irritate. Bottom Line: If you want to know essentially everything of significance in the past 40 years of bile and gallstone research up to, but not including, the molecular biological/molecular genetic era, and if you want wise words, mature opinions, and clinical perspective on all aspects of gallstones, especially hepatolithiasis, then there is no better book. It is to be hoped that Professor Nakayama will devote several more years of his ‘‘retirement’’ in treating us to further tomes of this quality and perspective. JOHN M. KAUFFMAN, M.D. MARTIN C. CAREY, M.D., D.Sc. Brigham and Women’s Hospital–Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts
Textbook of Anal Diseases. By S. L. Jensen and O. V. Nielson. 171 pp. $89.00. Harwood Academic Publishers, Chur, Switzerland, 1998. ISBN 3-7186-5498-9. Anal diseases are frequently misdiagnosed by generalists and specialists alike, reflecting a relative paucity of education and exposure regarding these common problems during training. This book, apparently a translation and revision from a 1991 Danish
PRINT AND MEDIA REVIEWS 1011
edition, is ‘‘written for junior doctors but also those undergoing surgical training.’’ The authors rely on their personal experience and beliefs developed over years as practicing proctologists. The organization of the book is fairly standard: early chapters are devoted to anatomy, physiology, and common anorectal problems, middle chapters to more unusual anal conditions, and a final series of chapters to local anesthesia, ambulatory surgery, and pharmacology. The overall flow would be improved if the late chapters were moved to the early part of the book; their position at the end seems contrived. Richly illustrated with a number of high quality color reproductions and multiple line drawings, perhaps the greatest value of the book is the ability of the reader to see the described pathology in a living person. However, some of the color photographs would be more useful if there had been greater magnification. Regarding the line drawings, some of them are too confusing to be useful to someone without a certain level of sophistication; this is particularly true in the operative sketches, which are too small and too schematic to be of great assistance, even to a skilled colorectal specialist. The style of writing is consistent throughout the book. The authors clearly are experienced in their field; however, there is a tendency to portray personal biases as dogma, in that all sides of controversial areas of treatment are not thoroughly presented. Clearly, there are some diseases and their treatments that are more standardized in Denmark than in other areas of the world. This in itself can mislead the inexperienced. Regarding whether the authors have fulfilled their mission, it appears that the surgeon in training is most apt to benefit from this work. For the junior doctor, there is too much detail to make the volume uniformly useful; there are other available color atlases of anorectal pathology without the detailed discussions of treatments that generalists need not know. However, the surgical house officer may find this a valuable general overview of anal diseases that can act as a cornerstone for developing particular expertise in this field. For the established colorectal surgeon, the simplicity of the presentation and relative paucity of references will not make this volume a ‘‘must-have’’ for one’s personal library. Bottom Line: This book is more appropriate for surgical house officers than for established colorectal surgeons. DAVID J. SCHOETZ, Jr., M.D. Department of Colon-Rectal Surgery Lahey Clinic Medical Center Burlington, Massachusetts
written with short, crisp, mellifluous sentences. It is also exceptionally well produced, with a font fashioned for the presbyopic and meticulous referencing and indexing. Nakayama brings a unique perspective to the epidemiology and historical aspects of bile and gallstones, including key Asian sources often ignored or unknown in the West. Despite our dithyrambs, we have minor reservations. Although the book is carefully produced and designed, the author has not been thoroughly served by his English editors. Misspellings of authors’ names are frequent, and even cholesterol itself does not escape injury. Not only is it misspelled in several places, but the initial printing of its structure (Figure 7) is missing both the double bond at the 5–6 position and the methyl group at C18. Perhaps this is not a cardinal sin for a surgeon, because we note that even Konrad Bloch (Nobel Laureate in 1964 for elucidating cholesterol’s biosynthesis) is not spared. His remarkable work, Blondes in Venetian Painting, the Nine-Banded Armadillo and Other Essays in Biochemistry, incurs a similar mistake. There are further instances of editorial negligence, such as the duplication of a phase equilibria plot and omission of another in Figure 3. In any other book, one would ignore such blemishes, but in an expertly crafted, beautifully produced, and felicitously written work they irritate. Bottom Line: If you want to know essentially everything of significance in the past 40 years of bile and gallstone research up to, but not including, the molecular biological/molecular genetic era, and if you want wise words, mature opinions, and clinical perspective on all aspects of gallstones, especially hepatolithiasis, then there is no better book. It is to be hoped that Professor Nakayama will devote several more years of his ‘‘retirement’’ in treating us to further tomes of this quality and perspective. JOHN M. KAUFFMAN, M.D. MARTIN C. CAREY, M.D., D.Sc. Brigham and Women’s Hospital–Harvard Medical School Boston, Massachusetts
Textbook of Anal Diseases. By S. L. Jensen and O. V. Nielson. 171 pp. $89.00. Harwood Academic Publishers, Chur, Switzerland, 1998. ISBN 3-7186-5498-9. Anal diseases are frequently misdiagnosed by generalists and specialists alike, reflecting a relative paucity of education and exposure regarding these common problems during training. This book, apparently a translation and revision from a 1991 Danish
PRINT AND MEDIA REVIEWS 1011
edition, is ‘‘written for junior doctors but also those undergoing surgical training.’’ The authors rely on their personal experience and beliefs developed over years as practicing proctologists. The organization of the book is fairly standard: early chapters are devoted to anatomy, physiology, and common anorectal problems, middle chapters to more unusual anal conditions, and a final series of chapters to local anesthesia, ambulatory surgery, and pharmacology. The overall flow would be improved if the late chapters were moved to the early part of the book; their position at the end seems contrived. Richly illustrated with a number of high quality color reproductions and multiple line drawings, perhaps the greatest value of the book is the ability of the reader to see the described pathology in a living person. However, some of the color photographs would be more useful if there had been greater magnification. Regarding the line drawings, some of them are too confusing to be useful to someone without a certain level of sophistication; this is particularly true in the operative sketches, which are too small and too schematic to be of great assistance, even to a skilled colorectal specialist. The style of writing is consistent throughout the book. The authors clearly are experienced in their field; however, there is a tendency to portray personal biases as dogma, in that all sides of controversial areas of treatment are not thoroughly presented. Clearly, there are some diseases and their treatments that are more standardized in Denmark than in other areas of the world. This in itself can mislead the inexperienced. Regarding whether the authors have fulfilled their mission, it appears that the surgeon in training is most apt to benefit from this work. For the junior doctor, there is too much detail to make the volume uniformly useful; there are other available color atlases of anorectal pathology without the detailed discussions of treatments that generalists need not know. However, the surgical house officer may find this a valuable general overview of anal diseases that can act as a cornerstone for developing particular expertise in this field. For the established colorectal surgeon, the simplicity of the presentation and relative paucity of references will not make this volume a ‘‘must-have’’ for one’s personal library. Bottom Line: This book is more appropriate for surgical house officers than for established colorectal surgeons. DAVID J. SCHOETZ, Jr., M.D. Department of Colon-Rectal Surgery Lahey Clinic Medical Center Burlington, Massachusetts