Radioactive Isotopes in Medicine and Biology: Basic Physics and Instrumentation. By Edith H. Ouimby, ScD, and Sergei Feitelberg, MD. Price, $8. Pp 343. Lea & Febiger, Publishers, 600 S Washington Sq. Philadelphia 6, 1963.
Any author who prepares a book on the clinical use of radioisotopes finds difficulty in defining the subject and in choosing areas for emphasis. The several texts available illustrate these problems. There is no agreement on the amount of basic physics needed by, or acceptable to, the practicing physician. To what extent should he simply follow a cookbook plan in using isotopes, and if this is what he is to do, why not turn it all over to a technician? Some of the texts include an extensive coverage of thyroid physiology and thyroid disease. This is perhaps logical in view of the important usefulness of radioiodine; yet it is, in a way, inconsistent. We do not