There is much material in this book which would be useful to the physician, and, in general, it is well organized, clearly printed, and well bound. It is, however, neither a handbook nor a text but something in between, which may explain why the volume is less convincing than it should be. In the preface, the authors emphasize that the form is essentially that of an outline to maintain handbook size and encourage bedside use. The objective is achieved only in part as the book is a little large for the average pocket. A soft rather than a hard cover would have decreased the thickness.
In achieving terseness of presentation, the impression is of a set of rules based upon the classical description of disease processes usually treated by diet or resulting in undernutrition unless the food intake is regulated. Perhaps this is because the description of the disease, dietary,