The recently published fourth edition of Clinical Disorders of Fluid and Electrolyte Metabolism edited by Morton Maxwell, MD, Charles Kleeman, MD, and, now, Robert Narins, MD, has recently been published by McGraw-Hill International Book Co. This edition is the first update of this text in over seven years. This edition is better organized than the third edition because the editors have divided the book into the following three parts: physiologic water and electrolyte metabolism, syndromes of disordered fluid and electrolyte metabolism, and medical and surgical conditions associated with fluid and electrolyte disorders. The previous editions had a rather haphazard organization, and each chapter contained both physiologic and pathophysiologic information. However, along with the reorganization comes the predictable multiplication of authors. The third edition had 44 contributors, while the current edition has 94 contributors, including an extra senior editor.
Although the reorganization makes sense and makes the book more readable and