Present Limits of Neurosurgery

These volumes represent a landmark in the development of electromyography.Starting as an adjunct of physical mecicine, the techniques are now clearly established for the investigation of the neurophysiology of normal and diseased human subjects, with parallel studies in animals.The field is now so large that few workers now cover the whole subject.It is, therefore, valuable to have such a useful source of advanced material available in the laboratory.Pro- fessor Desmedt has based these volumes on some of the contributions to the Fourth International Con- gress of Electromyography held in Brussels in 1971 with further invited contributions from distinguished authors to complete a comprehensive survey of electromyography and related subjects.As with all such compilations, the standard is variable, and the critical discussions are omitted.Nonetheless, the volumes are very valuable for active workers.They are less useful for those requiring an entry to the field or a balanced survey giving due credit to work of the past and critical comment on current trends.The evanescence of many parts of the compilation make it unlikely that many will buy them for personal use.Comment about the cost of books is disappearing as money loses its value but the price of these volumes leaves the reviewer speechless.