Family Medicine: Principles and Applications

As more attention is paid to family medicine and the demand for better textbooks becomes manifest, educators such as Medalie will come forward and contribute their expertise to focus on just what family medicine is. Although the book is one of principles and applications of family medicine and is extraordinarily successful in presenting these concepts, it is one of those rare texts that can profitably be read by all of the more traditional specialists. The thoughts of 27 contributors in family medicine have been welded by the editor into a smooth unit, leaving the reader virtually unaware of the multiple authorship. Thirty chapters are artfully divided into seven sections. Section 1 considers the need for family medicine as a specialty and delineates the physician-patient-family-community reality. Section 2, written entirely by the editor, is a masterpiece (in three chapters) of preventive medicine with "particular emphasis on the family." In section 3