Lee's Synopsis of Anaesthesia

Lee's Synopsis of Anaesthesia, 12th Edn G. B. RUSHMAN, N. J. H. DAVIES and N. CASHMAN (eds). Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford, 1999. Price £27.50, pp. 750. The 12th edition of Lee's Synopsis of Anaesthesia reverts to its roots. Gone are all the aspirations to join the large textbooks. We have here a pocket 'know it all'. It is brilliant. A true 'Lee'. It is hard to write a criticism of a textbook that lives up to its reputation for value so excellently and it seems to cover everything. The content ranges from ward care, which includes such subjects as preoperative assessment, nutrition and acute pain management among many others. Section 2 is about techniques, which of course includes monitoring and complications and expands clearly on intravenous techniques. In section 3, we are able to consider the diseases that may influence the process of anaesthesia. It is not until section 4 that anaesthesia for the different specialities is described. The page on simulators points to the future, drawing attention to their value for practice revalidation. Regional techniques are discussed in section 5 and chronic pain has its own section. The contents are very well referenced and although this is a tiny book, measuring only 12 × 18 1/2 cm, it runs to 750 pages. Small print makes a magnifying glass valuable for those who like me are at the age when presbyopia has developed, but that apart I praise the authors for the skill that they have used to include so much in so small a book. The trouble is, that the examiners will already have bought it! T. E. J.