Edens has written a monumental and encyclopedic book on heart disease—a text probably more extensive than any of the many existing treatises on the subject. To a vast fund of knowledge he has brought a critical, sane evaluation of accepted views and beliefs, and likewise, at times, a human and humorous attitude to debatable subjects. The book is complete in every sense, including nearly 250 pages of references to cardiac literature historical and current. In addition to the usual chapters on the anatomy, physiology, pathology and treatment of diseases of the heart, Edens writes delightfully on chronic heart failure, tuberculosis and actinomycosis of the heart, neuroses of the heart and blood vessels, tumors of the heart, the heart in relation to malnutrition, obesity, age, physique, and diseases of the thyroid and the suprarenal. The book opens with a good chapter on the history of heart disease from the times of