This magnificent attempt to garner, from a host of well-known authorities, current facts, theories, and opinions about respiratory diseases in children and put them together in a readable, orderly presentation for practicing physicians is an excellent achievement. Certainly, the book is a must for those practicing pediatrics who finished their training more than five years ago, and it ought to be available as standard reference in community hospitals and teaching centers alike.
The book starts logically, if a bit heavily, with basic physiology, which in the respiratory area has seen many advances in the past decade. It then proceeds through several excellently documented chapters on general approach to the patient, diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, and considerations in the newborn. These set the stage for an exhaustive general-organ recital and further chapters on etiology. Like many texts of its kind compiled from numerous contributors, there is moderate variation in quality and