The editor has improved the second edition of this book in several respects, compared to the first edition. He succeeds reasonably well in producing a "concise, yet informative... survey for basic orientation" in traditional musculoskeletal pathology. Removal of certain worn out terms and phrases improves the quality of the writing enormously.
Dr. Lichtenstein's extensive experience and obvious interest in regionalized and generalized disorders (fibrous dysplasia, histiocytosis, enchondromatosis, etc) reveal themselves in the well-written sections on these maladies. The many excellent photomicrographs, photographs of gross specimens, and roentgenograms add much. Although most illustrations will lack labels, even the uninitiated should understand the lucid and extensive captions. A chapter on some common and unusual conditions describes certain disorders so briefly as to have only limited value for the reader.
Revised sections on renal disease, osteoporosis, and Paget disease correlate the pathology with some modern concepts of altered physiology and biochemistry.