It is refreshing to find a medical text that blends scientific information, historical background, and enlightened opinion into a simple pleasant style. This is an enjoyable book to read. In a consistently logical and skillful way the authors give the background information necessary to understand the pulmonary pathophysiology. First, there is a straightforward presentation of pulmonary physiology, followed by the physics of dust deposition and epidemiologic methods. Next is an excellent presentation of the ways in which the lung can react to injury. A separate chapter reviews the types of immunologic reactions. Silicosis, asbestosis, and coal workers' pneumoconiosis account for one third of the total of this volume, and these subjects are dealt with masterfully and comprehensively. These three chapters alone contain 303 references.
No less important are the chapters devoted to the inhalation of other minerals, the occupational asthmas and allergic alveolitis, industrial bronchitis, byssinosis, and the inhalation of