The Textbook of Dermatology by Rook and collaborators is an impressive newcomer, primarily intended as a reference for the serious student of dermatology, and is an admirable encyclopedic compilation of knowledge in its field.
The individual subjects in this book are discussed in a standardized format, making it rather easy to scan rapidly any given topic. Another welcome innovation is the listing of pertinent references immediately following each topic rather than at the end of the chapters. The references are international in scope and quite up-to-date. The 1,059 black-and-white photographs are well reproduced. The index at the end of volume 2 is quite detailed, although an index in each volume would have been even more convenient.
On the whole the discussion is impartial and colorless. Understandably, correlating an enormous amount of knowledge into a rather standardized format by a group leaves little opportunity for individual self-expression. The differences in arrangements