Generations of house officers have stretched their pockets with copies of the original spiral manual, the Washington University Manual of Medical Therapeutics. The new generation can no longer use pockets, but needs instead a knapsack to carry around a series that has grown to 28 volumes. One of these is the Manual of Nephrology, edited by Schrier.
The virtues of the original therapeutics manual, eg, conciseness, clarity, clinical orientation, and timeliness, have been faithfully reproduced in the present Manual of Nephrology. The preface clearly advises the reader who wants a description of pathophysiology not to look for it here. It is highly relevant, for example, that all 14 chapters have the word "patient" in their titles.
The subject matter is appropriate to a nephrology text and includes highly readable descriptions of fluid and electrolyte disturbances, stones, urinary tract infection, renal failure, and renal disease in pregnancy, among others. There is