Pathology of the Lung, edited by William M. Thurlbeck, 832 pp, 860 illus, $156, New York, Thieme Medical Publishers Inc, 1988.
For many years, the only truly comprehensive pulmonary pathology textbook has been Spencer's single-authored Pathology of the Lung (with four editions between 1962 and 1985). While it served well as a reference for specialized pathologists, its size was intimidating to many, particularly pulmonologists and thoracic surgeons seeking an introductory approach. Now two new "state-of-the-art" texts on lung pathology have appeared virtually simultaneously.Pulmonary Pathology (Dail and Hammar) weighs 10 lb and contains 34 chapters, 11 by the two editors and 23 by 32 other contributors, mostly pathologists with familiar names but including two pulmonologists, a thoracic surgeon, and a radiologist. The book is dedicated to Herbert Spencer and to the late Averill Liebow.The editors have provided detailed and lucid reviews of the pathology of most major and minor