One person in seven, says Carter, dies from a stroke. With a health problem of this magnitude the appearance of a new book on the topic is, therefore, an important event. This is doubly so when the author has had wide personal experience and has previously contributed significantly to our knowledge on the subject. His goal is to interest physicians in cerebrovascular disease and to provide a basis for future assessment of treatment, purposes which he has accomplished. The approach is pragmatic, the style readable, and the factual material largely indisputable. Perhaps as a result of these qualities, the book has certain defects.
Discussions of cerebral blood supply and hemodynamics are adequate but contain little mention of recent investigations. The sections on etiology and pathogenesis are comprehensive, including reviews of atheroma and thrombus formation, hypertension, and arterial spasm, and containing a particularly good discussion of the role of trauma, an