5^th edition: Published by CRC Press December 2021

Edited David Warwick, Ashley Blom and Michael Whitehouse

ISBN 978-0-367-19877-0

Price £36.99

https://www.routledge.com/Apley-and-Solomons-Concise-System-of-Orthopaedics-and-Trauma/Warwick-Blom-Whitehouse/p/book/9780367198770

Don’t be fooled by the title containing the word concise, sure the coverage is concise, but this is a thick textbook running to an impressive 746 pages. It covers a huge amount of material giving it a substantial potential audience. It is now in a modern updated 5^th edition with the first edition preface reproduced in this current edition dated from 1959.  It has evolved into a fine textbook that will appeal to medical students, junior doctors and healthcare professional staff such as Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Nurses who work in the musculoskeletal specialities as well General Practitioners and their trainees. The three lead editors are all UK based and are supported by an international editor, giving the book a global appeal.

The book is well illustrated and easy to read and is a clinical focussed, good general review which does not take long to read specific sections. It is very easy to look up a topic (I could not catch out the book when I randomly looked up common scenarios) and quickly read around the topic. This usually did not take long and I felt I learnt something from my reading. I would imagine for an undergraduate medical student; this would be an excellent single volume source and this same could be same for General Practitioners.

For example, I decided to look up De Quervain’s disease (a name I was always fascinated with but don’t know why!) and on Page 320 was a whole page devoted to the subject. There are also 4 illustrations, including 2 images demonstrating Finkelstein’s test. For most readers, this is all you need to know.

Generally speaking, the text is easy to follow and published in a larger font, making it easy on the eye. I particularly liked the boxes with the exclamation marks which contains important warnings, red flags, or traps. Sensibly these boxes only contain a few words or sentences, so they are short to the point and should make a significant learning impact on the reader.

Even better, the book comes with an impressive digital sibling; namely the purchase price includes web and app access, though the redeem code is pretty long (you scratch it off on the inside front cover). But best of all is the price for the book (including web and access) is a keenly priced £36.99 for an excellent general purpose orthopaedic textbook.

 

Dr Harry Brown

23^rd March 2022