Edited by Jonathan Bernstein and Mark Levy

CRC Press

ISBN 978-1-4665-8561-4

Price £85

http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466585614

Asthma is a relatively common condition in primary care and for those of us who work in primary care as healthcare professionals, and dealing with patients suffering from asthma; they should have a good working knowledge of this condition. Of course there are plenty of standard general medical textbooks as well as good websites being available which provide good coverage. There is no shortage of high quality information but if you really want to learn more about asthma, in a greater depth then this book may be what you are looking for.

It is not a massive textbook; it is just over 300 pages which makes it quite feasible to read from cover to cover over a reasonable period of time. The majority of the book is relevant to clinical practice in this country and I’m sure a reader will learn a significant amount about this condition when finished with it. Whatever you know about asthma and whatever experience you have gained, I am sure you will learn significantly more from this offering. If you don’t want to read the whole book, it is conveniently divided into self contained chapters, logically laid out. From the basics to diagnosis, education, management and dealing with particular subpopulations, it’s all there.

There are a number of international as well as some UK contributors and one of the editors is British and the other is American. This gives a nice global view of the topic and at the same time the editing is of sufficient calibre that you don’t realise there are multiple contributors. The final chapter is about preventing asthma death and is a sobering reminder of how important it is, to optimally manage this condition.

The book is not cheap and neither is there an electronic edition available with the purchase price. However if you want to learn more about asthma in reasonable depth then this is a good port of call. It is reasonably detailed and its main thrust is clinical rather than research and I’m sure once a healthcare professional is finished reading it, then they will be far more knowledgeable in this condition. It is also great reference source for both doctors, (particularly GPs and also hospital doctors will also find this useful) as well as practice nurses.

Dr Harry Brown

February 2015