8^th Edition

Brad Bowling

ISBN 978-0-7020-5572-0

Price £163.99 from http://www.elsevierhealth.co.uk/ophthalmology/kanski-clinical-ophthalmology-expert-consult/9780702055720

Published by Elsevier

For some healthcare professionals who are not ophthalmologists, diseases of the eyes can be a difficult to understand topic. Like any topic, once you master it then all of a sudden it seems a lot easier and makes much more sense. Certainly one way to master ophthalmology and get a better comprehension of the subject is to have access to this outstanding and excellent textbook. It is primarily aimed at specialist ophthalmologists both established and those in the training grades. However GPs with a special interest in ophthalmology or GPs who want an all-encompassing ophthalmology textbook may find that this fits the bill. Though for the latter group it may be a bit excessive for their needs.

It is a big and traditional style of textbook but it is a modern, accessible and beautifully produced book which is a pleasure to read. It is lavishly illustrated which is a huge plus of the book and the text is easy to read and often laid out in a bullet point format or in short and easy to read paragraphs. Common and not so common topics are covered and there is excellent depth of coverage and I am sure this would answer most queries, certainly from a GP perspective.

Most of the clinical pictures are in colour and superbly reproduced and this combines the best attributes of an atlas of ophthalmology and a readable textbook of ophthalmology. I often found myself during the review, just opening up the book looking at the pictures and reading the text on random topics. Unusually for a relatively large textbook, (just over 900 pages) it does not seem that big and yet packs a lot of detail. The whole book exudes quality and is sturdily built as a hardback to withstand regular use. I would imagine it would be well used in an outpatient eye clinic. From a GPs perspective, it may be too detailed but certainly would not be overwhelming though not all the contents would be relevant.

Since this is an ExpertConsult book included in the price web based version and an app based version. So the contents of this book are accessible to anyone on the move. The ExpertConsult service adds greatly to the value of the book and having it on an app with the contents of the book downloaded to the app’s mobile device means that an Internet connection is not needed to access it. The downside is that will take up space on the mobile device’s storage and in this case, it is 1 GB but for those who will use this facility, it is a boon. The web based version is accessible from any internet enabled computer with the appropriate browser but it is easy to use with a quick learning curve.

This is not a cheap textbook but if you are the sort of person who would use it on a regular basis then it may prove to be a good investment. This is a top quality ophthalmology book which is ideal for a specialist and suitable for a GP with a special interest. If you are a GP who wants to learn much more about ophthalmology, this is also a superb resource.

Dr Harry Brown

June 2015