9^th edition

Editors Parveen Kumar and Michael Clark

Published by Elsevier (July 2016)

Price £56.99

http://www.elsevierhealth.co.uk/kumar-and-clarks-clinical-medicine-9780702066016.html

I have used this book in previous editions and have always liked it, so I have high standards when I came to look at this new edition. The good news is that this new edition continues the tradition set by previous incarnations by being a high quality general medical textbook. I like nice, simple and yet descriptive titles and you know from reading the title of this book where you stand. It really is a superb offering that will appeal to a wide audience which will include undergraduates, GPs, those in specialist training and established clinicians. The latter will appreciate the fresh and up to date approach of a new edition. Impressively clinicians from other specialties wanting an up to date general medical text will also be happy with it as a useful one stop shop.

The book itself is packed with information on general medicine and has a good coverage of all of the topics you would expect. It ends with chapters on women’s health, ENT and eye disease as well as skin disease. The book runs to over 1400 pages including the index and is replete with text, images, figures and boxes on a huge number of topics. This book first appeared in 1987 and is already on its 9^th edition in 2016 with an impressive list of UK contributors. But there is more; there are also on line contributions and an international advisory board.

The electronic bundle included with the price is impressive, an app that can allow downloading the whole book onto the mobile device allowing fast access and rapid searching. A web based version of the book via the on-line student consult service also contains additional content. This package, book and electronic products comes in at a penny less than £57 which is a superb price for what you get.

If I had one criticism of the book, is that it is a big book with a flimsy paper back cover that could suffer wear and tear on regular usage. It also impairs its mobility but in saying that you have the choice of the app or web based option. That is a minor criticism (and a back handed compliment –because I am assuming this book will get plenty of use) in a sea of positives about a great general textbook of medicine which has moved with the times. This is an excellent general text of clinical medicine that will appeal to a large number of users both under and post graduates. Equally doctors and healthcare professionals in a number of other disciplines will appreciate access to this book and its electronic appendages. It is keenly priced that will entice a number of buyers. Overall, an outstanding offering.

Dr Harry Brown

October 2016