2^nd edition

Christopher Madden, Margot Putukian, Eric McCarty and Craig Young

ISBN 978-0-323-39591-5

Published by Elsevier (May 2017)

Price £89.99

https://www.uk.elsevierhealth.com/netters-sports-medicine-9780323395915.html

In my formative years which was some time ago, I used a number of Netter products as his drawings were simply amazing. His work seemed to disappear for a while (well it seemed to me) and now it seems (to me anyway) to have made a welcome return and reading “about the artists” section I refreshed my knowledge about this gifted medial illustrator. He died in 1991 and his amazing collection has been updated and added to it, so making it modern and useful. Thankfully another medical illustrator has taken on the mantle to continue Netter’s work and I think reading page V1 which is just before the preface will emphasise this book’s wonderful heritage. The preface is also worth reading and the final words “please enjoy” to me sums up the ethos of the book.

However this is not an illustrated atlas but a full on textbook which is also highly illustrated by the Netter collection. As a result, this is a truly outstanding book which is a pleasure to read and use. It has a huge variety of uses as it is a good detailed textbook that should satisfy people who will regularly practice in this area but also people who sometimes have to manage this group of patients will also find it very useful.

There is an impressive array of contributors with nearly all from North America and it goes without saying that the production values are excellent. The text is well written and reasonably detailed but useful for an audience including primary care, emergency treatment centres as well as the dedicated sports physician. The superb illustrations helpfully amplify the text and there is information that I suspect would not be easily found elsewhere, brought together under the one roof, namely this book.

It is a hugely impressive book which makes it subject matter very interesting and I enjoyed reading this high quality book. I am delighted to see the name Netter back in use and pleased to see that his work is being updated and enlarged. Since this is an ExpertConsult book, it comes with its own web and app version bundled with the price and of course this adds to the usefulness of the book. However I have to say that the book is such a pleasure to own, in this instance I prefer it to a digital version which is nice to have anyway. It is a superb book upholding the Netter tradition bringing the latter into the 21^st century. It is not a cheap but equally not wildly expensive but if your interest is sports medicine then this is certainly a book to consider accessing.

Dr Harry Brown

July 2017