Donald Grosset, Katherine Grosset, Michael Okun and Hubert Fernandez

Manson Publishing Third impression 2011, CRC Press

Paperback Price ISBN: 978-1-13811-372-5 £ 59.99

Hardback Price ISBN 978-1-84076-101-6 £160.00

https://www.crcpress.com/Parkinsons-Disease-Clinicans-Desk-Reference/Grosset-Fernandez-Grosset-Okun/p/book/9781840761016

If you have a particular interest in a disease, it can sometimes be useful to have a dedicated book concentrating on that specific disease. Depending on your needs, some people prefer a slim and readable volume that they can read in its entirety and it contains all the relevant knowledge that they need for their clinical work. Parkinson’s disease stretches across a number of specialties as well as involving a number of healthcare professionals from a variety of disciplines. Many of these people would benefit from such a book. This well written book, for many people would fit the bill as well as being a fitting addition to any suitable library. However for a relatively slim volume, it is quite expensive but the good news is that the publishers are shortly bringing out a paperback edition priced at more competitive £59.99 (see the URL above)

Assuming the books are broadly similar then this would represent good value for money. Two of the authors are based in the UK (declaration of interest, one of the UK authors was at medical school with me) and the other two authors are from the United States. The book is well illustrated and the text is broken up into easy to read bullet points, allowing the reader to breeze through the book relatively quickly without too much difficulty. In fact, it is quite easy to read the whole book in not too long a period of time and is very helpful for a clinician wanting to learn more about this chronic condition to have access to this book.

It is very clinically orientated and full of practical and useful information and despite the fact it is a relatively slim volume-there is a lot here for a fair number of different healthcare professionals. It seems authoritative but at the same time very readable and makes the topic interesting and relevant. There is a good glossary at the back as well as index as well as a further reading section.

The hardback edition that I reviewed is pricey for what it is, so credit to the publishers for producing a cheaper version of what I hope will be a similar book. At the time of writing this review, the new cheaper paperback version is not yet available.

Dr Harry Brown

October 2018