Lee Ostrander Published by Demos Publishing, New York: 448 pp. ISBN 1 888799 51 X $125.00

I read this book with great attention. It is a textbook containing a lot of information about the management in spinal cord injured patients. In its 26 chapters all aspects of comprehensive management are dealt with. Medical topics and data concerning the work of allied professionals can be found. The content and index help to get to the information easily though the title of some chapters does not reveal sufficiently what is described in the chapter. Some of the chapters go very far in details, others are somewhat superficial. Not all try to give evidence based knowledge as internationally accepted worldwide today but give mainly the experts' opinion on a specific topic. Some deal properly with references and discuss them, others just give a list of interesting publications on the topic.

Not all figures and illustrations are of a proper quality which is a pity for a book of this price. The quality of the production is not excellent.

An attentive reader will find a lot of what he might be looking for in this textbook. But the reader should be cautious that what he reads might be the individual opinion of an expert and not a generally accepted fact. Therefore this book needs an attentive and critical reader. One can recommend purchasing this book taking into consideration the concerns about product quality, price, content and unevenness in depth between chapters. Despite the concerns, the book contains a great deal of science and expertise.