Weldon D: Skin Pathology, Second Edition, 1172 pp, London, Churchill Livingstone, 2002 ($299.00).

Winston Churchill once wrote that “a syndicate can comprise an encyclopaedia, only a man can write a book.” This awe-inspiring book proves that Sir Winston was right about the notable single author books, but it also shows the reverse, i.e., that you do not need always a syndicate to comprise an encyclopedia. At least not an encyclopedia of dermatopathology.

I became aware of the first edition of Dr. Weldon’s book after a former resident of mine returned from his East Coast dermatopathology fellowship and magisterially declared that this will be the book from which he will teach the dermatology and pathology trainees. The enthusiasm of that young man made me buy the book, and not long thereafter it became my favorite source of fancy names for common and not so common skin lesions. I also realized that this is indeed a most comprehensive, yet understandable, text with a lot of wisdom on its pages. I concluded that it must have been written by a master diagnostician who can translate his thoughts into clear declarative sentences and is at the same time devoted to teaching basics as well as the intricacies of dermatopathology. No wonder that the first edition was so widely praised and recognized by the Medical Book Award for 1998 from the Medical Society of London.

Like the first edition, the second one is heavy; it weighs over 3 kg on my dissection room scale. It contains 200 more pages than the first edition and is more profusely illustrated. The text was updated whenever necessary and the new references inserted. It is undoubtedly as good and in some aspects even better than the first edition. It is not inexpensive, but if you can afford only one dermatopathology book for you library this should be it. Residents in pathology and dermatology should be advised to read it systematically and thoughtfully and keep it handy next to the microscope while studying skin biopsies.