Book Review: Neurology and Neurosurgery Illustrated, 4e

Neurologist have a reputation as “thinking types,” so it is not surprising that there are plenty of good neurology books out there. What is surprising to me, however, is the relative paucity of exceptionally good neurology books. Neurology and Neurosurgery Illustrated, Fourth Edition (2004) by Kenneth W. Lindsay PhD FRCS and Ian Bone FRCP FACP is one such exceptionally good book. It is beautifully and clearly illustrated with drawings and images that help expand one’s understanding of neurology as a visuospatial art and science. The first chapter, which is basically a visual guide to the neurological examination, is especially useful. It helps one learn, understand and remember the purpose of the most important physical examination maneuvers. The only downside to the book, I think, is that it needs to expand its niche a little bit. This could be accomplished with an appendix, online or in print, with several hundred Board-style vignettes. Also, the “high-yield” material should be in bold font. This would make the book more useful to people who are in a time crunch and need to cover a lot of material rather quickly. Also, some workup options should be explicated. For example, on page 434 it says that, when investigating neuropathies, one should “exclude … diabetes, uremia, deficiency states” as possible causes. That was written with the neurologist in mind. More junior learners might prefer to read something more specific such as, “consider measuring blood glucose, BUN, creatinine, vitamin B12 … in order to exclude diabetes,” etc. This would make the text more useful to beginners without detracting in any way from the work’s authoritativeness or prestige. All said, I love this book and I highly recommend it to medical students and residents alike.