Postgraduate Medical Journal (1985) 61, 367-371

Book Reviews

Advances in Nephrology from the Necker Hospital,
Volume 13, 1984. Edited by Jean-Francois Bach, Jean
Crosnier, Jean-Louis Funck-Brentano, Jean-Pierre
Griinfeld, Morton H. Maxwell. Pp. xxiii + 383, illus-
trated. Year Book Medical Publishers, Chicago, 1984.
£55.50.

This is the latest in a distinguished series of reviews
based on the Necker Hospital's justifiably famous
annual nephrology update. However, it is difficult to
recommend this volume unreservedly as for a variety
of reasons it fails to match many previous volumes in
the series. It has fallen into the trap of many con-
ference proceedings in committing every review to
print, irrespective of content. Three chapters come
into that category, relating to the strategies ofselecting
various forms of renal replacement therapy and the
results of renal replacement therapy in individual
units. They add nothing to what has not been said
elsewhere many times and will be familiar ground to
all nephrologists. Of the remaining 15 chapters, seven
are partly or wholly devoted to some aspect of anti-
diuretic hormone physiology, and probably provide
within a single volume the best state of the art review
on this topic currently available. However, there is
considerable overlap between these chapters and a
stronger editorial hand in the final written manuscript
would have been useful.
That leaves a miscellany ofeight other topics for the

remaining chapters. These include a comprehensive
and readable review of thrombosis in nephrotic syn-
drome and an interesting article about granulomatous
interstitial nephritis. The remaining chapters unfor-
tunately cover topics which have been adequately
reviewed in other publications elsewhere and while
eminently suitable for inclusion in a symposium,
appear in print as thenow familiar review ofother reviews.
A final infuriating aspect of the book is its organisa-

tion. Several chapters would fit quite happily in sequence,
but instead are scattered throughout the book, thechosen
order being devoid of any discernible logic.
At £55.50 for less than 400 pages this is an expensive

way of buying perhaps half a dozen useful review
articles. If this respected series is not to grind to a halt,
radical change in editorial policy would seem to be
necessary.

Anthony Nicholls
Royal Devon & Exeter Hospitals

Exeter
Devon

From Neuron to Brain: A Cellular Approach to the
Function of the Nervous System, Second edition.
Stephen W. Kuffler, John G. Nicholls and A. Robert
Martin. Pp. xix + 651, illustrated. Sinauer Associates,
Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1984. £14.80.

This excellent book, now deservedly in its second
edition, achieves admirably its intentions ofdelivering
the nuts and bolts of neurobiology palatably. It is
dedicated to Steven Kuffler, the senior contributor to
the first edition, who tragically died during the re-
writing. A brief obituary is included, but the impor-
tance of his wide ranging contribution to neuros-
cience can be seen scattered throughout the pages of
the book. The volume moves from the analysis of
nerve signals through mechanisms for signal produc-
tion and transformation of neural information to
explanations of the higher integrative mechanisms of
the nervous system, weaving a rich and vivid tapestry
which befits a contemporary description of Sherring-
ton's Enchanted Loom. The book has a first-rate
glossary, a valuable bibliography and useful appen-
dices dealing with electrical circuitary and points of
neuro-anatomical difficulty.

There is much of relevance for the clinician here,
with new sections on neuro-peptides, demyelination
and re-myelination mechanisms, the development of
monoclonal antibodies to netual components and
transplantation techniques in the central nervous
system. This new edition uses more 'boxes' to highlight
important concepts and there is a lavish supply of
technical figures and daguerreotypes depicting the
great men of neuro-biology. The book is set in
Palatino, a face inspired by the typography of the
Italian Renaissance which is pleasing to the eye and
seems to aid the digestion of complicated concepts.

I suspect this volume will sell best to enquiring
undergradiuates, but it would also prov useful to all
those nerologsts and neuroswgeos who would like
to consider themselvs as c$mical scieN.

A.J. Lees
Nationat Hospital,

London WCIN 3BG

HWospital piatirs;, Aithy D. MiIner and David
Hull. Pp. vini + 412, illustrated. Churchill Livingstone,
Edinburgh, London, Melbourne, New York, 1984.
£24.00.

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