Book Review

Lawrence S. Friedman and Emmet B. Keefe, Editors. Handbook of Liver Disease. 2nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier Saunders; 2012, 514 pp. $99.95.

Medical information may be obtained from the Internet, or from standard, small, or abbreviated texts. Although the Internet is convenient, extensive, and quickly accessible, much of the information is unfortunately not peer reviewed and frequently presented without scientific documentation. Standard textbooks are usually very comprehensive, but suffer from the delay in publication and are therefore not current. Recently, several small textbooks have been published that offer the reader a quick synopsis of information usually covered in larger texts.

The second edition of The Handbook of Liver Disease, edited by Lawrence S. Friedman and the late Emmet N. Keefe is an excellent example of a small abbreviated text. As usual and customary, the book is composed of chapters written by multiple international experts and preceded by a historical review by Dr. Jules Dienstag.

There are 34 chapters covering a gamut of topics. The initial chapter assessing liver function and diagnostic studies by Paul Martin and Lawrence Friedman presents a concise approach to the diagnosis of liver disease and is a good example of the excellent quality of the subsequent chapters. Most chapters are well illustrated with diagrams and charts. All chapters are introduced with a list of key points and are divided into sections: The chapter on acute viral hepatitis is subdivided into sections on agents, epidemiology, clinical features, treatment, etc. Each subdivision consists of bulleted sentences or short paragraphs. However, this handbook is not formatted as an outline unlike other small texts.

I found, without exception, that the content was excellent. At the end of each chapter, there was a list of extended readings because the text was not referenced. The diagrams, photomicrographs, and illustrations were clear and helpful. Except for an occasional omission of an obscure topic, I was able to locate subjects quickly and with ease. The index was outstanding and as extensive as any large textbook. The handbook is reasonably priced. I would recommend this compact reference book to all interested in liver disease. It is a quick refresher for even the hepatologist who might subsequently pursue the topic with other resources. Purchase also allows access to the text online.