English abstract
The pathophysiology and rationale of drug use are clearly explained so that the reader is prepared for a lifetime of prescribing and practice. Another striking feature of the book is the strategy of bulky text broken down by use of detailed diagrams. Hence, each chapter in the book is well illustrated with high quality coloured diagrams, comprehensive flowcharts, extensive summary tables and treatment algorithms. These make the book more attractive to the reader. Although most chapters are exhaustively referenced, one of the limitations of the book lies in the use of older references. This is particularly evident in areas of therapeutics that are rapidly changing. An example is the section on Therapy of Infectious Diseases wherein the chapters on treatment of community acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis refer to American Thoracic Society guidelines from 2003, and the chapter on bacterial meningitis refers to Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines from 2004. In addition, Chapter 12 on the Pharmacobiology of Infection gives more weight to antiviral and antifungal drugs compared to antibacterial agents. This could give a novice reader of pharmacology the impression that the former are more commonly used drugs. Overall this book is a useful addition to the rapidly emerging armamentarium of 'new look' pharmacology and therapeutics textbooks. I would definitely use both the text and the online versions and recommend them to others.
