An atlas never fails to attract, and this one, in its third, expanded edition, is particularly appealing, coming as it does from that ‘Renaissance Man’, Dr Sataloff. He can turn his author's hand to noise-induced hearing loss as easily as voice disorders, and has a remarkable literary record.
This edition of the atlas shows nearly a doubling of the chapter count and significantly improved reproduction of the photomicrographs. At first I thought two on the cover were inverted, but then it struck me that this is how we see most vocal cords these days, through a flexible nasendoscope – the laryngeal mirror and the lethal spirit lamp are now just fond memories. The book is multi-author, lavishly illustrated of course and a valuable addition to the library. I learnt much. I had never heard of a paresis podule. I am left wondering how much damage I did for years with Teflon. There are some great clinical vignettes, my favourite that of a false positive cancer diagnosis in a patient with papillomatosis, on cidofovir; I will not spoil the story, but it makes one's blood run cold just to read it.
Last week at the RSM over a beer, Martin Bailey scurrilously accused me of just glancing through JLO reviewed books and then filling my library. It occurs to me that the market for such books is either the librarian or the trainee, and that the latter tends to be a more reliable producer of reviews! So many expensive books have completely disappeared into the postal system having been sent to a national expert, seeking a JLO review. Let's see what a trainee thinks instead.
This textbook focusses mainly on providing an overview of the spectrum of laryngeal pathologies, using short case reports, with accompanying clinical images as illustration and references to previously published literature where necessary. The book gives a short introduction to the basic science and anatomy of the vocal cords, but its main strength lies in the clarity of the clinical images and wide coverage of the various laryngeal pathologies, including complications from interventions. The authors emphasise their updating of the quality of the illustrations, compared with previous editions of the textbook, as well as their general expansion of this new edition.
Overall, this atlas will be a very useful resource and collection of reference material for any ENT professional, as well as for undergraduate students looking to recognise and gain an understanding of laryngeal pathologies.
