Book Review

The Eye: Basic sciences in practice

N Engl J Med 1996; 334:1550June 6, 1996

Article

The Eye: Basic sciences in practice
By John V. Forrester, Andrew D. Dick, Paul McMenamin, and William R. Lee. 409 pp., illustrated. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders, 1996. $45. ISBN: 0-7020-1790-6

Medical students, eye-care specialists in training, and practicing ophthalmologists should welcome The Eye: Basic Sciences in Practice. John Forrester and colleagues have successfully integrated state-of-the-art basic-science principles with abundant illustrations. Most of the illustrations are two-tone drawings, and these are more than adequately supplemented by clinical photographs, photomicrographs, and electron micrographs. In a break with the standard structured format, the authors have inset clinical informational pearls within the basic-science text, allowing the reader to form clinical associations. This makes the basic-science information more clinically relevant and memorable. In addition, the authors have cross-referenced page numbers of relevant information within the text. This technique allows the reader to go into an individual subject in more depth, as needed.

The book starts with a number of gross photographs of eyes containing intraocular tumors (primarily uveal melanomas). This beginning captures the reader's attention, but to the novice it presents an unbalanced perspective. Intraocular tumors are important and potentially life-threatening, but they are rare. It would have been more beneficial to include gross photographs of other leading causes of blindness, such as end-stage glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataract, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal detachment. Though these processes are well covered in the text, readers might have benefited from seeing them.

After the initial color plates, the authors present the anatomy, embryology, biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, immunology, microbiology, and pathology of the eye and adnexa. These sections are concise and informative. They range admirably from basic information relevant to medical students to clinical pearls for practicing eye-care specialists. I found the sections on immunology and pharmacology superb.

Paul T. Finger, M.D.
New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, NY 10003