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Harrison's Endocrinology
Harrison’s Endocrinology
J. Larry Jameson, (Editor)
New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006, 570 pp., illus., index, $64.95
ISBN: 0-07-145744-5
While virtually all textbooks assigned in undergraduate physiology courses
contain chapters introducing the topic of Endocrinology, surprisingly the
textbooks frequently assigned to first year medical and graduate students
seldom treat the subject with any more depth. This has contributed to the
success of such monographs as Griffin and Ojeda’s Textbook of Endocrinology
(Oxford University Press), Molina’s Endocrine Physiology (McGraw-Hill) and
Goodman’s Basic Medical Endocrinology (Elsevier). At the medical and
graduate school level the science of Endocrinology requires more
comprehensive coverage and indeed is best then extended to clinical
information including diagnosis, treatment and outcomes evaluation.
First year medical and graduate students often are intimidated by the wealth
of information and the difficulty of the subject matter contained in the
most authoritative texts such as the Williams Textbook of Endocrinology
(Saunders) and Degroot’s Endocrinology (Saunders); however, those are gold
standards that serve as wonderful reference texts. In particular, each new
edition of those texts does an excellent job of incorporating new findings
in the field and the updating of their extensive reference lists is
remarkably comprehensive. Just the same, many first year students find the
coverage intimidating at the early stages of their careers and it is a
challenge for faculty to convince the students to read those formidable
texts. Instead, many classroom facilitators prefer monographs which were in
fact tailored to this student population, like those mentioned above.
Furthermore, for most basic science faculty active in a problem-based
medical curriculum, the Williams and Degroot texts are valuable, but quite
honestly difficult, resources for preparation of the endocrine cases, even
if they have sufficient background in the field to be able to assimilate the
wealth of information presented.
The same problems exist for first year medical and graduate students when
searching for an appropriate text that introduces them to the science of
medicine. For years one of the most popular and authoritative texts has been
Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine (McGraw Hill), but again the
sheer weight of the text has proved intimidating and the wide spectrum of
topics difficult to navigate. Like the Williams and Degroot textbooks,
Harrison’s must limit to some degree the coverage of any one topic because
of the ever expanding number of subjects that require commentary.
What seems to have been missing in the past has been a text that bridges the
gap between the monographs tailored for beginning medical and graduate
students and the valued encyclopedic endocrine texts. Harrison’s has now
offered a solution by spinning out of the “mother ship” a paperback edition
of Harrison’s Endocrinology. While designed particularly for medical
students in their clinical years and residents in training, this text will
be a valuable resource for faculty and students in the basic science years
of medical school and graduate students interested in a career in endocrine
research and teaching. Edited by J. Larry Jameson, (Northwestern) the text
is a compendium of chapters contributed by some of the most respected
educators and practitioners in the field. Each chapter begins with the
anatomical and physiological basis of the topic and moves then into a
comprehensive description of the diagnosis of and treatment options for
diseases of these systems. Algorithms for decision making are clearly
presented and each chapter includes and an up-to-date reference list with
suggested readings that highlight the information covered. It is easy to
criticize any text that attempts a comprehensive coverage of a field as
broad as Endocrinology, but in reality it is hard to do so with this book.
Although very little coverage is uniquely dedicated to the important
sub-discipline of cardiovascular endocrinology, the text is expanded to
include a laudable chapter by the Fliers (Harvard) on “Obesity,” and concise
yet insightful chapters on “Disorders of the Adrenal Cortex,” by Williams
and Dluhy (Harvard), “Infertility and Fertility Control,” by Hall (Harvard),
and “Osteoporosis,” by Lindsay and Cosman (Columbia). The excellent
introductory chapter on “Principles of Endocrinology,” by Jameson
(Northwestern) sets the tone for this easy-to-read, well-illustrated
textbook.
An outstanding Appendix includes summaries of “Laboratory Values of Clinical
Importance” and a remarkably detailed section of self-study evaluation
questions authored by Cynthia Brown, Anna Hemnes, Phillip Nivatpumin, and
Charles Wiener (Johns Hopkins). While this section is designed for residents
in training or for practitioners preparing for recertification; it is also a
tremendous resource for medical school faculty and researchers in the field
of endocrinology. This section brings to life the science of endocrinology.
Willis K. Samson,
Saint Louis Univ.
Disclosure: Dr. Samson is an author of a chapter in Griffin and Ojeda’s
Textbook of Endocrine Physiology which is mentioned in this article. |
Cardiovascular Disease, Methods and
Protocols: V. 1: Genetics.
Qing K. Wang, (Editor).
Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2006,
249 pp., illus., index, $99.50.
ISBN: 1-58829-572-9.
Cardiovascular Disease, Methods and Protocols: V. 2: Molecular Medicine.
Qing K. Wang. (Editor).
Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2006,
376 pp., illus., index, $125.00.
ISBN: 1-58829-892-2.
Embryonic Stem Cells.
Elena Notarianni and Martin J. Evans, (Editors).
New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2006, 359 pp., illus., index, $75.00.
ISBN: 0-19-855001-4. |
