Larner AJ. A Dictionary of Neurological Signs, Third Edition. Springer 2011, 400 pages, $49.95

The soft cover 384-page cataloging of neurological signs in dictionary format is informative and entertaining. Despite that, one has to wonder—given the ubiquity of the internet, the proliferation of portable personal digital devices and the “wisdom” inherent in Wikipedia—what the value is of this dictionary. If, for instance, you are given the history of hemiballismus for an MR scan and you want to be sure that the region needing special scrutiny is the subthalamic nucleus, you can quickly consult your handy PDA. There really is no need to run back to the office and pick up this book.

To be fair, I tested the book versus the web on a couple of terms which were unknown to me. “Palinacusis” got 7 lines in the dictionary whereas on Google I saw 214 results (you will have to look this up yourself). “McArdle’s sign” got 15 lines in the dictionary versus numerous results on Google.

There are of course nice, quick definitions and explanations of neurologic terms/signs we see and hear daily—INOs, OKNs, Lateral Medullary Syndrome, and hundreds more (I didn’t count the numbers of entries, but a rough estimate is well over 1500 signs). It was enjoyable to thumb through the dictionary and review familiar signs and read about signs with which I was unfamiliar—”man-in-the barrel sign”, Jendrasik’s Maneuver, etc. Go look ‘em up.