Singh K, Vaccaro AR. Pocket Atlas of Spine Surgery. Thieme 2012, 152 pages, $64.99.

The book is organized in 23 chapters according to commonly performed surgical procedures. The majority of the book contains intraoperative pictures that have been nicely illustrated and augmented by on-lay drawings to further clarify anatomical points and landmarks. There is a minimum of text, but the text is excellent in further describing anatomical features.

The publication in general would be helpful for neuroradiology audience so that they could better understand the sometimes limited anatomical views that surgeons who operate on the spine are faced with. It would probably best benefit a medical student and/or lower year trainee in neurosurgery or orthopedics who has a special interest in spine.

Common surgical procedures are adequately covered, and the introductory chapter, which is excellent, deals with positioning of the patient on the operating room table. The book is clearly unique in that regard and is not easily comparable to other texts on the subject. The legends are suitably descriptive and well labeled.

There are no references, as this represents a surgeon’s guide to other surgeons on surgical approaches and anatomy. It is not technique-focused, nor does it deal with spinal instrumentation.

Again, I would recommend this to colleagues, particularly those interested in spine and its surgical treatment.