George Samandouras, ed. The Neurosurgeon’s Handbook. Oxford University Press 2010, 960 pages, $99.78.
The newest neurosurgical handbook, edited by Dr. George Samandouras from the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery UK, is a smaller (960 pages), lighter, and more compact than the Neurosurgical Handbook written by Dr. Mark Greenberg, which was reviewed earlier this year. With this smaller version comes less information (as one would expect) so the issue boils down to — what should be the size and content of a portable, soft covered book which is intended to be carried in ones lab coat around. This is an individual choice, but to this reviewer, as long as the publication is easily transported and as long as the font is not so small that one has to strain to read, then the more complete and robust the better.
This handbook consists of 18 chapters (here called sections) and has 38 contributors (including 2 neuroradiologists) and as one would expect, the handbook covers the key areas of NSG, including one 30-page chapter on neuroradiology). The book contains a good number of imaging studies (throughout the book), and these have been appropriately chosen. If one were to chose between the two — Samandouras’s vs. Greenberg’s book — the nod would have to go to the latter. It is more complete and in fact contains descriptions of neurological diseases which go beyond neurosurgery. For example, in Greenberg’s book details on AIDS myelopathy or ALS is present; in Samandouras’s book the material is either very brief or is not included.
From a surgeon’s standpoint and from the view of a neuroradiologist wanting to know the specific surgical approach to an abnormality, Greenberg’s handbook is more complete. This conclusion is not meant to denigrate Dr. Samandoura’s handbook but simply to point out the difference in content between these two 2010 publications. Illustrations (including pathology) are found only, or almost only exclusively in Samandouras’s book.
In any event, a copy of one or the other would make a reasonable addition to any section’s library.
