“On-the-job training for surgeons”

159 methods, diagnostic methods, associated techniques and strategies for mutation detection. All these chapters provide an overview of the common techniques involved and protocols for their implementation. with succinct references. The final chapter comments on "Current strengths, weaknesses and future requirements for mutation detection methods" and outlines problems with such methods and the best choices in different situations. There are small areas I would like to see improved-the preface is dated April 1995 and for a book published in 1997, the delay is too long. None of the main text is out of date as it stands, but the fast implementation and usage of the recent "chip" technology is only mentioned in chapter 5 as being "some years away" and this is the one chapter that needs an immediate second edition. Who will use this book? Most molecular geneticists will be familiar with the contents and will require more detail. There are two groups of people who will want to purchase a personal copy. Firstly, MD or PhD students undertaking research involving molecular genetic techniques will find this book is an excellent starter. The second group will be their clinical supervisors and examiners who will need a copy to understand what their students are doing, and to steal the advantage in the knowledge race. As no doctor who graduated before 1990 has had undergraduate teaching of modern molecular biology techniques, they would benefit from a quick glance through this book in the library. PATRICK J MORRISON "On-the-job training for surgeons". The book is designed to be a practical guide for trainers and trainees explaining principles and practice of on-the-job training for surgeons. There is no doubt that it succeeds in this aim very effectively indeed. The book is well structured and jargon-free. Indeed I found it not only readable but extremely enjoyable and I would commend it to all surgeons interested in providing good quality training. It is enhanced by comments from trainers and trainees, illustrating further the authors' points and by short vignettes demonstrating the application of on-the-job training in a practical way. The book quotes a Consultant Surgeon who tells his trainee "I am going teach you how to swim just exactly one foot out of your depth". For those trainers who feel out of their depth in trying to marry the apparently conflicting needs of service and training, and for those trainees who feel that their training …