Anatomy of the Hypothalamus. Handbook of the Hypothalamus. Volume 1

This multiauthored text, directed to the contemporary practicing physician, is a compendium of genetic information relevant to clinical practice. It is organized into four parts: fundamentals of clinical genetics, multisystem disease, organ system disease, and genetic counseling. It contains a good review of the basics with careful attention to the usual sources of confusion: statistics, genetic heterogeneity, pene-trance, and expressivity. The brief discussion of Bayesian analysis illustrates the usefulness of this important clinical tool. There are good photographs of karyotypes along with the discussions of the clinical features of chromosomal disorders. The chapter in which the genetic aspects of cancer are discussed contains much useful information. The chapter on pharmacogenetics is a worthwhile addition, but the treatment is superficial and it is disappointing that there are few references less than ten years old. The multiple descriptions of the clinical features of lysosomal storage diseases would be improved by the addition of photographs. Many tables useful for differential diagnosis and for computing recurrence risks are included. The writing of a comprehensive textbook such as this is an enormous task. This combined with the fact that separate chapters are written by different authors makes it not surprising that some errors have crept in. Some references in the bibliography of chapter 2, referring to tables 8 and 9, seem to be in error. The two tables relating to the maternal age-related risk of Down's syndrome (pp. 55 and 614) do not seem to agree although they cite the same data in the bibliography. The overuse of abbreviations such as e.g., i.e., and of exclamation points mars the clarity and readability of the text. These weaknesses should be corrected in later editions. The book will be of value to students, house officers, and practicing physicians. A major focus of the neurosciences' explosion has been the hypothalamus; its structure and function has received intensive examination. The three-volume set Handbook of the Hypothalamus is the culmination of this growth. Anatomy of the Hypothalamus (Volume 1) is a reasonably up-to-date coalescence of the cytoarchitec-tonic and circuitry data which has accumulated over the last decade, providing a needed synthesis of anatomical facts related to this complex area of the brain. The editors have collected articles by prominent neuroscientists who have been actively involved in the analysis of hypothalamic anatomy. An account of the historical concepts of hypothalamic organization opens the volume and prepares the 449