Structure of the Human Brain. 2nd edition

emphasis is primarily on technique and secondarily on clinical interpretation. Overall the book is extraordinarily comprehensive and will fill a great void in the reference libraries of clinical laboratories. Certainly there are points to quibble over. The section on radioimmunoassay of digoxin fails to discuss digitoxin assay and problems in cross-reactivity between these drugs. The section on immunoassay of hormones (almost ninety pages in length) seems out of place in this volume. The clinical overlap with the rest of the book is nil and the methodology is the slim connecting strand. There are many excellent chapters in the book. The discussion of mixed lymphocyte culture, while only a brief introduction to an ever growing field, is succinct and practical. Likewise the treatment of coagulation inhibitors is likely the best brief summary of this topic available. No individual will find everything to set up a clinical laboratory herein, nor will all agree with the biases of some of the authors. When all is considered this is a unique source of information and an impressive first edition.