This volume on anticonvulsant therapy is the second edition, the first having been printed in 1974. It is well organized with three distinct sections on basic concepts, the pharmacology of anticonvulsants, and the use of anticonvulsants.
In the first section, the clinical pharmacology and mechanisms of action of the anticonvulsants are particularly well described and concisely summarize the state of the art to the present time.
The individual anticonvulsants are thoroughly discussed in the second section, each in a standardized sequence. The chapter on the hydantoin anticonvulsants is 55 pages long and there are 20 pages of references. I was particularly impressed with the routine subsection, in each of the chapters on anticonvulsants, devoted to the effect on the fetus. Furthermore, pharmacodynamic interactions of these anticonvulsants with others, as well as a wide variety of different pharmacological agents, are also discussed and are of increasing importance in the 1980s as