The authors state in their preface that this is a new book because of the advances in our knowledge in the five years since the first edition appeared. They are correct. One can hardly recognize the field by comparison of the two editions.
The text is organized into three sections, pharmacologic, laboratory, and clinical aspects, and has 16 chapters neatly cataloging the information needed in such a reference work. There are extremely useful tables, a few illustrative figures, and some useless and inadequate photographs (the one on page 165 in my copy is so dark as to be undecipherable).
The text is not only well written and concise but also contains solid recommendations without wishy-washy meandering. The tables then summarize the discussion clearly and usefully. I was particularly impressed with the discussion of the newer cephalosporins, of the usefulness of ampicillin, and the section on aminoglycosides. In the clinical aspect