The British have a way with words, as indicated in this book's title. The book is written by a pediatric neurologist at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow, Scotland. In response to widespread overdiagnosis of epilepsy and lack of understanding of various "spells" in children, the author has compiled a highly useful monograph. It is refreshing in this day and age of high-tech neurodiagnostic evaluations to see this fine clinical approach to important and common clinical problems.
Chapters include reviews of epileptic and nonepileptic seizures, differential diagnosis, syncopes, anoxic seizures, psychogenic seizures, fits and faints in special settings, and prognosis. The special settings include sleep, gastroesophageal reflux, bathing and water immersion, blood and gore, head injury, startle-surprise-or-fright, schools, places of worship, and hairdressers. Each chapter is enlivened by case histories to illustrate the author's clinical points.
Noting that "some neurologists have a remarkable zeal for the early treatment