Volume 25, Number 11 465

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Current Therapy inEquine Medicine 5; editedby N. Edward Robinson;published by W.B. Saunders;9" x 11"; 930 pages.

The first edition of thistitle was published in 1983.Subsequent editions havebeen published in 1987,1992, and 1997. An amaz-ing 222 contributors havemade this volume truly rep-

resentative of the current therapy used in equinemedicine today.

The editor writes in the Preface, “It has been 20years since publication of the first edition of CurrentTherapy in Equine Medicine. When I told a colleaguethat I was preparing the first edition, he asked me how Iwould he able to continue producing new editions be-cause there were so few equine specialists to advance thefield and produce a fresh book every 4 or 5 years. Thisfifth edition attests to how wrong he was. The number ofequine specialists has grown, and the technology thatsupports their diagnostic and therapeutic endeavors hasevolved to a level that we could not even have imagined20 years ago.

“This growth of knowledge proves challenging in anattempt to compile a comprehensive text in less than1000 pages. Clearly, it is not possible to be totally com-prehensive, and therefore we have chosen to emphasizecertain topics and cover others in less depth. It is my hopethat by using the 2 most recent editions of the book, prac-titioners can find the information that they need to diag-nose and treat most conditions of the horse. In this edi-tion, we have devoted considerable space to the

0737-0806/$ - see front matter© 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.jevs.2005.09.005

developing specialty of clinical pharmacology; provideda comprehensive section on infectious diseases; delvedinto gastrointestinal, skin, cardiovascular, foal, and eyediseases in considerable depth; and provided a detailedcoverage of reproduction.

“As usual, we have tried to emphasize the practicalaspects of diagnosis and treatment and have provided de-tails for therapeutic regimens. The reasoning behind thisapproach is that Current Therapy in Equine Medicine isa book for the equine practitioner and for the student ofequine medicine. I have great admiration for my col-leagues who have the courage to be general practitionersbecause they are expected to answer questions on all as-pects of horse medicine. I hope this book helps them toaccomplish this task.

“As usual, my role in production of this book islargely that of a conductor who tries to keep the sectionsof the orchestra working together to provide a coordi-nated whole. I relied on section editors to decide on thecontent of each section, to select authors, and to provideinitial review of the chapters. To them and to the authors,I am extremely grateful, and I hope that they will forgiveme if sometimes I nagged them at inconvenient times. Iam also very thankful to Bill Gates and his ilk—whoallow me to sit in one place and send manuscripts andphotos around the world, check the accuracy of referencecitations, locate the addresses of companies, and commu-nicate with authors. This is quite a change from the wayI did the first edition, when an entire room of my base-ment was taken over by stacks of paper, and I employedhourly labor to check information. Finally, I want tothank Kristen Mandava and Kristin Hebberd at ElsevierScience for their cheerful and helpful support. This hastruly been a team effort.”

WEJ

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