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framework for both student and established practitioner in all disciplines. It sets the scene for

progression towards safer cardiac surgery.

Cardiothoracic Surgery

Brompton Hospital

London. U.K. Philip H. Kay

Acute Coronary Care Editors: R.M. Califf, G.S. Wagner

Martinus Nijhoff, Boston/Dordrecht/Lancaster. 1987; 367 pp.; US $76.50, E57.95.

Dfl 205; ISBN O-89838-842-2

This book is the second in a series of yearly updates of the original volume entitled Acure

Coronay Care: Principles and Practice. It is a multi-author text consisting mostly of reviews

of the state of the art as it pertains to the management of acute ischaemic syndromes. The contents are divided somewhat arbitrarily into five sections covering aspects of coronary care

from the prehospital to the convalescent phase. Pharmacologic therapy, electrocardiography

and the assessment of prognosis and arrhythmias are covered in some detail. Many of the

reviews will be of interest to those involved with coronary care although many of the topics can be found in current cardiology journals.

The camera format of the text is disappointing with wide variability in type style and line spacing between chapters. Despite this apparent frugality. the book is expensive with a publisher’s price of &X3 (US $76.50).

This book will be of value to physicians wishing to review recent developments in coronary care from a single volume.

Department of Cardiology Brompton Hospital London, U.K. R.A. Luke

Electrocardiographic Body Surface Mapping (Developments in Cardiovascular Medicine Series) Editors: R.Th. van Dam, A. van Oosterom

Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht/Boston/Lancaster, 1987; 311 pp.; Dfl 175,

$75, E54.25: ISBN O-89838-834-1

Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pharmacology of Adenosine and ATP. Basic and Clinical Aspects (Progress in Clinical and Biological Research, Vol. 230) Editors: Amir Pelleg, Eric L. Michelson, Leonard S. Dreifus

Alan R. Liss, Inc. New York, 1987; 395 pp.; &42: ISBN o-8451-5080-4

Various reviews in recent months have commented on the explosion of publishing and the horrors of the “camera-ready” format. These two books illustrate the very worst of this

approach. The whole purpose. supposedly, of the camera-ready approach is to facilitate rapid publication. Yet. the book on body surface mapping derives from a symposium held in June

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1985 and the publication date is the 1st November 1986. The book on the electrophysiology of adenosine and ATP comes from a symposium held in May 1986, according to the title page, yet 1985 according to the Library of Congress citation data. Irrespective of that, the

book was not published until March 1987. Whatever their content, these camera-ready books

preclude the possibility of editing and, when handled, feel “cheap”. Yet the Liss volume costs &42 and the Martinus Nijhoff one E54.25. These by any standards are expensive. Along with several other of my reviewers, I would strongly advise a moratorium on this type of

publishing. If a book is worth publishing, it is worth publishing properly.

Department of Paediatrics Cardiothoracic Institute Brompton Hospital London. U.K. Robert H. Anderson *

* European Editor, Intematronal Journal of Curdiologv