sib pair and affected relative pair analyses, linkage disequilib-rium, gene identification and complex genetic interactions.Particularly useful is Haines’ chapter on the use of publicdatabases which, amongst other things, provides a compre-hensive array of web site addresses and information. Collec-tively these chapters, together with the initial introductorychapters, succeed in getting across some important mes-sages about the nature of complex, multifactorial diseaseanalysis. The book in general could have benefited, however,from being furnished with a wider variety of examples ofcommon diseases other than the APOE in Alzheimer’sdisease story, as elegant an example as it is. Marchuk’sexpose on approaches in gene identification covers a multi-tude of experimental techniques, developments in many ofwhich are moving apace, especially in methods for mutationdetection and SNP allele calling. Notable omissions from thebook, presumably owing to space constraints, include the useof animal models, the critical issue of using defined patternsof linkage disequilibrium to help pinpoint disease-predispos-ing polymorphisms, as well as the social and ethical responsi-bilities of patenting discoveries in DNA sequence variantsimplicated in human disease.

As for any publication in the dynamic field of complexhuman disease genetics, the content of some chapters islikely to be soon outdated by advances in the field. This veryuseful, inexpensive, easy-to-read volume is a desirable pre-scription for anyone – medic, scientist, nurse, statistician,student – involved or interested in the science of geneticmedicine. Haines and Pericak Vance’s book is a timelyaddition to the genetics literature.

Instant success for Instant PharmacologyInstant Pharmacology (1999). Saeb-Parsy K, Assomull RG,Kahn FZ, Saeb-Parsy K, and Kelly E. John Wiley and Sons349 pp. £19.99 pbk; ISBN 0471976393

Reviewed byIE HughesDept of Biomedical SciencesUniversity of Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

Instant success for Instant Pharmacology-or at least it couldbe since this book was written for medical students, bymedical students and provides an answer to the traditionalmedical student problem – what do we need to know? InstantPharmacology encapsulates the essential knowledge andpresents it in a concise and compact manner without theobscuring overlay of unnecessary complexity and detailfound in many other pharmacology text-books for medicalstudents. It has also solved another medical student prob-lem – what about chemical structures? There are no chemicalstructures at all in this book and while this initially comes as ashock to the pharmacologist it certainly enables the medicalstudent to concentrate on actions, mechanisms and uses; theessential bread-and-butter of medical drug use.

After an introduction dealing with basic pharmacokineticand pharmacodynamic (including receptor types) conceptsthe book is divided into four parts. The first provides informa-tion on peripheral, central, local and hormonal chemicaltransmission and some of the drugs which modify theseprocesses. Part II is largely systems based and deals with thedrugs which affect the circulatory system, the central nervoussystem and the gastrointestinal tract as well as with inflamma-tion, anaesthesia and analgesia, chemotherapy, disorders ofthe blood and the vasculature, endocrine pharmacology andreproductive pharmacology. This largely systems-based ap-proach is helpful to students on the increasingly commonintegrated and systems-based medical courses, though theinformation in this book is mostly pharmacological.

These two parts total 174 pages of concise and compre-hensive information targeted at a good pass level for amedical pharmacology course. There are some omissions,however. At the macro level practically no mention is made ofthe drug development process, post-marketing surveillanceor the design and interpretation of clinical trials. This will nothelp medical students to make evaluations of drug effective-ness within the context of evidence based medical practice.At the micro level, while adrenaline, noradrenaline andphenylephrine are mentioned as vasoconstrictors for localanaesthetics there is no mention of felypressin. Generally,however, the information is accurate, concise and clearlypresented with many diagrams (unfortunately all black andwhite) and tables where appropriate. Although the bookmentions about 700 drugs those typical of the class areunderlined which helps the student to focus on representativeexamples. Up to date and well chosen references to addi-tional reading are provided at the end of each section.

Part III of the book provides 150 pages of a dictionary ofdrugs where the uses, mechanism of action, pharmacokinet-ics and adverse effects are summarised for drugs typical oftheir class and differences noted for the other drugs in thedictionary. This is a very useful feature and helps to providean overall view of the pharmacology of a drug though theseparate index has to be used to find the more extendedinformation on the drugs which is provided in parts I and II.

Part IV provides a self-assessment section with traditionalstem plus 5 completions multiple choice questions presentedin groups suitable for each chapter. These are at an appropri-ate level for a medical student and deal mainly with main-stream information. Correct answers are provided at the endof each section but there are no explanations. However, sinceeach chapter is divided into sections dealing with particulartypes of drug and there is an effective index as well as theDictionary of Drugs it is not difficult to find an explanation foreach answer. The questions and answers, and indeed thewhole book, have been very carefully proof-read and arecommendably free of any sort of error.

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The book fills a niche in that it is more detailed andcomprehensive that Neal’s Medical Pharmacology at a Glance(Blackwell) while being less inclusive and providing lessdepth of information than Integrated Pharmacology by Pageet al. (Mosby). The book is rather isolationist, however, in thatit provides no guidance to students on information retrievalfrom the Internet or on how to integrate this increasinglyimportant information source within a learning strategy. Nei-ther does it make links with other pharmacology informationsources (the British National Formulary for example) or with

continuing professional education in pharmacology. While thebook itself provides no problem-based learning scenarios toexercise student’s knowledge it does form a useful resourceto provide the knowledge base required.

There is of course no such thing as instant pharmacologyas many medical students have learned to their cost. InstantPharmacology however has brought together importantinformation relevant to medical students that is requiredfor examination success and as a basis for successful druguse.

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