Current Therapy: 1972. Edited by Howard F Conn, MD. Pp 892. WB Saunders Co, 218 W Washington Sq, Philadelphia 19105, 1972.
New editions of fine books are like old friends who mature and improve with the years. Two such stalwarts are Walter Modell's Drugs of Choice: 1972-1973 and Howard F. Conn's Current Therapy: 1972. Both are superb volumes designed for the working clinician; I have always considered them complementary rather than competitive.
The Modell opus materializes every two years. The current 8th edition is updated with many chapters completely revised; some are reworked and refurbished. This edition has one less chapter (deleted is "Drugs Used in Obstetrics-Gynecology"—I wonder why); there are five fewer coauthors (41) and 24 fewer pages (700). This achievement of brevity without sacrificing comprehensiveness is a pleasant novelty in this era of exponential expansion of texts of every variety.
The format remains unchanged; drugs are discussed in