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This textbook, now in its 12th edition, was unfamiliar to me; it seemed prudent to locate a previous edition for the purpose of comparison. The fact that it was somewhat difficult to obtain an earlier edition suggested that this text was unfamiliar to others as well—a source of some reassurance. Comparison with a finally located edition of ten years ago assured me that, as the editors had suggested, this current edition differs from all the preceding editions. It is far better than the eighth in many respects.
A more pertinent question to potential purchasers is, as always, "Is this worth adding to my personal library?" I believe it is of value to the senior student in his clerkship, to house officers in a general medical residency, and to the practitioner of "primary medical care," be he generalist or internist.
The text is better called a reference volume, for it is