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The fifth edition of Diseases of the Liver, edited by Leon Schiff and Eugene R. Schiff, has been expanded and revised, but it still adheres to the principles set forth in the preface to the first edition that this "book is not intended to be encyclopedic in nature but rather the expression of presentday information pertaining to various aspects of liver disease by a group of authors particularly qualified by their experience, interest and scientific contributions." To this end, the fifth edition is a remarkable achievement. Sixty-eight contributors with outstanding international reputations have written a readable, up-to-date text that is well referenced and complete.
Several alterations have clearly been made in an attempt to minimize redundancy. In this regard, chapters on ascites and liver-kidney relationships have been dropped and incorporated into an expanded chapter on cirrhosis. A chapter on alcoholic hepatitis, glaringly absent in the fourth edition, has been added,