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Like many texts, Textbook of Paediatrics edited by John O. Farfar and Gavin C. Arneil is organized by organ systems. There are chapters on special care and intensive care, practical procedures, and child health in developing countries, subjects not covered by some standard texts. Most sections are well organized with pertinent physiological information presented before clinical entities are discussed. By and large, the material presented is up to date and the bibliographies current. Almost by definition, texts are partially out of date by the time of publication, but there are few areas in which this is evident. One is the failure to mention specifically the group B streptococcus, now the commonest cause of neonatal sepsis in many centers, in the section on neonatal sepsis.
Some chapters fail to give the reader perspective concerning the relative frequency and importance of disease states, or both, and common conditions, the management of which