BOOK REVIEWS
contains illustrative radiographs, which are
not generally a part ofthe Secrets Series.
The McGraw-Hill PediatricEmergency
Medicine: A ComprehensiveStudyGuideis
slightly longer but is not as handy for quick
reference. Its chapters are in text format and
provide a more thorough overview.
Lastly, Crain's ClinicalManual of Emer-
gency Pediatrics is also a close competitor.
This book is also concise with an emphasis on
management and disposition advice for spe-
cific illnesses, but the writing style and sec-
tion layout are quite different.
Students of pediatric emergency medicine
now have a new, highly readable volume to
help sharpen their knowledge. Pediatric
EmergencyMedicine Secretsis best suited
for those who enjoy memory tools, mnemon-
ics, and quizzes to help them learn or for
those who want a book small enough that it
can be kept nearby for a "sneak peak" during
work.
Paula J. Whiteman, MD
Department of EmergencyMedicine
Cedars-SinaiMedical Center
Los Angeles, CA
Handbook of Medical
Photography
Stack LB, StorrowAB, Morris/VIA (eds)
Hanley & Belfus, 2000
469 pages, $55
ISBN 1-5605-3213-0
Is it an armpit, a gluteal cleft, or a swamp?
Questions like these often come to mind
when someone projects medical photo-
graphic handiwork at a conference. We've all
snapped photos of rashes and interesting
lesions, but how many of us really know what
we're doing? Medical images can be more
descriptive than the most eloquent prose, or
they can be downright confusing. With the
recent publication of the Handbookof
Medical Photography, Lawrence Stack, Alan
Storrow, and Michael Morris are clearly hop-
ing to raise the standards of clinical images.
The Handbookof Medical Photography
begins with a review of what equipment to
buy and an explanation of why digital photog-
raphy is not yet adequate. It quickly becomes
apparent that this book is intended for the
serious medical photographer. If you want to
MAY 2001 375 ANNALS OF EMERGENCY M
publish your photographs in a book or journal, the weakest in the book. Issues of consent
use them as part of the medical record, show and libel are presented with examples from
them at a major conference, or submit them case law, but I found the prose to be a bit
as legal or forensic evidence, it probably muddy. I'm still not sure whether it is legal to
won't be adequate to whip out your pocket publish a picture of someone's foot without
digital or 35-mm camera. We are talking written consent despite this subject having
about a small closet full of equipment at a been addressed explicitly.
substantial investment of money and time if Overall, this book is an excellent technical
you want to do it right. manual for those seeking to produce the high-
If you already know the basic principles of est quality medical images for publication.
photography, you may enjoy reviewing them Those of us with less stringent requirements
in the context of medical practice. F-stops, probably won't benefit from the largest sec-
shutter speeds, lighting, and film selection tion on regional anatomy. This and the fact
all are important and depend on the clinical that many of the remaining chapters are
context. Did you know that there is a special redundant make me wonder whether most of
kind of film that is specially made for shoot- the useful information could have been pre-
ing pictures of x-rays or that different rashes sented in a much smaller, less expensive for-
require different kinds of lighting? The chap- mat, perhaps even in a short series of journal
ter on technique is excellent and demon- articles. It is obvious that the book's editors
strates through specific examples and some share a common passion for medical photog-
well-chosen figures exactly why some pho- raphy and that they hope to bring the rest of
tographs are much better than others. us up to their level, i'm just not sure that you
A chapter on equipment is a bit redun- need this book if all you want to do is make it
dant, but it clearly demonstrates how know- abundantly clear that the crater on the screen
ing what all those little buttons on the back of is on the penis and not on Venus.
your high-end 35-mm SLR camera do can William Birdsong, MD
really expand your repertoire of photographic Bellevue Hospital Center
options. Additionally, ifyou have ever at- New YorkUniversity
tempted and failed (as I have)to capture a New York,NY
lengthy surgical procedure on film, you will
appreciate the section on photography in the
operating room.
The chapter "Technique by Body Location"
is the largest in the book at 330 pages. This is
basically a regional atlas of surface anatomy
that explains how to shoot pictures of every
part ofthe human bodyto achieve textbook-
quality images. The photographs in this sec-
tion are beautiful and are arranged at the top
ofthe left-hand page with a textual outline of
the technique below. On the facing page a
line drawing illustrates the setup and the
manner in which each photograph was taken.
This chapter is invaluable for those who seek
to attain the highest quality images, but most
of the setups are too elaborate for most prac-
tical, day-to-day applications.
Chapters on photographing radiographic
images, forensics, photojournalism, and stor-
age all are clearly written and useful, and an
essay on digital photography makes it clear
that it is virtually impossible to take excellent
digital photographs without a camera that
costs $16,000. The final chapter on the legal
aspects of medical photography is, perhaps,
E D r c I N E 5 55