which fills a long-unmet need in the field of cerebral metabo- lism by summarizing authoritatively a vast and rapidly ex- panding literature. This volume targets a broad readership, including neuroscientists with a particular interest in cerebral blood flow and metabolism, physiologists and pharmacolo- gists, and cliniciansiinvestigators in neurology, neurosurgery, and allied disciplines. The book is superbly illustrated, ex- haustively referenced, and beautifully printed. It will be broadly and enthusiastically welcomed by pre- and postdoc- toral students, residents, and seasoned neuroscientists alike. The authors are to be congratulated on their superb accom- plishment.

Myron D. Ginsberg, M D

Advances in Neurology, Vol 60: Parkinson’s Disease. From Basic Research to Treatment Edited by Htrotaro Narabuyah, Toshzharu Nagatsu. Nobuo Yanagisawa. and Yoshikuni Mizuno New York, Ratan, 1993 773 pp, illustrated, 8150.00

This attractively produced book contains the proceedings of the Tenth International Symposium on Parkinson’s Disease, held in Tokyo in 1991. It contains 126 chapters dealing with every major aspect of the subject, including basic work on the basal ganglia, studies related to degenerative processes, the molecular biology and various clinical aspects of the dis- ease, drug therapy, and newer therapeutic approaches such as transplantation procedures. The chapters vary considerably in importance of subject matter, the extent of any general review of the topic under discussion, and the style of presen- tation.

The volume would have been more complete if the editors had included summaries of the different sections of the book, with a critical analysis of the various contributions and, where appropriate, a consensus of opinion concerning the major issues that are covered. Despite this deficiency, the book remains very comprehensive in its scope and detail and will be of interest to neurologists concerned with the manage- ment of patients with Parkinson’s disease and to neuroscien- tists working in related fields.

Michael J . Aminoff; MD

Genetics and Neurology, ed 2 By Sarah Bundey Edinburgh. Churchill Livingstone. 1992 459 pp, illustrated. $125.00

This excellent monograph has the audacity to cover the entire range of hereditary neurological diseases in the space of 450 small pages. The author has succeeded in producing a very readable and succinct book that provides much clinical infor- mation about all of the common genetic disorders and at least a few lines about nearly all of the rare ones. The genetic discussions emphasize clinically important subjects such as prenatal diagnosis, detection of subclinical cases and carriers, and differential diagnosis. This is a very practical book that can serve as a first resource and as a guide to the more specialized medical literature.

The field of molecular genetics is changing rapidly, and it is not surprising that some new information about chromosome localization or gene identification either was too recent to be included or received only brief mention in a postscript. For example, the trinucleotide repeat in myotonic muscular dys- trophy and the chloride channel linkage in myotonia con- genita are not mentioned. The fragile X syndrome, the next most important hereditary cause of mental retardation after Down’s syndrome, is mentioned only in a table, and the ab- normal trinucleotide repeat in that disease is not discussed. The discussion of the myotonias and periodic paralyses gives little information about the altered membrane physiology in those disorders, and although the linkage of hyperkalemic periodic paralysis to the sodium channel gene on chromo- some 17 is mentioned, the linkage of the same gene to para- mytonia is not.

Despite these minor defects, this book is probably the single best reference work on hereditary neurological dis- eases for general clinical use.

Robert B . Layzer. M D

Epileptic Syndromes in Infancy, Childhood and Adolescence, ed 2 Edited by Joseph Roger, Michelle Bureau, Charlotte Dravet, Fritz E. Dreifus, Andy6 Pewet, and Peter Wolf London, John Libbey, 1992 41 8 pp, illustrated, $1 02.00

I was pleased to be asked to review this book because the first edition, commonly referred to as the “Blue Bible” or “Blue Guide” of epileptic syndromes in children is, by far, the most commonly consulted book in my library. It was also the book most frequently “borrowed” by our fellows and residents.

The first edition, published in 1985, was based on a 1983 workshop and was an attempt to summarize current knowl- edge of the epileptic syndromes of children. Recommenda- tions from this workshop were incorporated in the 1989 re- vised classification of the epilepsies, published in Epilepsia. The second edition follows the same format as the first with short, fact-filled chapters by a primarily European group of authorities. Most of the chapters have been revised by their original authors. Unfortunately, this was not the case for sev- eral important topics. D r Henri Gastaut, because of retire- ment, did not revise the chapter on epilepsy with occipital paroxysms. As pointed out in an update by Roger and Bu- reau, it is now clear that the syndrome described by Gastaut is much rarer than suggested originally. Likewise, much has changed since Bancaud’s chapter on Ko jewnikow’s syndrome and more than an update was required. In addition, little new information is provided on some of the rarer syndromes such as benign partial seizures of adolescence and benign partial epilepsy with affective symptoms. The fact that these disor- ders have only been reported by a handful of authors ques- tions their legitimacy as syndromes. O n the plus side are several new additions, including an excellent review of pro- gressive myoclonic epilepsy.

Unfortunately, many of the weaknesses of the first edition persist in the second edition and could have been avoided with tighter editing. There is a great deal of variability in the

118 Annals of Neurology Vol 34 No 1 July 1993