Canadian Medical Association New Guide to Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs CMAJ 1997;156:896 2nd ed. Edited by Mark S. Berner and Gerald N. Rotenberg. 576 pp. Illust. Reader's Digest Association Ltd., Montreal. 1996. Distributed by the Canadian Medical Association, Ottawa. $39.95 ($33.95 CMA members). ISBN 0-88850-515-9 [ How to order this book ] Overall rating: Good Strengths: Good organization and comprehensive treatment of information Weaknesses: Cluttered appearance; lack of colour; typographic errors Audience: Public This is the second and revised edition of a book intended to provide information to the public about the drugs they take. The organization of the 2 editions is identical, but the current version includes several drugs introduced since the first edition was published in 1990. There are also revised monographs on some of the drugs, such as fluoxetine. The appearance of the pages in section 4 ("A­Z of drugs") is improved and less cluttered in the second edition. The book is organized into 7 parts. An introduction provides a guide to using the book. This is followed by sections entitled "Understanding and using drugs," "Drug finder index," "Major drug groups," "A­Z of drugs" and a glossary and index. The final section is a drug-poisoning and emergency guide. Plentiful line drawings are used to provide information about the action of drugs and the diseases they are intended to treat. The figures are informative but would have benefited from use of colour. The "Drug finder index," for example, has brilliant colour reproductions of available capsules and tablets to allow readers to identify them. Similar use of colour would have clarified the information conveyed by the illustrations. Symbols or icons are used in section 4 to indicate the routes of administration and the precautions associated with each drug. The symbols are generally useful, but I could find no key to or explanation of those used to indicate routes of administration. There were also occasional typographic errors. For example, in the "Drug finder index," Fiorinal was spelled Florinal. Overall, this is an updated version of a useful book. Morley C. Sutter, BSc(Med), MD, PhD Professor Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics Faculty of Medicine University of British Columbia Vancouver, BC Send a letter to the editor responding to this review Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ March 15, 1997 (vol 156, no 6) / JAMC le 15 mars 1997 (vol 156, no 6) |