Anatomy for the medical clinician. Franklin J Gray. Newcastle, NSW: Gray FJ, 2002 (xxxvii + 414 pp). ISBN 0 646 41122 5.

As medical schools increasingly attempt to integrate the disciplines of their undergraduate curricula, experience in anatomy, surgery and general practice places the author in an advantageous position to write this book. His claim, however, “to meet the needs of undergraduates in medicine, nursing, physiotherapy and radiography,” with one book, cannot be realised without compromising relevance for each. It is obviously directed to the undergraduate medical student.

The increasing number of problem-based curricula requires textbooks to adopt an integrative approach when presenting the requisite knowledge. Anatomy for the medical clinician strikes a good balance between the “regional” needs of anatomy and the organ–systems approach of integration. It does so in an interesting and reader-friendly way, showing the medical student how anatomical facts contribute to their future role as doctors. Clinical features and the basic sciences underlying them are described, however, the former sometimes resemble a mini-text of clinical medicine, without adequate explanation of the latter.

The font size of the text could have been a little larger, as in the index, to make it easier to read. Coloured diagrams in Chapter two would have helped distinguish the three germ layers. While self-assessment exercises at the end of each chapter help the reader understand material just learnt, most questions test surface knowledge, rarely requiring the reader to solve problems using that knowledge.

The author’s statement appearing, perhaps inadvertently, in the preface: “I have tried to avoid unnecessary detail, and so have not included histology,” surely cannot be taken literally as much of histology is a prerequisite to histopathology, which is essential for understanding the disease process.