Reviewed by William M. Waring, MD, MPH (United Airlines )

From Doody's Review Service.

This textbook of aviation medicine is in the third edition, containing new and updated chapters (Second Edition, 1988). It is organized into three content areas: aviation physiology, clinical aviation medicine, and operational aviation medicine. The objective is to bring together current understanding in the areas of physiology, medicine, and behavioral sciences and apply this knowledge to the problems of the day in aviation operations. Updates of this type are crucial in a field influenced extensively by developments in technology, clinical medicine, and regulations. This objective has been met admirably with respect to aviation medicine, resulting in a readable and very useful textbook and reference volume. This book is written for the experienced practitioner in aviation medicine, but is also directed at other life sciences disciplines and at students/residents in aviation medicine. It is intended as a textbook for the British specialty training programs in aviation medicine. The principal editor is a well known, highly respected authority in aviation medicine and his co-editors and contributing authors are appropriately qualified and experienced in their disciplines or specialties. The physiologic and psychologic stressors of the aviation environment are extensively covered, as are methods of protection against them and clinical medicine specialty topics, primarily as they relate to determinations of medical fitness for flying and operational issues in the military, commercial, and civilian general aviation environments. The logical arrangement and clear sub-topic and paragraph headers in most chapters make this a very useful book for handy, quick reference. The text is augmented with numerous charts, tables, illustrations, and photographs. Considering the more broadly defined specialty of aerospace medicine, this book does not address issues specific to space medicine operations, though perhaps this should not be expected given the specific title. This is a very useful textbook for the student of aviation medicine and a valuable, up-to-date reference for the practitioner. Primarily oriented to British or European regulatory standards, it may be less useful in this regard for U.S. readers than DeHart's Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine, 2nd Edition (Lea & Febiger, 1996). As the most current textbook in the field, with a different group of contributors and a slightly differing viewpoint than the above-mentioned text, this is a worthy addition to any reference bookshelf in the field of aviation medicine.

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