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a±z of Medical Writing By Tim Albert BMJ Books, London 2000, 145pp, softback), £14.95 ISBN: 0 727914871 a±z of Medical Writing is not the result of dogged learning and subsequent revelation of the secrets of medical writing by a novice author. On the contrary, the author has had long experience in the field of divulging scientific and, in particular, medical knowledge after graduating in Psychology and gaining initial experience in journalism. After working with various medical journals, a collabora- tion that continues to this day, he founded his own company dedicated to teaching the basics of scientific writing to physicians and other medical professionals. The company now has a long and successful record. The book is written as a reference tool to be consulted when specific problems arise and is structured like a dictionary. On this basis, it is of interest to the professional in a hurry who is by no means an expert in grammar and publishing norms, but who is required from the very first written text to communicate perfectly, not only with patients, but also with colleagues, at scientific meetings and by means of journals with a high impact index, all of this with no previous training. The author includes a glossary of scientific jargon and manages to be not just readable, but even funny. Regular use of this manual will reduce the effort required to achieve a good writing standard, and yet the author manages to avoid the inclusion of endless grammatical do's and don'ts. Tim Albert wittily describes the various states of mind the writer goes through, and advises adaptation to the body's built-in biorhythms. If, at the planning stage OPERA: Only Planning Ensures Real Achievement), the first rule is to define the audience being addressed, then one sign of bad writing is when the message does not reach the intended audience. This book provides a wealth of suggestions, not just regarding the preparation of a scientific article or a doctoral thesis, but also on how to prepare and structure the forms we all have to fill in curriculum vitae, applications for assistance and official subsidies, patient information leaflets, etc.). The book also highlights the most common errors, warning, for example, that the enormous time-saving provided by computerized bibliography-management sys- tems should not extend to not reading the citations included. This is the book for every professional who aims to achieve the greatest possible diffusion of studies and research and to discover the minimum requirements of scientific publishing. It is particu- larly appropriate for physicians, such as myself, whose mother tongue is not English, for whom it provides a concrete, precise and valuable contribu- tion to this goal. Furthermore, the reader is encouraged to consult other work on this subject by the same author. I will not overextend my commentary on this compact volume 145 pp) so as not to contravene one of the author's principles: KISS Keep It Short and Simple). A MOLINA-CARBALLO Neuropaediatric Unit University of Granada Granada, Spain Book reviews 179

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