Abstract
Some aspects of the field of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders are advancing so rapidly that books on the subject are often out of date before they are printed. This problem is compounded by some large publishing houses which I have known to take over a year from receipt of a complete manuscript to production of the final finished book, despite being sent everything in electronic form. One would think that a month or two would suffice to turn a complete electronic file into a book, but some international publishers seem not to have caught up with the 21st Century. One of the reasons that Martin Dunitz, a small North London publisher, has established such an impressive stable of psychiatric authors and produced such a comprehensive list of books on psychiatry, neuropsychiatry and neurology in recent years, is that it has an efficient, streamlined and rapid production process, typesetting chapters as soon as they are received so that the book can go into production as soon as the last chapter is edited and typeset. Thus, it is a pleasure to receive an edited, research-based text on Alzheimer's disease and related disorders that is, for once, relatively up to date! Gauthier and Cummings are two of the leading North American clinicians working in this field and they have recruited one Dutch and 13 North American contributors to write 10 chapters on subjects as diverse as amyloid processing in the Alzheimer's disease brain; to assessing competency in Alzheimer's disease. The result is a bit of a smorgasbord but one which should contain at least one course for every clinician or researcher working in this burgeoning field.
I found the best chapters to be Greg Cole's lucid and up-to-date account of amyloid processing, Philip Scheltens' superb review of the clinical use of neuroimaging in the evaluation of dementia and Ladislav Volicer's thoughtful and humane contribution on the management of late stage dementia. Old age psychiatrists, neuropsychiatrists, geriatricians, neurologists and trainees in these fields should also find the chapters on mild cognitive impairment, depression in dementia, use of antipsychotic drugs in dementia and assessing competency, to be of particular interest. Three cheers then for a useful and interesting book supplied at a relatively reasonable price even if one takes into account the appallingly debilitated state of our local currency. Any training programme in psychiatry of old age for senior FRANZCP trainees should make sure it has a copy of this book available for reference.