Gray’s Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice Elsevier / Churchill Livingstone, 2005, ISBN 0-443-06676-0

‘‘I n Anatomy it is better to have learned and lost than never to have learned at all.’’ The book under review is the 39th edition of the original landmark anatomy book, Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical, written by Henry Gray and Henry Carter in 1858. Since its inception, it has proved to be an indispensable reference for those seeking anatomical education. As such, it has been the presiding judge in every anatomical dispute I ever faced since the 1970s. However, as dry as anatomy can be, it was not necessarily the most pleasant book I have ever read. With the rapid advance in science and technology, it is incumbent upon those carrying the banner for Gray’s Anatomy to meet the challenges and rise up to the cutting edge of technology for the sole purpose of creating an innovative way of teaching anatomy. Under the leadership of Susan Standring, a distinguished panel of 85 scientists, academicians, and clinicians from all over the world joined forces and brought to light this timely and much needed edition with its 116 chapters spanning over 1,627 pages. A striking feature of this new edition is the regional anatomical description of the human body rather than the description of systems, which is a reflection of what we actually encounter during daily practice. The newly updated chapters from the previous editions are set in a clinical context that attracts the readers and keeps them fully engaged—for example, the wide use of colored illustrations and diagrams is quite catching to the eyes of the browser, as is the incorporation of a variety of imaging modalities whenever applicable, such as ultrasound, computerized tomography scanning, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography, lymphangiography, etc. To my knowledge, few anatomy books to date have come so close to clinical practice settings. Even better, the ‘‘edition’’ package includes the text book, two CDROMs, and a continuously updated Website. One CD-ROM ensures an easy access to target subjects through an advanced search engine with capabilities for exporting texts, diagrams, and photographs into any presentation, PowerPoint or otherwise; an indispensable tool for teaching. The second CD-ROM is a state of the art multimedia for all of the anatomical diagrams, with capabilities for adding and removing anatomical layers as needed, zooming in and out, and rotating any diagram for three-dimensional effects. This is an invaluable tool for us surgeons to refresh our regional anatomy prior to an operation. While many competitive, clinically-oriented, anatomy books are available, they come short in being as comprehensive and informative as the current edition of Gray’s Anatomy, which apart from the inconvenience of its large size and heavy weight, has taken the art of teaching anatomy well into the twenty-first century. No wonder it has been nicknamed the doctors’ bible, a name Correspondence to: Samir Johna, MD, FACS, Associate Clinical Professor of Surgery, Loma Linda University School of Medicine, Loma Linda, California, USA, e-mail: s.johna@verizon.net 2006 by the Société Internationale de Chirurgie World J Surg (2006) 30: 1624–1625 Published Online: 13 June 2006