Book review: Goldman-Cecil Medicine

Goldman-Cecil Medicine

2 Volume set 27^th Edition.

Edited by Lee Goldman and Kathleen Cooney

ISBN 978-0-323-93038-3 (Set)

Published by Elsevier (August 2023)

Price £169.99

This is an amazing two-volume general textbook of medicine, which seems to have an incredible coverage both in breadth and depth. Of course, no major textbook such as this can be the final word on general medicine, but it still makes a fabulous reference source.

Each of the two volumes are solid, heavy and large and combined run to a substantial 2,755 pages plus a 91-page index. They are beautifully produced and a pleasure to read or dip into to find out more about a specific condition or situation. There are nine associate editors and a huge array of contributors (according to the preface there are approximately 570 individual authors), mainly from North America.

This book’s heritage extends to nearly 100 years old, but it is a leading edge, modern textbook of medicine that is a superb reference resource. It is well up to the task of supporting a physician needing a modern textbook of general/internal medicine for the current era.

It is difficult to know where to start on such a mammoth resource, but it is simply best to use on a regular basis and look up situations as and when you come across them. The book oozes class and it was very rare that it did not provide me with a fairly decent answer to a query. In fact, it usually provided with a comprehensive answer.

There are also plenty of diagrams and tables and great use of colour. This book is a pleasure to read and use. I am sure will have a wide and global audience.

At random, I read the section on spirometry on page 528 and this gave an excellent explanation with the opposite page full of flow volume curves and explanations. I could go on and on with random sections of this book sampled but almost every time I found what I was looking for and often more, when looking up a topic. In fact, it is easy to drift off the topic you are looking at and start reading elsewhere.

The book comes with an electronic edition, which is included within the purchase price of the book and is accessed via a website and an app. All you have to do is scratch off a covering on the inside front cover of volume 1 and follow the simple instructions. Both the app and the website are easy to use and reflect the full contents of the book, which is brilliant.

At the time of writing this review, this book was newly released and so should be fresh and up to date and considering what you get when you buy this book, it represents excellent value for money. This is a superb all-round general textbook high readable in depth general medical textbook which has an illustrious history but is well developed and designed for the modern digital era.

 Dr Harry Brown is a retired GP and medical editor of Pavilion Health Today