I'm am generally a big, big fan of the Case Files series...the case presentation always helps anchor details in my head better & for longer than the long lists provided in review books, and they always provide a really helpful, practical approach to DDx, Rx & helpful pathognomonic tip-offs. We have memories built for anecdotes, not laundry lists. *However* this particular one is rife with errors...from the harmless (but vaguely annoying) grammatical errors to more worrisome errors of content. Pts with amphetamine intoxication have constricted pupils? L-Dopa & MAOIs have extrapyramidal Sx as side-effects? Really? Also, there are lots of annoying contradictions within a given case presentation. For example, at the beginning of the case of PCP intoxication it says bluntly that benzos "should not be given" since they delay excretion of PCP. Then, two pages later, it says benzos can be given. I understand that distilling practice guidelines to a couple pages can be hard, and that a general rule of thumb can be disregarded when the drug benefit outweighs the side-effects, but the authors do a VERY bad job VERY frequently of couching these sort of things in appropriate language. Don't couch something as a absolute contraindication if it's simply a relative one. Also, within the autistic case file it says that 40% of autistic kids have MR, then in a comprehension question one page later it asks what percentage of autistic children have MR. Choices: A) 100%, B) 50-75%, C) 25-50%, D) 1-5%. Well, you just read not one page before that the answer was C. Problem? The answer is B. Granted, this is pretty minor in the scheme of things, but the frequent, pointed disagreement between the case file text and the comprehension questions that followed immediately afterwards further undermined my confidence in the book's accuracy. I agree with the previous reviewer who suggested that the company rushed publication of this guy...lots of mistakes/inconsistencies/poor phrasing that any half-asleep layperson could catch. That said, I really haven't found a suitable substitute for Case Files. Like all its siblings, it's eminently readable & interesting...I'd be hard-pressed to say I prefer a textbook to my leisure reading, but this comes darn close. And let me tell you, I'm a real baby about making my textbook reading as palatable as possible, so this is high praise. Bottom line: I'm going to be super vigilant about double-checking this particular book's content against less 'readable' review books, and I'd recommend you do the same. Also, maybe we reviewers can do the public service of listing mistakes w/ pg numbers that we individually find for future readers/purchasers of this book.
