References, to the reader, are like insulin to the diabetic: when needed they are indispensable, but in excess they induce coma. Moreover, when references are simply shovelled into a text in great gobbets, it is hard to resist the suspicion that the author has not read them all, but has copied some from a previous author's list. The story is told of one author who mischievously included in his list a bogus reference to an obscure foreign journal, and gleefully noted its frequent appearance in future articles. One of the joys of this present book is that the number of references to each topic is very small. But these few have been selected with dis cretion and studied with care. Each group of references is followed by a critical assessment, written with balanced judgment and commendable brevity, and how refreshing it is to find authors who read much but write little. In fact, these authors have followed the pattern of the sister work, Selected References in Orthopaedic Trauma, published in 1989.

Section 1: General Orthopaedics

Infection
Tumours: Primary
Tumours: Secondary
Metabolic Bone Disease
Neuromuscular Disorders
Rheumatoid Disorders
Gout and Degenerative Osteoarthritis
Bone Necrosis
Bone Dysplasias
Section 2: The Upper Limb
Nerve Entrapment Syndromes
The Shoulder
The Elbow Joint
Section 3: The Hand
Congenital Abnormalities
Stenosing Tenosynovitis
Dupuytren's Disease
Kienbock's Disease
Osteoarthritis - First Carpometacarpal Joint
The Rheumatoid Hand
Tumours
Section 4: The Spine
The Neck
Lumbar Disc Disorders
Spondylolisthesis
Spinal Stenosis
Scoliosis
Scheuermann's Disease
Tuberculosis of the Spine
Secondary Tumours of the Spine
Section 5: The Lower Limb
Limb-Length Inequality
Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome
The Hip
The Femur
The Knee
The Tibia
The Ankle
The Foot
Author Index.