What's new in the new editions?

Abstract

Many of the 604 medical libraries in Britain, as well as those in the United States and elsewhere, provide a guaranteed market for the standard reference work. This is due to consumer pressure, for readers demand the latest edition whether or not much is new. Editors tend to retain outmoded material and lists of out of date references to make their work comprehensive, so these tomes get bigger and bigger, multiply into seven volumes or more, and cost the earth. Perhaps some lateral thinker might one day sugges…