Best books on neurology: a personal choice

Neurology still tends to be perceived as difficult and esoteric by students and clinicians alike, which perhaps partly explains the plethora of books available. This is unfortunate as it is one of the most logical specialities in terms of reaching a diagnosis. In perhaps no other specialty is a knowledge of the basic anatomy and physiology such a prerequisite for the beginner.

Books for the undergraduate

Essential Neurology. 2nd edn. I M S Wilkinson. (pounds sterling 15.95.) Blackwell Scientific, 1993. ISBN 0-632-03516-1.

***Neurological Differential Diagnosis. 2nd edn. J Patten. (pounds sterling 40.) Springer-Verlag, 1988. ISBN 0-287-66988-2.

**Essentials of Neurology. 6th edn. John Walton. (pounds sterling 19.50.) Churchill Livingstone, 1989. ISBN 0-443-03986-0.

**Neurology and Neurosurgery Illustrated. 2nd edn. K W Lindsay, I Bone, R Callander. (pounds sterling 26.50.) Churchill Livingstone, 1986. ISBN 0-443-04345-0.

**Aids to the Examination of the Peripheral Nervous System. 3rd edn. Ed M D O'Brien. (pounds sterling 6.50.) Bailliere-Tindall, 1986. ISBN 0-7020-1165-7.

Praise of a colleague's book might be looked on with some suspicion, but we have to confess that Wilkinson's book is in fact the best undergraduate text available. Its structure leads to a clearheaded approach to the subject. It has been pared to the essentials and is a model of lucidity. It expounds perfectly the two stage method of diagnosis: firstly, where is the lesion and, secondly, what …