The well and the not so well read

Book reviews in the BMJ are not well read. In the past if you had something important to say, you wrote a book. Now you are more likely to opt for a television programme, a newspaper article, or a website. Our age is too impatient for books. Even when books do sell it's usually because they have been featured in one of the other media.

But the BMJ continues with book reviews, and this week's collection illustrates why some readers who have defected to flashier media might want to return. Kari Poikolainen reviews two …