Clinical Neurology a primer

Clinical neurology a primer is written by leading Australian neurology Associate Professor Peter Gates. This book is the ultimate guide to neurology for people like me – who don’t understand it, but need to know it! Available in kindle edition or paperback edition.

The book covers all the major neurological presentations that you will encounter in you daily practice. It is presented in a simple, logical and easy to digest format, that is not overly lengthy, and is packed full of all the information you ever needed to know about neurology. Each disease process is presented in a clear, concise and didactic format, that provides the essential points to assess, diagnose and manage the condition, without boring you with unnecessary information.

The pictures, illustrations, and diagrams are simple and extremely clear. The book also has a DVD which details ten short, high-resolution videos on topics ranging from taking a neurological history through to the complexity of the ‘rule of 4’ as well as covering the key examination principles of the neurological examination.

It is very hard to find a downfall of this book if not impossible, the chapter on seizures and epilepsy is brief in parts, and could have done with expanding a little more on types of epileptic disorder’s, but other than that it is an excellent reference text on neurological assessment and management.

Chapters 1-3 really stood out for me. They cover the nuts and bolts of neuroanatomy, history and physical examination and, unlike other similar textbooks, these chapters were extremely well presented packed full of visual prompts and handy hints with a text that is easy to follow, read and understand. The last chapter on further reading, keeping-up-to-date, and retrieving information highlighted the evolution of contextual search and will be a great resource when trying to keep up-to-date with current literature and online information repositories.

Key features of the book are:

• Great visual prompts with lots of case studies and illustrations
• Clearly defined essential facts highlighted on each page
• Clinical questions throughout the chapters
• Contextual learning with clinical cases and comprehensive online references

This book is targeted at medical students, nurse’s working with neurology patients, and doctors not training in neurological specialities. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a book to introduce them to the field of neurology, and to anyone thats needs a quick refresher on neurological presentations. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, gained plenty of new information, and have developed new ways of accessing neurological presentations.

Table of Contents:

1. Clinically orientated neuroanatomy: ‘Meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude
2. The neurological history
3. Neurological examination of the limbs
4. The cranial nerves and understanding the brainstem ‘rule of 4’
5. The cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum: assessment of higher cognitive function
6. After the history and examination, whats next?
7. Episodic disturbances of neurological function
8. Seizures and epilepsy
9. Headache and facial pain
10. Cerebrovascular disease
11. Common neck, arm, and upper back problems
12. Back pain and common leg problems with or without difficulty walking
13. Abnormal movements and difficulty walking due to central nervous system problems
14. Miscellaneous neurological disorders
15. Further reading, keeping up-to-date and retrieving information