Guest Review by W. Greg Upton, DVM 
(Click on stars for an explanation) |
You may purchase this book on Amazon.com. |
I was eager to have the opportunity to review this book, as I long for a comprehensive reference on urinalysis and hematology. But, on the whole, I'm disappointed. The book could have been so much more. Generally speaking, the book is geared more toward a technician performing these lab tests than for a practitioner interpreting them.
The book has two main sections. The first section covers urinalysis and the second section covers hematology. Although there is some useful information in the written material, it is presented in a disjointed manner -- and is, at times, repetitious. Some errors are present, such as in one description of blood on page 52 ("The plasma color should also be observed. Normal plasma is light to dark yellow."). Since normal plasma should never be dark yellow I wonder if the author was confusing plasma with urine. The section on urine dipstick analysis did not provide adequate discussions on the limitations of some of the tests. The photographs of microscopic examinations of urine and blood were clear, adequately labeled, and the best part of the book.
The CD-ROM companion to the book contains photographs only. It includes all of the pictures from the textbook, plus a few extra. The CD-ROM did not auto-start on my computer and I had to go into Windows Explorer, look at the contents of the CD, and choose "Start Here" from the list of contents. This could be frustrating for a computer neophyte. The CD uses your Internet browser to view the contents. The menu labels the pictures only by the figure number that correlates with the figure numbers in the book. You will have to have the book handy to look up a particular picture on the CD-ROM -- or be prepared to go through a long list until you find what you are looking for.
The best use for this book would be to use the photographs to assist a veterinary technician (or doctor) to identify items under the microscope. I can't think of a good use for the CD-ROM, unless one wanted to print out pictures or display the pictures while teaching a group. There are better references available for the veterinarian on these topics. Osborne & Steven's Urinalysis: A Clinical Guide to Compassionate Patient Care contains excellent discussions and more extensive microscopic photographs of urine. Duncan & Prasse's Clinical Pathology and Willard & Tvedten's Small Animal Clinical Diagnosis by Laboratory Methods contain much more detailed discussions on these subjects (although they are not as highly illustrated), plus they cover additional clinpath topics.
Teton NewMedia (2004).
Softcover, 121 pages, spiral-bound. Book and CD-ROM. Made Easy Series.
ISBN: 00041893441180.