Kenneth Ellman

One of the best books on the subject, unfortunately not revised

This is a Review of the Fourth Edition 1993 John Laidlaw work identified by ISBN-13: 978-0443044731 and ISBN-10: 0443044732. Apparently it was revised for the last time in 1999. This is not a book you would normally look to obtain today. I wrote this review many years ago and now add to it in 2017. There are many, many new books covering this subject. However it is more common for Epilepsy to be a chapter in a Neurology or other textbook. The significant advantage to this sole subject text is the thoroughness and completeness of the coverage. It is also better than other sole subject texts I have reviewed. Furthermore simple and what should be obvious matters are discussed yet absent in other texts. An example is the discussion on page 166 of the loss of speech during a simple partial seizure. This symptom is clearly stated yet absent from many other compendium. In fact a patient had just this loss of speech symptom after a neurosurgery procedure and it caused much controversy. Psychiatric consult was called and it was misdiagnosed as a panic/fear syndrome due to the surgery. The patient would have received the wrong treatment. It was only after being presented with this speech arrest discussion that the diagnosis was changed to being symptomatic of this patients simple partial seizure. This book has more than paid for itself and I it is a loss to have been discontinued. There have been many changes since this last publication. Unfortunately this 1993 book has not and apparently will not be revised. But the value of the authors contribution remains.
Kenneth Ellman
email:ke@kennethellman.com