VOL. 97, NO. 5 BOOK REVIEWS 669

This manual can be read in just a fewhours, and the reader will quickly learnthe fundamental principles of visual fieldtesting and interpretations. The reviewquestions at the end of each chapter arevery helpful in focusing on the importantpoints.

The potential reader might ask, "Whyshould I read a book on kinetic visualfield testing when the day of the automat­ed perimeter is at hand?" The answer isthat the automated perimeter does notinterpret the visual field for you-that'syour job. This manual serves as an excel­lent starting place for those students orpractitioners who have not developed afirm understanding of visual field pathol­ogy and interpretation.

There are a few minor problem areas Ican identify in this book. Virtually any­thing currently being written on automat­ed perimetry stands a good chance ofbeing obsolete information by the time itreaches publication. When this book waswritten, suprathreshold static automatedperimeters were the most popular andinexpensive models available to the prac­titioner. However, in 1984, several quan­titative, threshold-measuring automatedperimeters are now available at reason­able prices, which has totally changed themarketplace for office automated perime­try.

The chapter on stimulus presentationtechniques is well done, but the discus­sion of threshold and suprathreshold stat­ic perimetry does not cover the use ofeach of these techniques in manual ma­chines such as the Goldmann perimeteror their use in the various strategies ofautomated testing.

I found this to be an excellent manual.Its aim is to teach visual field physiologyand pathology, subjects that still need tobe understood before the practitioner caninterpret the output of an automated pe­rimeter. The problem cases and the ques­tions are the strong points of this manual;

they alone would be reason enough tobuy the book.

La Retina Periferica. Prevencion del des­prendimiento. By Antonio Pinero Bus­tamante. Barcelona, Ediciones Scriba,S.A., 1983. 230 pages, index, illustrat­ed. $54

Reviewed by ROLAND SABATESKansas City, Missouri

This is a Spanish text, divided into 13chapters. It begins with a detailed anato­my of the peripheral retina and ends witha logical and practical approach to pro­phylactic therapy. Most of the text dealswith the description of various peripheralretinal lesions and their pathologic signif­icance. Brief chapters deal with congeni­tal, traumatic, and inflammatory disor­ders. Lengthier chapters are devoted todegenerative conditions.

The author classifies peripheral retinaldegenerations with respect to their ana­tomic location, that is, whether they arelocated in the external, middle, or innerlayers of the retina. Each condition isthoroughly described and frequently il­lustrated with diagrams and photographs,many of which are in color. The sectiondealing with lattice degeneration is par­ticularly good.

This book is well written and well or­ganized. It is filled with up-to-date exper­tise on peripheral retinal disorders. Theauthor has done an extensive review andadded his own clinical observations andconclusions.

This is the first Spanish text dealingwith an important area of the retina inrelation to retinal detachment; it shouldbe particularly useful to the ophthalmolo­gist who is just beginning to explore the

670 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY MAY, 1984

peripheral retina and it will be a goodreference work for the experiencedretinologist.

Color Atlas of Contact Lenses (& Prosthet­ics). By Montague Ruben. London,Wolfe Medical Publications Ltd. (Dis­tributed by Appleton-Century-Crofts,E. Norwalk), 1982. 156 pages, illustrat­ed. $62.50

Reviewed by R. LINSY FARRISNew York, New York

This beautifully bound and eye­catching atlas of contact lenses and pros­thetics is a compendium of the best clini­cal slides and illustrations from thecollection of Montague Ruben.

This book will be useful in contact lensteaching. Residents can quickly be shownwhat is meant by hand-polishing a lensedge or parallel central fit with a fluores­cein pattern or a photograph of chronicfollicular and papillary conjunctivitis.The photographs are interesting tobrowse through but the legends aresketchy, as would be expected in an atlas,and some of the terms and abbreviationsare unfamiliar. The legends are too shortto develop a topic adequately and theyoften leave the reader in doubt.

One of the major problems in textbookson contact lenses is a lack of agreementon terminology and approaches to fitting.The abbreviated text in this atlas adds tothe confusion. Professor Ruben presentsa beautiful collection of slides and I haveno doubt that his method of fitting hasbeen successful, but unfortunately, thiscolor atlas of contact lenses does not tellthe reader how he does it; for that one hasto turn to Ruben's 1975 text, "Textbook ofContact Lens Practice," Bailliere, Tindal,London.

1984 U.S.P. D.I. Volume I. Drug informa­tion for the Health Care Provider. Vol­ume n. Advice for the Patient. Rock­ville, United States PharmacopeialConvention, Inc., 1983. Softcover,2,268 pages. $44.95

Reviewed by JOEL S. MINDELNew York, New York

These volumes are produced by theU. S. Pharmacopeial Convention. TheOphthalmology panel consists of JulesBaum, Bernard Becker, Robert Burns,Morton Grant, Dan Jones, Herbert Kauf­man, Howard Leibowitz, Irving Leopold,Thomas Mikkelson, Steven Podos, andThomas Zimmerman. Additional contrib­utors include Michael Bergamini, ArthurCharap, Michael Kass, and Paul Kauf­man. The other fields of medicine arerepresented by equally outstanding ex­perts. These books are updated and re­issued yearly to establish and record theclinically relevant information aboutdrugs needed by the physician and by thepatient. The volumes may be purchasedseparately.

1984 U.S.P. D.1. Volume I (Drug In­formation for the Health Care Provider)is 1,243 pages and $29.95 if purchasedalone. This volume invites comparisonwith the Physicians' Desk Reference.Here are some of their major differences:

The U.S.P. 0.1. lists drugs alphabeti­cally by generic name (for example, pred­nisone) and by class name (for example,adrenocorticoids). The Physicians' DeskReference lists many but not all pharma­ceutical manufacturers alphabetically.The package insert and information oneach manufacturer's products are thenpresented alphabetically by brand name.

The U. S.P. D. 1. discusses each genericdrug only once and presents within thatdiscussion a list of all the brands availablewithout mentioning who makes or sup-