J. Anat. (1997) 191, p. 617. Printed in the United Kingdom 617

Book Reviews

Essential Statistics, 3rd edn. By D. G. R. (Pp.

xv­265; some figures; £14.99 paperback; ISBN

0 412 59930 9.) London: Chapman and Hall.

1995.

This book is primarily aimed at students who require a basicstatistics textbook, who have an O-level or GCSE in maths,and who may be studying statistics as part of anothercourse. Its aim is to educate the reader to understand theessential concepts of statistics, to be able to perform themost useful statistical methods, and to be able to judgewhich method is most appropriate in a given situation. Thebook was originally written in 1985; this is the 3rd edition.Since the 1st edition, a new data set has been added and ashort introduction to the statistical package, Minitab, hasbeen added to the Appendix. Some new sections have beenadded, including sections on Venn diagrams, the F-test,Fisher’s Exact test, and the Shapiro–Wilks test for Nor-mality.

The first few chapters of the book provide a very basicintroduction to statistics, including an introduction todifferent types of data, common statistical notation, how touse a calculator, and graphical and tabular methods forsummarising data. These sections are important backgroundreading for later sections but the more mature reader may beput off by the predominantly student-based examples (e.g.distance of home from University, A-level grades etc.). Thesection on statistical notation is confusing at times, as themethods used are not described until later in the book.Chapter 4 introduces the mean, median and mode, alongwith measures for describing variability. Unfortunatelythere is no mention of the geometric mean, which issometimes encountered in medical data.

Chapters 5–7 provide a theoretical introduction to basicprobability, and to discrete and continuous probabilitydistributions, including the Normal distribution. Thesechapters are sometimes unavoidably dry in places, beingwritten in a very traditional style. Chapters 8–11 are perhapsthe most relevant for individuals working in medicalresearch, as they cover sampling, confidence intervalestimation and hypothesis testing (including a section onnonparametric tests). This section is then followed by auseful chapter on methods of analysing contingency tables,including the χ# test and Fisher’s exact test. Two chaptersthen introduce the reader to correlation and simple linearregression methods. Finally, the author discusses goodness-of-fit tests, which could perhaps be skipped unless the readeris particularly interested in this topic.

The book is written in a very informal and friendly style,which unfortunately comes across as patronising at times.There are plenty of examples to work through, althoughthese cover a wide range of topics, and few are particularlyrelevant to medical data. Throughout the text, readers areintroduced to examples using the statistical package,

Minitab. At the time the book was initially written, Minitabwas perhaps the most widely used undergraduate statisticalpackage, especially in University departments of statistics.However, the choice of statistical packages for PCs has nowwidened and readers who wish to use a computer packagefor their analysis may not find these sections particularlyuseful. Even the sections on Minitab seem slightly out-of-date, as the PC version of Minitab now comes equippedwith a spreadsheet, for simple data entry, and with menu-driven commands, to fit in with an increasingly Windows-led environment.

In conclusion, this book achieves what it sets out toachieve—to be a basic introduction to statistical methods.Unfortunately, the methods included are not specific tomedical data, and many important concepts are notintroduced. These include methods of analysing diagnostictests and screening data, survival data, analysis of variance,and more complex regression methods, including multipleregression and logistic regression. As a result, any readertrying to understand the wide range of statistical techniquesfrequently encountered in the medical literature, will almostcertainly have to refer to other texts. Thus, whilst the bookis relatively cheap at £14.99, it may not represent a goodinvestment, unless it is being bought for a younger memberof the family who is doing an A-level or science degreecourse.

.

A Concise Colour Guide to Clinical Surface Anatomy.

By N R. B. (Pp. 92; fully illustrated in

colour; £9.95 paperback; ISBN 8 874545 29 4.)

London: Manson. 1997

Today’s emphasis in the teaching of anatomy is on itspractical applications to clinical practice. Nowhere is thismore in evidence than in surface anatomy. Every time adoctor (or a student) examines a patient, that examinationis based, even subconsciously, on a detailed knowledge ofwhat lies beneath the skin. The same applies, with still moreemphasis, to so many of today’s clinical procedures, whichinclude nerve blocks and the cannulation of arteries andmajor veins. Unfortunately, all too often, this vital knowl-edge may be deficient.

Mr Borley, a surgical tutor at the University of Oxford, isto be congratulated on assembling this pocket-sized andattractive book on clinical surface anatomy. The text isbrief, and the illustrations copious; clear colour-codeddiagrams, colour photographs, -rays and scans, whichdepict common clinical procedures and their anatomy.

Medical students, both in the department of anatomy andin the wards, will benefit from a careful study of this book.They will turn into better and safer doctors if they master itscontents.