Summary :
The first edition of Textbook of Clinical Neurology, published in 1999, was envisioned to answer an educational need not met by other textbooks. My original co-editor and I modeled the text after the three-part process used by clinical neurologists to diagnose and treat patients with neurological illnesses: establishing anatomical localization and definition of clinical syndromes based on the neurological examination and history (Part One), using diagnostic tools to clarify the syndromic diagnosis (Part Two), and explaining etiologies of neurological illnesses to establish the cause of neurological disorders (Part Three). In clinical practice, this three-step system is used in everyday diagnosis and treatment. In both the first and second editions, a clear and consistent format guides readers through this sequence. Because neurological progress is an ongoing process that involves the rapid evolution of new information, I am pleased to offer readers this updated second edition, which applies reviewers' and colleagues' comments on the first edition to expand the information presented in the original chapters. This edition adds to the main elements of the original text a number of new features that make it unique among textbooks in the field. First, this multiauthor text incorporates the writings of internationally recognized experts in their respective fields of study. At the same time, however, firm, centralized editorial control ensures a homogeneous flow among the chapters and the parts. Second, each chapter includes not only a list of numbered references but also a list of Reviews and Selected Updates, which covers summaries and overviews as well as the latest published writings in clinical neurology. Third, to address the ongoing trend toward electronic education, every copy of the textbook includes a CD-ROM disk. The disk contains the complete text, as well as numerous videotape examples of disorders, interactive clinical exercises keyed to each chapter, and a search engine. To facilitate use of the CD-ROM, I have placed an icon in the margins of the printed text to indicate videotape entries. A major administrative change in the second edition is the single editorship. Career and personal obligations prompted my colleague Eric Pappert to forgo his original coeditorship. As I have organized and completed this editorial project, however, I have remained cognizant that his intellectual rigor and high standards retain their imprint on this edition. Though removed from the cover and title page, his name appears in my dedication, and, in placing it there, I extend my hand to him in continued friendship. The intent of the new and innovative approach to learning represented in this textbook is to capture the historically honored neurological method in its modern context. It is my aim for readers to move through the three parts of the book or the CD-ROM as they evaluate their patients, beginning with the anatomical syndromes, moving to the evaluation tools, and concluding with an etiology, always reviewing and previewing materials as in actual neurological practice. I have been pleased to see the first edition in wide use when I visit hospitals and universities. Rather than placed on a library shelf, the book is frequently left open on physicians' desks and put to active use on hospital units. I have seen residents carrying it during daily rounds and students working on the CD-ROM exercises. I have heard physicians discussing the many video cases as they relate to given patients in their practices. These are the markers of success that prompted me to take on the work of editing this new edition. In addition to acknowledging the authors and the staff at Saunders, I extend my special thanks to Bernadette Gillard, whose editorial assistance, expertise, and careful attention to detail have made the preparation of this second edition of Textbook of Clinical Neurology a smooth process. The credits for the accompanying CD-ROM are provided in the opening panels of the program, but the expert work of both Steve Bick and Teresa Chmura on that project helped in the completion of the final corrections and details of the printed textbook as well. I close this preface with two quotations borrowed from the first clinical neurologist of international proportion, the 19th-century physician Jean-Martin Charcot. The leitmotifs of his lectures have guided my career and retain their modernity in the 21st century. This second edition of Textbook of Clinical Neurology has been conceived and executed on the foundations of the teachings of this seminal neurologist: Let us keep looking, in spite of everything. Let us keep searching. It is indeed the best method for finding, and perhaps, thanks to our efforts, the verdict we will give such an individual tomorrow will not be the same one we must give this patient today. Let someone say of a doctor that he really knows his physiology or anatomy, that he is dynamic—these are not real compliments; but if you say he is an observer, a man who knows how to see, this is perhaps the greatest compliment one can receive.

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