Initially I found this book very interesting even though I did feel I was being talked down to and that my intelligence was being questioned with the addition of children’s book type illustrations. It was easy to read even though the self laudation was a bit too obvious at times.

However all was fine for about 400 pages then everything changed. The rhythm of punctuation changed so much that, at one point, I had to read the same paragraph several times in order to obtain the intended meaning.


And the whole thing jumped to becoming more like the sort of paper I would read for a Master’s degree. Long words in discipline specific phrases became the norm, almost as if a different author were involved. In this area of the book diagrams would have been very useful but none were forthcoming and there was a total absence of footnote references. The backup reading for this book suddenly needed both Gray’s Anatomy and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. If I had been of the medical profession then I would guess this book is worth having, but, all in all, I feel Professor Turnbull should stick to his day job and writing Medical papers rather than general books.

It was interesting to note he mentions only one soldier he successfully treated.

This book tries to be two things, reading material and general material. For me, it generally fails on both counts and is only worth two potatoes.

ancienturion


Trauma by Professor Gordon Turnbull, published by Bantam Press
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