Outdoor Emergency Care. Warren D. Bowman. The National Ski Patrol, 1988.

466 pages, profusely illustrated. $19.95 (paper).

Commissioned by the National Ski Patrol as a textbook for courses in Winter Emergency Care, this splendid book will prove valuable for much wider use and is an excellent refresher for anyone involved in management of injured persons some distance from a hospital. There is a brief chapter on medical emergencies and short sections on injury due to heat, cold and altitude—even a chapter on childbirth—but this is primarily a book on trauma. Excellent appendices deal with legal aspects of emergency care, transport of the injured, appropriate medical kits, a glossary and a “module” summarizing the rest of the book. There is a good index and hundreds of excellent line drawings. This is a wonderful book with which to sharpen up your skills—a bit large to carry on a trek—but a must for anyone involved in an accident far from medical care.

Charles S. Houston, M.D.