Description

This book of “A Practical Approach to Anesthesia Equipment” attempts to highlight and convey the key ideas that affect day-to-day anesthetic practice, with some useful and practical hints along the way. In this textbook, which feels more like a selection of notes when reading, D. Kenned has selected the topics he feels have the most practical application, and he explains the theory behind these topics with helpful diagrams and analogies. Many chapters cover a wide range of topics, from intubation all the way to chloride shift. Each chapter starts with some simple background, often with a real-world example. He then delves deeper into the minutiae of the topics before offering up some pragmatic advice on how to apply this theory in day-to-day practice. Where possible, real examples are used to illustrate the theory, linking theory and practice together. The book is easy and pleasant to read, with a conversational tone maintained throughout. The language and structure lend themselves easily to sitting down and reading a few chapters at a time. Indeed, the author encourages skim reading on the first read, and the text certainly lends itself to this. This does lead to sections of text that are difficult to follow, with one memorable passage discussing the differences in anatomy between predator and prey animals. Its relevance to the topic at hand was lost on us, even after multiple reading. Similar passages throughout the text make it a sometimes difficult read, with the author's point obscured behind strained analogies. The structure of the book is also slightly haphazard, with each chapter best viewed in isolation, rather than as a continuation of a topic.