Martin C. Yorath, DPM (Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science)

"As its title implies, this book covers foot and ankle surgery. It follows a fairly traditional format for this type of book, initially covering foot and ankle anatomy, biomechanics, physical examination, and imaging, before proceeding through a fairly comprehensive range of foot and ankle disorders or conditions creating disorders in the foot and ankle, and their (primarily) surgical management, although nonsurgical management is also addressed for some."

have a clear understanding of its purpose. From reading the forewords (there are two), it is apparent that it is written primarily for the orthopedic foot and ankle community in Asia. However, Dr. Parekh also states that he hopes that the book will serve as a comprehensive reference while also serving to inspire those who might be contemplating a fellowship in orthopedic foot and ankle surgery."

"While the book may be aimed at a worldwide market, there are, frankly, stronger books, in both orthopedic and podiatric surgery, available in the U.S. Whether this one will attract a broad readership remains to be seen. Dr. Parekh is a fellowship-trained orthopedic foot and ankle surgeon of some national and international repute."

"Logically laid out, the book starts with surgical anatomy, biomechanics, etc., and moves on to cover a fairly comprehensive range of foot and ankle disorders from a primarily surgical perspective over 25 chapters. Diagrams are excellent and references are pertinent. Most of the contributors are orthopedic surgeons. There is a chapter on toenail surgery written by podiatric surgeons, which is quite telling in itself. Given the book's wish to reach a broad market, it would have been nice to see a truly multispecialty contributorship, composed of both orthopedic and podiatric surgeons. There is a need for such a book, and it still does not exist, with both specialties favoring their own rather than collaborating. This was a lost opportunity."

It is hard to see why another book on the subject of foot and ankle surgery is really necessary, particularly since this one offers little new. In fact, there are more comprehensive books available, in both orthopedics and podiatry, which do very well. Some of these are multivolume editions and are well known. The market for this book may well be overseas, where having one single "go-to" reference may be more attractive. I would say this book is of limited value as a reference in the U.S.