Multiple Sclerosis: The Questions You Hove The Answers You Need, ed 3.

Multiple Sclerosis: The Questions You Hove The Answers You Need, ed 3 Kalb RC, ed. New York, NY 10016, Demos Medical Publishing, 2004, paperback, 659 pp, illus, ISBN: 1-932603-05-0, $39.95.

This book is intended primarily for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), but it also is a useful resource for family members, friends, and caregivers. The book's main purpose is to help people with MS understand their disease and prepare them for a more active role in their heath care decisions. The book contains 17 chapters, each chapter focusing on a different topic relevant to MS, such as disease process, treatment, and psychosocial effects. Other topics include neurology, nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech disorders, cognition, insurance issues, and sexuality.

Each chapter features a series of questions and answers about MS, which enables the reader to focus on a particular issue immediately, without having to skim through a lengthy amount of text. The writing style is clear and informative, and the authors are sympathetic about the emotional aspects of living with MS. The content is comprehensive enough that clinicians will find the book a strong general resource, and the use of plain language makes it accessible to a general audience and those recently diagnosed with MS. Each chapter ends with a list of recommended reading and references to resources that provide support and further information on the topic covered in the chapter.

Although this book contains few figures or tables, there is a glossary of medical terms and an appendix that lists medications commonly used to treat MS. Proper dosage, precautions, and possible side effects are described for each medication. An up-to-date resource section at the end of the book provides contact information for public and private agencies that provide services for people with MS. The scope of this section includes organizations dealing with home adaptation, travel, visual impairments, and disability-related public policy.

In summary, this book is an informative resource that covers a wide range of topics related to MS. Physical therapists, students, physicians, and people with MS will find it a useful addition to their library.

Sheila Schindler-Ivens, PT, PhD

Marquette University

Milwaukee, Wis

Dr Schindler-Ivens is Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy where she teaches medical neuroscience and evidence-based practice. She also has an active research program investigating neuromuscular contributions to locomotor problems in people with stroke.