The Oxford Textbooks, led by the renowned Oxford Textbook of Medicine, have found their way onto the shelves of clinics, libraries, and hospital departments the world over. They have earned praise for their careful integration of basic science and the best of clinical practice, their international focus, and not least their exhaustive coverage. The Concise Oxford Textbook of Medicine retains all the authority of its parent text, the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, whilst providing more concise and accessible information on how to manage every condition that a physician is likely to have to diagnose and treat. Starting with the content of the Oxford Textbook of Medicine, two of the original editors have selected the most essential and practical content, and reorganized and restructured it for ease of use. The authors of the original Oxford Textbook of Medicine articles have updated and rewritten their work to make it more practically focused, and many new chapters have been commissioned, whilst up-to-date references and many new illustrations have been added throughout. Every chapter of the Concise Oxford Textbook of Medicine has then been painstakingly edited by Professors Ledingham and Warrell to eliminate repetition and achieve complete consistency and clarity. No other one-volume textbook of medicine is as international, readable, or accessible, and none has the balance and perspective of the Concise Oxford Textbook of Medicine. The approach is: humane - for example, there are outstanding new sections on pain and palliative medicine; international - this textbook has been designed for use in all parts of the world and includes an outstanding section on infectious diseases; accessible - the style is eminently readable, and the new page design makes navigation easy and aids rapid text searches; and comprehensive - amazingly broad in scope for a one-volume textbook. Every practising physician and trainee and many medical students will want to have a personal copy of this definitive textbook.