2006-03-21

Correct and Complete

Honestly Written, Perfectly Put Together

by Dr Dan Waniek, MD
Copyright © 2006 danwaniek.org
Myron Yanoff, Jay S. Duker, James J. Augsburger (Eds.) : Ophthalmology, Mosby - Elsevier 2004.
This heavyweight 2004 book is standard, savvy, securely state-of-the-art. You buy eighteen pounds worth of one volume, color coded and all. The only drawback is the fact that some illustrations are redrawn for "clarity" and lose information. There is a slight bias towards refractive surgery, but isn't this is the current Zeitgeist in the field? I liked, for instance, the diminutive and indeed litotic style of the contributor who commented something like "there is more than optics to seeing" when he reviewed the acuity of the greatest baseball player in history - who was basically blind for one eye and severely myopic in the other. Overall, here is a well written textbook. You will find it useful not to carry but if you want to walk around the immensely rich and incredibly refined knowledgeable field of modern ophthalmology by reading a single volume.
I must confess I invested heavily in a special table to hold this heavyweight reference item, but then again maybe my room is in better shape today, and I can read Yanoff as soon as I can seat somewhere near such piece of furniture:-)

ISBN : 0323016340, BOBE-5227-REFS-0001, Amazon.com Sales Rank: #48,670 in Books, 1600 pages, Second edition.

The Unseen Dimension

Paying Hommage to Ms Joan Esperson Weddell

by Dr Dan Waniek, MD
Copyright © 2009 All Rights Reserved. Copyright Requests Here Please !
Michael John Hogan, AJ Alvarado and Joan Esperson Weddell : Histology of the human eye : An atlas and textbook, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1971.
Ms Joan Esperson Weddell drew imaginatively and anatomically correct masterpieces. Her style ( which is not downright didactical but inspiring ), is unique and yes, lightyears away from glossy, dumb Big Pharma Owned brochures. Her marvellous insights into eye structures are now ours. However, what is truly remarkable and almost beyond belief is exactly how she managed to inspire others. Back in med school years, I never saw anything like this. This author worked as if she simply lived inside the eye and flew within the eyeballs, in the orbits, as if these were not restricting bony sockets. She took me with her. And what we saw was beyond description, contagious and silencing. Looking inside Hogan, Weddell and Alvarado's masterpiece I made discoveries that were passed to my successors. Others, also, will never forget her.
All my hidden career in medical research, miles away from the Big Five's in Pharmaceutically owned and operated Autobahns, was built with new understanding developed as I had these Weddell illustrations in my mind !

ISBN : 0721647200, BOBE-1088-REFS-0001, Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,862,530 in Books, 687 pages, Unique edition.