New standard in intensive care

Evolving from a collection of handouts, through a handy “bench book” into an international textbook over 25 years, this new edition is remarkably contemporary, with references from late 2002. How these references were selected is not clear, but the book has never pretended to appeal to evidence-based-medicine (EBM) buffs. It owes its popularity more to its succinct and practical style, with lots of tables, algorithms and definitive statements. We Australian intensivists put our trust in acknowledged experts (with rolled up sleeves) rather than in the distant promises of EBM.