The purpose of Skin, Heredity, and Malignant Neoplasms is to integrate the knowledge of dermatology, genetics, and cancer into a single resource for the practicing physician. Unfortunately, the result is disappointing. The quality of writing varies considerably among subjects — some good, some bad. However, the very nature of the subject matter and the wealth of information presented make portions of the book well worth reading. The book was not written for any particular group of physicians, and perhaps this is a reason for some of its weaknesses. A lack of uniformity in style, oversimplification, and repetition have prevented much of the material from being presented in an acceptable scientific manner. It always seems a pity to include a chapter on fundamentals of genetics in texts of this type because this is an impossible task to accomplish in a few pages, and more comprehensive and fundamental chapters on genetics are