The third edition of this volume, Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation , presumably attests to its usefulness. The presentation is diffuse, anecdotal, and lacks coherence; this may be due, in part, to the fact that this sharply delineated subject is discussed by 18 contributors besides the author. In dealing with the historical aspects, for instance, the foreword of the first edition states, "Historians of the subject will have to begin where he (the author) left off, because it is complete as of now and will save these investigators countless hours of tedious work." The extensive bibliography of over 1,000 references in the third edition is preceded, however, by the caution that readers of the third edition who are interested in the historical aspects should refer to the author's dealing with the subject in the first and second editions, since many of the references from the previous two editions are omitted! The 12