This is a big book that tells you a lot about inhalation toxicology. The editors clearly intend it to be a definitive work, and it is aimed at both practicing inhalation toxicologists and the “aspiring student”. As a reference work for the professional, it succeeds well; of its value as a textbook for students I am less certain. About 70 authors have contributed: there are 40 chapters of varying length. Some deal with the theoretical aspects of the subject, some with regulatory matters, and others with compounds or groups of compounds. It is not possible to discuss more than a few chapters in detail.

The first section deals with “Methods and measurements”. The second, confusingly, deals with “Methods” again. No systematic approach seems to have been taken. Chapter 5, for example, provides an interesting account of the …