Book excerpt: Formerly written by Joan Zilva and Peter Pannall, this has been a best-selling British textbook on clinical chemistry since first published in 1971. It is fully comprehensive and highly suitable for use by junior hospital doctors and candidates for postgraduate examinations. A companion 'Workbook' containing multiple choice questions, data interpretation exercises and illustrative case-histories is also available. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated by Philip Mayne, co-author of the fifth edition. The philosophy of previous editions - to cover the entire field of chemical pathology at a level suitable for undergraduate students whilst emphasizing the problems most commonly encountered in clinical practice - remains unchanged.