Book excerpt: Today's medical laboratory worker faces the need to understand an ever-widening range of specialist subjects. The increasing tendency for these to overlap leaves both scientifically and medically qualified staff - especially new entrants to the laboratory - with the difficult task of understanding the specialist language of many specialties other than their own. Medical laboratory scientists, pathologists and medical students need to be familiar with the languages of biotechnology, cellular pathology, clinical chemistry, computing, cytology, haematology, immunology, microbiology, microscopy, statistics, and transfusion science. The contributors to this dictionary , all acknowledged experts in their respective fields, have attempted to provide a guide to the whole of this specialized spectrum of scientific activity. The Dictionary of Medical Laboratory Sciences contains nearly three and a half thousand entries, mostly defining terms in use in the laboratory but also including notes on some disease states. These disease states form a major part of clinical laboratory work. The book, published in association with the Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences, also includes a few biographical notes on those whose names are of a particular importance in the history of medical science. The book will be an invaluable study and revision guide for all students of the medical sciences, as well as a reference source for established laboratory workers and medical secretaries