Book excerpt: This is a practical guide aimed at supervisors of research students. It is written in a lively case study style and is designed to appeal to supervisors who need a quick fix, and who have neither the time nor the inclination to read a more detailed, in depth book on the subject such as Supervising the Doctorate. There is a growing need for such a volume as the QAA postgraduate code of practice in the UK indicates that all new doctoral supervisors must be trained appropriately. This book will be very suitable for such training courses. The authors both come from a medical background so the book is likely to be particularly well recieved within scientfic and medical departments.