Book excerpt: In pathology education within North America, there exists a wide gap in the pedagogy between medical school and residency. As a result, the pathology intern often comes into residency unprepared. Completely illustrated in color, this book lays the foundation of practical pathology and provides a scaffold on which to build a knowledge base. It includes basic introductory material and progresses through each organ system. Within each chapter, there is a brief review of salient normal histology, a discussion of typical specimen types, a strategic approach to the specimen, and a discussion of how the multitude of different diagnoses relate to each other.