The Man Who Tasted Shapes

can occur. The overview of treatment in chapter five is well written. The discussion on prognosis is certainly up to date. I found the discussion of individual drugs particularly helpful. Information on antiepileptic drugs is available in other places and in package inserts. However, the literature summary for each drug is particularly appropriate for status epilepticus. Shorvon seems to favor newer drugs such as midazolam and propofol. He also points out that the literature is rather sparse in documenting efficacy and safety for such agents. Although many physicians in this country use pentobarbital for refractory s ta tus epilepticus, Shorvon expresses opinions suggesting, perhaps correctly, that data in the literature do not prove this to be safe and effective. However, pentobarbital pharmacokinetics and side effects are well established. It remains one of the least expensive drugs to use for status epilepticus. I calculated that maintenance of anesthesia was six times as costly for propofol and sixteen times as costly for midazolam when compared with pentobarbital. This is an excellent book for neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neurointensivists who treat status epilepticus. The bulk of the information provides the most current summary of the literature to date, and I would not expect the main portions of the book to be outdated any time soon.