In the preface to this four volume set of books on pain, the editors are quick to state that they do not see their work as a replacement for the (highly regarded) Wall and Melzack Textbook of pain, but as complementary to it. By placing emphasis on management, they have largely succeeded in this objective. No doubt, the editors and publisher will hope that many will want to own all four volumes in the set. Wisely, however, they have recognised the broad divisions within clinical practice and have separated the books into acute pain, chronic pain, and cancer pain, with a fourth book entitled Practical procedures and applications.

A welcome innovation is a standardised system for scoring the quality of clinical …