According to the preface, this book is written both “to enhance the knowledge of clinicians who treat patients with trigeminal neuralgia” and “so that patients will be able to read these chapters and increase their knowledge of the treatment options that are available to them”. These rather different aims lead to some uncertainty about how, and at what level, to pitch the writing, a dilemma that is not really resolved.

Few doctors, and no neurologists, need reminding about …