To a large extent plastic surgery has taken a separate course from the rest of surgery, and rarely forms a part of either the undergraduate surgical training (except for a token day) or is included in pre-fellowship training programmes. This has meant that the exposure of most British-trained surgeons to plastic surgical techniques is very limited, and the scope of plastic surgery unknown. It is a difficult subject to learn entirely from the books available, because most of these texts on plastic surgery, although excellent in themselves, are too detailed and technical for the novice. Essentials in Plastic Surgery does, as its authors claim, present basic information in a straightforward way. The style is didactic, and aims to introduce the graduate to some of those aspects of plastic surgery that all surgeons should know in a readable manner. The book starts with a useful chapter on basic techniques, which are then applied in the second chapter to the common skin lesions which most surgeons have to treat at one time or another. If only these two chapters were read and applied in the minor operating sessions, the book would be of value in a general surgical library; however, the chapters on cosmetic surgery, breast surgery and burns are of considerable interest to the non-plastic surgeon. The final chapter on microsurgery introduces a field which has perhaps been neglected, and may well have to become part of all surgeons' stock in trade. I would recommend this book to all who wish to learn about plastic surgery.