This is a somewhat strange book-at least it is to this reviewer, who is a purveyor of some of the health economics that is the subject of this text. Given the fairly common relationship between the disciples of sociology and economics-something more akin to distaste than dislike, intolerance mixed with elements of disdain-to write 'a sociology of health economics' could, in itself, be interpreted as an act of aggression.
To have agreed to review it, now seems terribly irrational-especially as I (admittedly with many others) get thanked (twice) in the acknowledgements; and, together with my good friend and colleague, Mike Drummond, have a whole chapter of the book dedicated (if that is the right word) to a series of articles we produced for the British Medical Journal a few years ago. Such exposure seems almost indecent; to respond by accepting to review the book must be the intellectual equivalent of flashing.
'This book is about the activities and experiences of British health economists (p. 3)'. It considers the role of these economists in various different contexts-in 'colonizing the mind', which examines an attempt by two economists 'to overcome [the] resistance by medical practitioners to the economists' way of thinking'. The authors then, on