At a time when new book releases are still at a premium, this Book Review Editor is so grateful to our colleagues from India, who have produced three new textbooks this month (of which more anon).

This book has a multi-authorship that is India-based, and widely so, but with an emphasis on units in Shimla and Chhattisgarh. The editors have made a commendable job of ensuring continuity of style in each chapter and especially in getting the authors to adhere to the book title, in providing what is an operative manual.

The opening chapters cover the composition of the head and neck team, pre- and post-operative care, and medication. A personal favourite here was that on ‘Fluid Management in Head and Neck Surgery’. This may be only five pages of text, but it is the best summary of a complex subject that I can recall. The bulk of the 274 pages is devoted to 15 site-specific chapters, ranging from skin cancer to temporal bone malignancy. Again, what sets this book apart is the emphasis on a step-wise description of each surgical procedure. Highlights here must be those descriptions of neck dissection, total laryngectomy and thyroid surgery. Bullet points take one through the anatomical staged dissection for each technique. There are introductions to the most current ‘recent advances’, whether in laser or robotic surgery, intra-operative nerve monitoring (a whole chapter), or navigation systems.

This is a large soft back book, produced in a very accessible format, which allows ‘dipping in’ as much as reading cover to cover. There are colour illustrations throughout, nicely reproduced. With a few exceptions, the imaging scans, whether from computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging, are clear, relevant and sharply printed.

This is, then, a very practical and hands-on book that will appeal to trainees in any surgical specialty that contributes to the management of head and neck tumours. Most importantly, it does live up to its title and, so, provides something novel, in a recipe book format. It seems very good value for its quality and content.