Donald M. SinclairThis is the fifth edition of a two volume, multiauthored work on pain management published by the American Academy of Pain Management. The purpose is to integrate the various fields of expertise in pain management and to provide a source of updated information. It is aimed at all providers of pain management and presumably has special significance for those who intend to take the examinations provided by the American Academy of Pain Management. The book has 11 sections and six appendixes with sections on work disability and return to work, legal problems, spiritual and social aspects, as examples of sections that stand out from the normal offerings. These are praiseworthy areas to highlight as separate sections. It is written by a mix of American authors. This is an inclusive book, covering a wide range of topics for therapists with the common goal of treating pain. There are good solid reviews of many areas of pain management but there are dubious chapters that tend to uncritically push certain therapies. For example, there is a chapter on the use of colchicine in the treatment of chronic pain disorders. The narrative is anecdotal in the extreme and the references are highly selective. The majority are to articles in the Journal of Neurological and Orthopedic Medicine and Surgery and the tenor of the chapter is that this is a very efficacious treatment for chronic low back pain. A quick independent review of the literature shows that there are articles in Spine, for example, with controlled studies that show that colchicine is not efficacious. These are not quoted at all, and this chapter is, in my opinion, misleading. For those involved in the examinations ofthe Academy, this may be a useful book, but for others, there are more mainstream texts available.