Andrology is a young and emerging discipline whose growing eminence was recently acknowledged in Germany where it attained the stature of a clinical subspecialty. This recognition, in turn, has acted as a catalyst for the re-examination and reclassification of the discipline in many countries. For andrology to take its place alongside the other, more established, fields of medicine there needs to be detailed descriptions and discussions of clinical cases, evidence based rationale for therapy, standardized diagnoses verified by quality control programmes and last but not least comprehensive textbooks that summarize the accumulated knowledge. Such a textbook needs to explain a growingly complex, multi-disciplinary field, not only to dedicated specialists but also to the large number of interested clinicians for whom andrological patients represent only a segment of their practise. Furthermore it needs to provide an up to date review of the physiology of testicular and epididymal function which can act as a reference point for clinicians, basic scientists and students alike. Printing a third edition of 'Andrology' shows not only that it has given the publisher a safe profit, but more so that the preceding versions have fulfilled these requirements and luckily the third edition contains more than only old news.
This book is not written to collect dust in libraries nor drum the intricacies of andrology into the heads of andrologist, urologists, endocrinologists, dermatologists and gynecologists. It is meant to excite, inspire and carry the reader ever deeper into the subject. This process is aided by the clear wording and easily comprehensible linguistic structure of the text. This is a credit to Susan Nieschlag, who deservedly appears as third editor in this updated edition.
The 3rd edition of Andrology is not a disjointed compilation of articles from various contributors. It is a thoughtful progression through the discipline which strongly emphasizes the need of a rational evidence based approach to andrology. The success of this intention can be found in the chapter on empirical therapies where no new entry had to be added to prevent the physician and patient from therapies lacking proof of effectiveness for the treatment of male infertility. The only critique that can be made is, in contrast to the many high quality micro- and photographs through out the book, the presence of some suboptimal two colour drawings. Showing that even in a book of this quality, there is always something to improve in the 4th edition.