This short book begins with a broad, Readers’ Digest style, view of medicine and its limitations in the 1980’s, and of the potential role of computers in medicine. Specific chapters are introduced with a “cute” (and often marginal- ly relevant) lead-in about a patient with a problem that describe recent applications of computers in medicine. The subjects covered include computerized analysis of ECGs; medical diagnosis; artificial intelligence techniques applied to medicine; Myers and Pople’s CADEUCEUS; Rutgers work on glaucoma; AI work at Stanford; etc. The few references that are included are largely out of date; few are from later than 1981, despite this being a rapidly moving field.

It is hard to know who would find this book interesting. There is an interesting survey of the field for someone wanting an easy-to-read overview of computer applications in medicine. Many of the widely described systems are included in the survey. At the same time, the style seems aimed at Sunday suppement readers and most people with any sophistication will find it hard to dig much meat out of this book. Doctors will find the book simplistic and computer scientists interested in medical applications will find the details lacking.