The philosophy of this book is to focus on the level of knowledge and the approach that would be expected of the better students reaching the end of their undergraduate training. Avoiding a book that is too cumbersome, we have tried to make this book readable and enjoyable as well as using various techniques to help the reader remember key facts.

In addition to general surgery, the book contains sections on trauma, orthopaedics, urology and ENT making it the only comprehensive textbook for medical students wishing to learn top tips in surgery.

Subjects that are poorly covered in all the main texts are dealt with in a tutorial fashion in this book, such as fluid balance management and minor surgical procedures and there is a section on how to problem solve even in the context of areas unknown to the student.

This book is useful for medical students and also for junior doctors during their day to day working lives as well as those coming up to postgraduate exams.

The text has been deliberately written in a tutorial-like story format as opposed to a set of lists, since this makes it easier to understand and remember.

Each chapter is written by an authoritative author alongside the book editors who have ensured it remains in the spirit of the bestselling previous editions.