When I was first asked to do this review I requested the book in an electronic format so I could read it on my handheld during those
stolen moments when I do most of my reading. Disappointingly I did not get it; instead I was sent the paperback to read. It took me six weeks to read all 137 pages of it. In the same amount of time I read more than 3000 pages on my handheld; including 4 novels, 30 articles, a biography and bits of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage (more than I ever wanted to know about quotation marks, I tell you). I'm not even counting all the emails, memos and other varied snippets I came across during that time. The message is if the editors had taken a page from their own book this review would have been ready ages ago.

This is a good book; furthermore I think this is an important book. The main aim of the book is to introduce the technology to clinicians who are allergic to it (we all know them, the poor condemned souls). It superbly accomplishes this using a formula which reminded me to one of those 'for Dummies' books. It avoids unnecessary jargon, it's clear, easily readable and written in a lively and entertaining style. Even though the main aim
is to introduce the technology to apprehensive clinicians is not its only aim: it also has things in it that will appeal to the seasoned handheld user.

The book is divided in three sections: Why Star Trek is science past, Why two handhelds are better than one and On being a project champion.

The first section deals with the uses of handhelds in the clinical environment. It introduces the subject in a very accessible way and it covers the range of the subject. It's got its sales pitch so fine tuned that even the most sceptic among your colleagues will be unable to deny the machine's usefulness; not only that, they won't able to argue they did not understand all the technospeak because there is none (well, very little and well explained).

The second section deals with more advanced uses for your handheld and how the features that allow them to freely interchange information can help in the clinical environment. It has very detailed examples and very good advice on how to make the technology work for your team. Because it's written in a narrative way relating the personal experiences of the author it is again very easy to read and digest. Seasoned users will be familiar with the features he describes in this section but the way the author makes them work in the clinical environment are truly valuable and inspired. Handheld veterans can use them as templates to design their own project for their
team.

The last section is the most useful for the advanced user. This is more about selling an idea to people than about the handhelds themselves. It gives very practical and detailed advice on how to get people you work with to adopt the technology. It covers all bases and gives advice on what machines to buy, what software, how to sell the idea to other team members, how to get funding and how to publish your own documents. This is the bit of the book that I consider 'important' in that it gives the reader tools to make things change around her or him. We all have them, those ideas. They start like 'wouldn't it be great if...' The author tells us to stop daydreaming and make it happen, and he tells us how. Wouldn't it be great if when on-call we had access to all the letters on a given patient? How many times have you asked yourself that question at 2am in casualty with a tricky assessment? You check with the duty nurse and he duly informs you that the notes are held in the outpatient's clinic, miles away under lock and key. It would be great, and it can happen; furthermore, it's up to you to make it happen.

Dr Andrés Fonseca, Specialist Registrar
North Essex Mental Health Partnership