(Edited by Stephen Wonderlich, James E. Mitchell, Martina de Zwaan , and Howard Steiger. Radcliffe-Oxford Publishing Ltd, Oxon, U.K. Part 1, 172 pages; Part 2, 176 pages. Each volume: $49.95)

If they are harbingers of annual reviews in the future, these two volumes, published under the aegis of the Academy for Eating Disorders, promise that the field can look forward to an extremely high-quality yearly update. The editors, several of whom serve on the EDR Editorial Board, have combed the ranks of those doing significant research and scholarly work and recruited cutting-edge contributors.

At the start of the project, 20 key topics were identified, and the plan was to produce the first two volumes, each with 10 chapters. The first group of chapters covered work published in 2002-2003, and the second group addressed work published in 2003-2004. Therefore, this material appears much more rapidly than is usually the case with textbooks. The chapters are succinct but authoritative, directed to professionals who are presumed to know the basics and who need to know what’s new and what’s controversial.

It’s not clear as to how the editors decided to sequence the chapters in each volume, since the rationale behind the organization of presentations is not obvious.

Volume 1 updates prevention, family issues, the treatment of binge-eating disorder, psychiatric comorbidity, psychosocial risk, self-help, assessment, medical complications, psychological trauma, and classification–in that order.

Volume 2 reviews psychobiology, genetics, sociocultural issues, epidemiology, body image, personality, brain imaging, eating disorders in children and adolescents, treatment of bulimia nervosa, and treatment of anorexia nervosa–in that order.

Suffice it to say that the authors comprise a “Who’s Who” in the field, and that readers will not be disappointed. The quality of the information and the writing and editing is very high. Although the price of these volumes may seem steep, they have been distributed at a half-price discount to members of the Academy for Eating Disorders ($25 to members). This is one more good reason to join the Academy (http://www.aedweb.org/).

— J.Y.