Appendices form an important part of a book. They provide information that is important, but is in addition to the main text. Generally they are made of tables and charts which are used as ready references and do not normally consume more than ten percent of the total number of pages of the book. But what do you say when you see that out of 1416 total pages, appendices consume almost 1200 pages. Is it necessary to devote so much space to them? Are they worth that much space? Can’t they be reduced so that the bulk and cost of the book can be reduced? Do they supplement the main text or are they text in themselves? These were some of the questions that came to our mind when we first laid our hands on this book. And the answer to most of these questions is that these appendices are an integral part of the book. Since the book is on quality management, it is imperative that all the issues related to quality management are addressed adequately in the book. This is where the role of the appendices comes in. These appendices give various templates that are required for proper quality management in any laboratory. This, we would say, is the USP of the book.

...Since the book is on quality management, it is imperative that all the issues related to quality management are addressed adequately in the book. This is where the role of the appendices comes in. These appendices give various templates that are required for proper quality management in any laboratory. This, we would say, is the USP of the book...

Coming on to the main text, it touches upon almost all aspects of quality management. Although they have been not been described in too much detail, we feel they are sufficient for the book of this size. Any further details would have made the book too much voluminous and made it mandatory to split it into multiple volumes. It starts with the description of quality assurance, its importance and how its presence or absence affects the reliability of the laboratory. It then goes on to describe what is a project as far as a laboratory is concerned and how a project is completed, starting from it initiation, planning, execution and finally going on to its closure. All in all, it is a comprehensive description of project management in a laboratory.

The next part of the book deals with the various manuals that are required to be prepared in the laboratory. Once again it is a decent presentation filled with blank forms, flow charts, diagrams etc. And surprisingly, these are in addition to the tonnes of such data that is present in the appendices. The authors do deserve applause for preventing repetitions, which are the norm, rather than exceptions, in books of this kind.

In the end we would say that it is a good book to be had in any laboratory as it is an important book which describes how quality has to be managed in any laboratory.