For my purposes, 5***** — but from my law practice (now retired), I have a fair degree of medical sophistication and I'm not intimidated by some of the more technical material. Less experienced readers may find this book a bit overly technical.

I'd encourage its purchase and use in any case, however. Smorgasbord it — Take What You Like and Leave the Rest. If there's something a little too techie for you, put that portion aside and come back to it later if you need to based on your evolving medical condition.

This book is part of a "Questions and Answers" series that includes numerous medical conditions. I might some time get around to the books on COPD or CHF or whatever, but for now my immediate interest is prostate cancer. The publisher is Jones and Bartlett Learning if you want to check the publisher's website for other titles. (Upper right of the home page includes a search box. Just enter 100 Questions & Answers and you'll get a wealth of resources.) I got mine as a freebie from my urologist, who received them as complimentary copies from AbbVie Pharmaceutical. ( )

Overall, I thought this book did a good job introducing a complex and unpleasant topic: Prostate Cancer. The author utilized a question and answer format, and divided the topic into seven parts: Prostate Basics, Prostate Cancer, Evaluation for Prostate Cancer, Prostate Cancer Staging, Treatment, Complications, and Social Effects. This enabled each topic to be broken down into bite sized pieces. There is a great deal of medical terminology used, as one can imagine, and many of these were quickly reduced to acronyms which made reading the book a a layman somewhat difficult. However, a very good glossary mitigated this somewhat. One was left with a much better appreciation for what to expect after a prostate cancer diagnosis and better prepared to discuss treatment options with a urologic oncologist. ( )