"Aims & scope: The text Complementary Therapies for Pregnancy and Childbirth aims to provide a background to a range of complementary therapies and then to outline the maternity specific applications of the therapy. The text also contains significant amounts of information about legislative issues in relation to these therapies. Summary of content: This book starts with an overview of complementary therapies and discusses their relationship to conventional therapies; training needs for those who wish to practice the therapies and legislative issues for professionals situated in the UK. Each subsequent chapter discusses a single therapy and includes the major complementary therapies (eg homoeopathy, osteopathy, acupuncture, aromatherapy and herbal medicine) and well as some less well known therapies such as Bach flower remedies. There is also a chapter on complementary therapies for the relief of physical and emotional stress. Each chapter is written by a different author with the editors contributing the introductory and concluding chapters. Scattered throughout the text are short case study-like descriptions of situations from clinical practice where the particular therapy had been used. The text itself is also supplemented with a number of photographs and line drawings demonstrating particular therapies being used or, for example, explaining how a particular style of massage should be done. Critiques of book: Overall I felt that the text gave an excellent overview of each therapy; the descriptions were clear and, apart from one or two chapters, well-balanced. The authors appeared knowledgeable and the style of writing would be understand and accessible not only to health professionals but also to the lay public. I found that the attention to providing evidence-based information about each therapy was, overall, excellent and in a number of places the authors were open about the fact that evidence was limited to support the use of some therapies. The research described in this book appears up-to-date however it should be noted that as this edition of the book was published in 2000 and a newer edition could include some of the more recent work in this area. As a multi-author book there was good consistency in both style and tone between chapters. My major criticism about this text relates to the material contained in chapters describing herbal medicine and aromatherapy. While the information contained in these chapters was factually correct I felt the overall tone was a little disparaging of conventional medical treatments and was also less well referenced than the other chapters. This was a little disappointing given the quality of the other chapters. The text is obviously written for a UK audience with the discussion about legislative issues, professional issues and details of places to contact for extra information specific to the UK situation. As the book is internationally relevant it would have been useful to have had a discussion of some of the issues in other countries or to have had a list of contact in other countries. The emphasis on the UK may limit the books usefulness to those in other countries. Not withstanding these issues this book would be a value addition to the personal library of professionals treating pregnant women. I also feel that many pregnant women would find this book a good resource when looking for explanation of the various complementary therapies available during pregnancy and childbirth. "