Packing an academic punch

It is well documented that there has been a year-on-year increase in both man-made and natural disasters. According to Guha-Sapir et al (2014), globally there is an average frequency of more than one disaster per day. Coupled with an ever-growing world population, this results in more people being affected by such events.

The effects of these events can be far-reaching and touch every aspect of life, but the way in which they are managed plays a significant role on long-term impacts and the speed of recovery back to a functioning society.

This book explores many aspects of disaster psychiatry in a readable format and consistently supported by a large bank of evidence. This hardback textbook comes with a fairly hefty price tag, at £84.99 from the publisher; however within the first few pages, you are presented with a list of 79 contributors. The list of professionals from across the globe also comes with an array of impressive post-nominal letters—with the prize going to Richard William with no less than ten. This is representative of the quality of text which follows; it is 350 pages of well-written, well-referenced, and easily readable information which packs an academic punch. This more than justifies its price tag.