Board Stiff Too is something of a rarity, a review book that isn’t merely a slightly condensed textbook in disguise or just a compendium of questions and answers. Its format utilizes an unusual automotive analogy. Part I is entitled “Driving School.” This section describes the new format of the examination in detail and provides tips that should strip away much of the mystery for the novice oral board examinee.

Part II is the “Mechanic’s Manual,” a concise 100-page review of the breadth of anesthesiology, packed with useful clinical information and pearls. The chapter titles are whimsical: “Smoke ’em if you Got ’em” for the chapter on pulmonary disease, “Hatchets in the Head and Other Mishaps” (trauma), “Colloid is Thicker Than Water” (transfusion medicine), and so on. Of course, the review does not profess to be comprehensive, but it does pique one’s desire to explore detailed sources in a more focused manner. Part III is the “Test Track,” a series of approximately 15 sample oral examinations complete with answers.

In the third chapter, “With All Thy Getting Get Knowledge,” suggestions for additional study resources are provided, but throughout the book the importance of oral preparation for an oral examination is emphasized. As stated at the outset, “Face it, nothing you read does you any good anyway, but at least Board Stiff is funny. So long as you’re killing time before the test, you might as well read something funny.” With that minor caveat in mind, Board Stiff Too otherwise seems to be an excellent starting place to begin one’s preparation for either the oral or written anesthesia board examination.

Review by Shyh-Shiun Wu, MD, Department of Anesthesia, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine