The problem

The sheer number of books available today can make choosing good ones very difficult. The old adage about not judging a book by its cover can absolutely be taken literally in this case. One of the worst books I've ever read even got a one-half-star review from me for having probably the prettiest cover I've ever seen. It can also be difficult to choose books based on the author's biography and even other measures such as online bookstore reviews. Some books are written by doctors who also teach, and their book could be required reading for their classes, with many students writing online reviews.

Books about headaches and Migraine disease aren't exempt from this problem. Searches on Amazon.com bring up more books that I'd have dreamed. Consider the results of searching on these keywords:

• headache brings up 657 books
• headaches, 486 books
• Migraine, 557
• Migraines, 556
• Migraine disease brings up 134 books, but that includes any book that mentions both Migraine and disease, not necessarily Migraine disease. If you specifically want to search for "Migraine disease," you need to enter it into the search box in quotation marks.

What to look for

• Check the copyright date. With all due respect to Dr. Oliver Sacks, his book "Migraine" was copyrighted in 1992. Sumatriptan (Imitrex) had just been developed. Migraine was not yet fully recognized as a disease. Yes, the book still contains some valid content, but much of is out-of-date.
• Take a look at the terminology used. Does the book refer to Migraine with aura and Migraine without aura or classic and common Migraine? If it's the latter, the author is using older diagnostic and classification terms and may or may not be up-to-date.
• Does the book recognize Migraine as a disease?
• How are triggers discussed in the book? Is there material only about controllable triggers such as foods, or is there also material about triggers we can't control such as barometric pressure changes?
• What types of headache are discussed in the book? Tension-type headaches are the most common. If it's a book on "all" types of headache, does it include chronic daily headache, new daily persistent headache, hemicrania continua, cluster headaches, medication overuse headache (rebound), and others?
• Take a look at the book at an online bookstore such as Amazon.com or BN.com. Look at the section usually called "Editorial Reviews." Are there review comments there from recognized experts?
• Does the author cite sources for any of the information in the book? Even the researchers and expert physicians who write books, generally have a list of sources in the back of their books.
• Look for reviews of the book from sources you trust.

The bottom line

There's no fool proof way to know how good a book is before you read it. There are also books that I like to call "buffet books" because I "digest" the parts I think are good and relevant and ignore the rest. These books have some sections that are quite good, but others that aren't so good or are even bad. They can still be worth reading as long as you know which sections to take seriously and which to leave behind. None of us has unlimited funds to spend on books, but with some checking, we can build a great library that allows us to be educated and empowered patients.

© Teri Robert, July 28, 2006