A companion to bioethics /

The second edition of A Companion to Bioethics, edited by ethicists Singer (Princeton) and Kuhse (Monash Univ., Australia), should be, along with The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics, ed. by B. Steinbock (CH, Sep'07, 45-0313), a standard one-volume reference work in the field of bioethics. The book's helpful summary of the field's major debates makes it especially helpful for smaller collections that do not procure many of the increasingly specialized monographs on narrow bioethical issues. The book also features a wide range of authors--from such established scholars as James Childress and the late R. M. Hare to new voices in the field, such as Eric Gregory, who contributes an essay titled "Religion and Bioethics." The essays in the collection are accessible to many levels of readers; those unfamiliar with these debates will find the essays helpful introductions, and specialists will find new readings of classic works or new perspectives on old debates. This important, comprehensive, and superbly edited reference work will prove useful to students and scholars at all levels and a worthwhile addition to all collections. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-level undergraduates through professionals/practitioners; general readers. A. W. Klink Duke University