The idea for this book took root on a chilly Sunday in April 1990 as I was nearing the end of my internship. On this particular day, I got a call from a medical resident working in the emergency department asking me to see a patient with a “fibia” fracture. The patient, it turned out, had only an ankle sprain, a common and not particularly thought-provoking injury. What got me thinking, though, was that the doctor who called me—a sharp guy, who today is probably chief of cardiology somewhere—did not know the names of the long bones. Years later, Dr....
