The following letter has been submitted to the British Medical Journal (13/01/99)

Sir,

Drs. Wessely, Hotopf and Sharpe must be thrilled with the complimentary review of their book Chronic Fatigue and its Syndromes (BMJ, 1999, 318, 133). However, readers who wish to read the opinions of someone other than a former close colleague of one of the authors may be interested in the review on my website at: http://freespace.virgin.net/david.axford/bookrev3.htm

In this case, the writer is also a mental health professional with a background in behaviour therapy. However, unlike Prof. Mayou, she did not work alongside one of the authors, has not written articles with or co-edited books featuring any of the authors and does not belong to the same school of thought as the authors.

I know that differing opinions tend to complicate matters. However, its an expensive book and some may value a more independent review.

Yours faithfully,

David Axford

Professor Simon Wessely informs me that there is now a cheaper paper-back version on sale.