Includes bibliographical references and index.

As soon as a junior trainee opens a textbook, s/he quickly realizes that most traditional text books rarely capture the true spectrum of pathology encountered through routine sign-out. The pathology that exists in textbooks is beautiful, perfect, and free from distracting artifacts. No doubt, these perfect examples facilitate the teaching process. The pathology that exists in real life, however, is messy. The tissue is often scanty, squashed, burnt, and cursed with artifacts. In real life, we have to search for red flags in the clinical chart, hidden clues in the slides, and discern an exacting diagnosis despite sometimes disabling artifacts.