This imposing book has grown to full maturity, following its childhood and adolescence as two precursors published respectively in 1994 and 1997. The successive alterations in the title are a reflection of its maturation and growth. Law and Ethics in Medicine for Doctors in Victoria, published in 1994, grew from its conception as an innovative professional practice program, a short course to help young doctors in the transition from hospital training to independent medical practice, developed by three of the authors of the current book, Drs Breen, Cordner and Plueckhahn. It was a concise description of aspects of law and ethics that related to medical practice. They were presented as ‘add ons’ to be accessed and applied when they became necessary. Ethics, Law and Medical Practice, published in 1997, recognised by its title and its emphasis that ethics and law influenced many aspects of medicine and the book integrated these facets more comprehensively into the context of medical practice. The title of the current book, Good Medical Practice: Professionalism, Ethics and Law, gives a clue to its much more ambitious scope. It recognises that good medical practice requires the knowledge and application of law and ethics and that there is a range of additional components that have come to be depicted by the term ‘professionalism’. It is also significant that a fourth author has been added to the three well-qualified authors of the two earlier volumes.