Environmental Public Health: The Practitioner's Guide, by P. Knechtges, G. Kearney, B. Resnick, editors. 2018. ISBN: 978-0-87553-293-6; eISBN (PDF): 978-0-87553-294-3. doi:10.2105/9780875532943

Environmental Public Health: The Practitioner's Guide is a comprehensive and thoroughly modern textbook on the constantly growing and evolving field of environmental public health. (As noted in chapter 1, the term "environmental public health" is generally referred to as environmental health services provided in the public sector.) Considerable attention is dedicated throughout the book to promoting an understanding of the many complex challenges confronting the environmental health workforce and the discipline of environmental public health, both currently and in the future.

Many environmental public health textbooks tend to concentrate on historically relevant focal areas within the environmental health realm such as water protection, wastewater management, food safety, air quality, solid and hazardous waste management, etc. This innovative new book provides novel information on the areas where environmental public health has historically been involved, while also expanding into new, emerging, and evolving areas where environmental public health professionals will have key roles in protecting the health and well-being of the public in the future. Chapters in the textbook dedicated to such areas include Science and Technology Literacy for Environmental Public Health, Environmental Public Health Surveillance, Introduction to Risk Analysis, Introduction to Toxicology, Principles of Risk Communication, Climate Change and Environmental Health, Healthy Communities, Mass Gatherings and Public Events, The Housing Environment, and Environmental Public Health and Emergency and Disaster Management.

I was particularly impressed with chapter 5 "Science and Technology Literacy for Environmental Public Health." This unique chapter was outstanding and unlike anything I have previously read in an environmental health textbook. The information provided in this chapter is of great importance to the modern environmental public health professional. The concepts addressed in chapter 5 should entice professionals currently working in the field of environmental public health to seek out training, publications, and other learning methods to expand their understanding of the many concepts discussed in chapter 5 and throughout the book.

Chapter 6 "Environmental Public Health Surveillance," chapter 7 "Introduction to Risk Analysis," and chapter 9 "Principles of Risk Communication" were also exceptional chapters providing important information on topics for which most environmental public health professionals have little, if any, formal training. Other chapters that stood out for unique perspectives and leading-edge information included chapter 13 "Introduction to Foodborne Illness Outbreak Investigations" and chapter 16 "Wastewater Disposal and Septic Systems."

The editors did an outstanding job of recruiting many nationally recognized subject matter experts to author the 25 chapters on environmental public health topics. It is clear that the authors were extremely knowledgeable about their specific topics and researched the latest information on those topics to ensure the material provided was new and forward-looking.

I was especially impressed with the way several of the authors utilized the 10 Essential Environmental Public Health Services as a tool for planning, implementing, and evaluating environmental public health programs and activities. During my 14-year tenure at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health, my colleagues and I strongly advocated for use of the 10 Essential Services in all aspects of environmental public health programs at all levels of government. It was encouraging to see that many of the authors also promoted use of the 10 Essential Services to enhance program performance in the practice of environmental public health.

In 2007, Mr Robert G. Blake, former President of the National Environmental Health Association, and my CDC branch chief at the time, wrote a 2-part series in the Journal of Environmental Health, titled "Environmental Health-The Invisible Profession." Similar to the theme of Mr Blake's article, in chapter 9 of the book, Dr Knechtges references the phrase, "the paradox of excellence" from Mosby and Weissman (The Paradox of Excellence: How Great Performance Can Kill Your Business). The 2 phrases, "paradox of excellence" and "the invisible profession," are well understood by the nation's environmental public health workforce. The concept implies that the better a person does his or her job, the more invisible the work becomes to the public. Therefore, when environmental public health work is done at a high level of excellence, the public does not recognize or underappreciates the work because negative outcomes do not occur. An unfortunate analogy of this concept is that the public rarely realizes the importance of work being done by environmental public health professionals until a systemic environmental health failure occurs resulting in a disease outbreak, injuries, or deaths.

Environmental Public Health: The Practitioner's Guide is an outstanding educational resource for enhancing the technical knowledge and skills of the nation's environmental public health workforce. While efforts continue to educate the public on the vital work being done by environmental health professionals throughout the United States, the important information provided in this book can serve as an invaluable tool to improve environmental public health program performance, thereby reducing the potential for systemic failures that lead to negative health outcomes. Environmental Public Health: The Practitioner's Guide should be an often-utilized part of every environmental public health professional's library.

-Michael E. Herring, MPH, REHS

US Public Health Service (retired)