In 1984, as a wet behind the ears house officer, I remember waiting with great anticipation for the new wonder drug ciprofloxacin to arrive by motorcycle courier so that it could be used for a patient with refractory febrile neutropenia. Nowadays, quinolones such as ciprofloxacin have become so widely used that it may be difficult for younger bacteriologists to imagine BBQ (bacteriology before quinolones)! The important place that these compounds have assumed in the antimicrobial pharmacopoeia is reflected by the fact that this is the third edition of this text …