I keep a copy of this book in my office to loan out to students who are reviewing for biostatistics exams, and colleagues who feel the need to brush up on their biostats.

The book definitely does assume some basic knowledge about statistics -- I wouldn't recommend it for someone trying to learn about biostats for the first time. It's really best for someone who already has some kind of formal training in biostatistics, but doesn't want to have to dredge through the heavy textbooks for every question -- I can definitely find the answers to my most common questions in this book much more quickly than I can in my formal textbooks.

For those looking for a less technical introduction to biostatistics that doesn't presume a lot of preexisting knowledge, I'd suggest Modulsky's 'Intuitive Biostatistics'. ( )