This tome is tremendous. It is the size of the Los Angeles telephone directory, and yet it is crammed with ideas which have been reduced to parsimonious statements. It is truly comprehensive and covers every significant area of human behavior. It is multiauthored and multiplural in orientation. It is heuristically divided into 11 areas, some of which tend to overlap.
The first facet of the book is concerned with the history of psychiatry and the psychological, physiological, and social determinants of behavior. An attempt is even made to emphasize the relevance of this data. Unfortunately, the volume of material tends at times to obfuscate central themes.
Current concepts of personality and psychopathology are reviewed cogently. Each section is written by a prominent teacher reflecting various models of human behavior, such as Freudian, Neo-Freudian, etc. In so doing, one can see the basic concepts of normal and pathological development of the