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It is a difficult task to write a review of Ignacio Matte-Blanco's latest book without producing a treatise encompassing the whole of psychoanalytical theory and practice. The implications of his thinking and writing are vast and far-reaching, making it very tempting to produce a paper dealing with every possible consequence of his postulations.
Thinking, Feeling and Being, although shorter than his previous book (Matte-Blanco, 1975), is perhaps the most elaborate of his writings, at least of those published in English. In it he continues to develop his ideas about the unconscious, its laws, how to understand the workings of the human mind in psychoanalytic terms, and how to apply this understanding to clinical work. This book is a further and important step in the author's long road in the exploration of the psyche. Matte-Blanco started developing his ideas more than 40 years ago, as can be seen by reviewing the reference list at the end of the book. It was my privilege to meet Matte-Blanco 37 years ago and to work under him in the early years of his formulation of the basic thoughts of what today constitutes the main body of his theories, namely the concepts of symmetry and asymmetry, of bi-logic and of the fundamental antinomy of human beings and the world.
Matte-Blanco writes in a systematic and didactic way which shows him in his lifelong role as an exponent and teacher of psychoanalysis. The book has five parts—16 chapters—and includes 32 clinical examples. For the noninitiated there is a useful introduction by Eric Rayner and David Tuckett who try to sum up and explain the background thoughts of Matte-Blanco. It is a clear and concise chapter, although no one should feel that having read it one need not bother with the rest of the book. This attitude would deprive the prospective reader of an intriguing and exciting voyage through the land of psychoanalysis. For the mathematically shy and fearful, the book contains the indispensable calculus and ge