Before World War II the German Handbuch, which used to be a monumental encyclopedia consisting of many volumes, was unrivalled as a source book for information and research. Nothing similar has been attempted since. It is doubtful whether nowadays leading experts would have the time necessary for the elaborate critical surveys of which those works consisted. Also, they would be out of date much more quickly than they used to be in the past. However, the demand for encyclopedic presentation today is as great as ever. The two volumes which have appeared under the above title are an attempt at satisfying this need. In the preface the editor states that 'this work represents a serious effort on the part of 111 authors to present the developments, concepts, trends, techniques, problems, and prospects of psychiatry today, in a form useful for both the expert and the beginner, in