Textbooks are often designed to be informative, but not necessarily entertaining or original. This book fits that category. It is not meant to be read from cover to cover and there are few, besides reviewers, who will do so. This extra-large volume is a good resource, a worthy reference book for those who want to begin to learn about psychoanalysis as of 2005. The volume might better have been called ‘A textbook of psychoanalysis in North America’ as 44 of the 54 contributors are from the USA; it cannot be considered to give a true overview of psychoanalysis