This scholarly, comprehensive, detailed yet exciting overview of one of the most complex and crucial areas of the mind–body boundaries, namely, the affective system, is an excellent contribution to this field. In an early statement, Panksepp proposes that the biological nature of affective processes needs to integrate psychological, behavioral, and neuroscientific approaches, and points to the fact that, at present, no single discipline uses all of these approaches in a balanced way. The detailed analysis of dominant affective systems presented in this book does, indeed, present an integrating approach, with a major emphasis on the neuroscience and behavioral aspects of affective systems.

One general critique that might be formulated regarding this book is Panksepp's relative underemphasis