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Dr. Zilboorg deals with such a multitude of problems that it is well-nigh impossible to discuss them to satisfaction. For those readers who are already acquainted with the author's ability to express his ideas, there is no need to emphasize that this book, too, is splendidly written. Here again one finds Zilboorg's skill in exposing the most difficult and involved concepts in clear and convincing language; the scientific terminology is employed with much care and point. We know only too well how difficult a task this is, and how rarely it is successfully accomplished. The author has refrained most successfully from vitiating scientific values—a method so commonly resorted to in the attempt to popularize science, and one which is almost invariably confusing and misleading. It goes without saying that Zilboorg has overlooked no opportunity in paying special attention to the historical setting and background of the problems he discusses, an orientation inherent in the thinking of the author of A History of Medical Psychology.
Although intended for the enlightenment of the laity, this book contains many original ideas which will be useful as well as stimulating to the practicing psychoanalyst. As it is impossible to discuss all the problems Zilboorg has dealt with, we can but single out some which are of particular interest.
In his first chapter, On Certain Misconceptions, the author discusses the resistance to psychological thinking which man has manifested throughout the ages, pointing out that both the patient and the medical man have hampered the development of psychology. A most conspicuous misconception has been the belief that the human body and mind are ultimate and definitive products of nature. This is no more than an illusory comfort and a fallacy, since the human organism, while possessing many specific centers and organs to which functions are assigned, is far from being perfectly organized or departmentalized. The fact that after destruction of part