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This textbook, the first of its kind known to this reviewer, represents a solid achievement. The book was entirely written by these R. A. F. psychiatrists while stationed overseas, but suffers little from this fact. The book is well written, the clinical observations are sharp, the case histories achieve a comprehensive picture of the types of psychiatric problems found among flying personnel during World War II. The prognoses indicate extensive experience, and the recommendations for disposition reveal the practical rôle of the psychiatrist as a member of an army trying to win a war.
The book is divided into three parts: Flying and the Normal Individual, The Neuro-Psychiatric Examination, and Neuro-Psychiatric Disorders in Aviators.
Following a brief description of such environmental problems as anoxia, the effects of accelerations, and fatigue, the problem of selection of flying personnel is discussed. It is noteworthy that in the main the authors' recommendations are in agreement with the psychiatric criteria eventually adopted in aviation cadet selection centers in U. S. A. during the war. The chief point of divergence between British and American selection techniques had to do with special aptitude tests, devised by our A.A.F. psychologists,