For the general reader this book bears the comprehensive subtitle, Psychiatry and Psychology in Plain English, intended to meet the

need for 'practical information for the layman concerning mental hygiene'.

This is a badly written, confused book, useful neither to medical student nor lay reader. The caliber of the writing is well indicated by a paragraph titled Direct Methods of Complex Hunting: 'In my opinion it is rarely necessary to employ any of the three direct methods of complex hunting—crystal gazing, automatic writing, and hypnosis …' (p. 353). One wonders about the criteria—if any—that determine the selection by publishers of psychiatric works for publication.