Readings in General Psychology: Edited by Paul Halmos and Alan Iliffe. New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1959. 251 pp.

Having taught college courses in general psychology, this reviewer appreciates the need for 'supplementary textbooks' that make original papers easily accessible to students. Of the several such books which are available, these Readings seem to be the least satisfactory.

Unusually important papers, whether recent or classical, are completely ignored, as is the history of psychology. Even more perplexing are the reasons governing the choice of any particular paper (or topic). The subjects include an introduction to electroencephalography, localization in the cerebral cortex, intelligence tests, normality, child care, ethics, status and role, instincts, and so on.

Eschewing the 'broad-shallow' approach which they find characteristic of most introductory texts, the editors 'have chosen to show a closer and more detailed view of a limited number of topics'. Unfortunately, and despite the eminence of some contributors, the result is a narrow and shallow book which is neither an introductory text nor a significant collection of supplementary readings.

With the exception of a paper by Ernest Jones, all the articles were written in the past five or six years, and most were originally published elsewhere. What could have been a survey of recent psychological thought in Britain is in general so simplistic or so arbitrarily circumscribed as to be irrelevant to professional psychologists.