This scholarly work gives a complete review of studies of anorexia nervosa and related subjects from early times. Hence it undoubtedly will become an important reference for anyone working on the subject. Psychoanalytic concepts are caricatured, however, and the analyst will regret the superficiality of the discussion, particularly the lack of synthesis of all the various bits of observation with theory. The case histories are of little value because they are superficially presented and because the authors include too much under the term 'anorexia nervosa', defining it as a failure to take in food for any psychological reason and including among their cases overt schizophrenics. Analysts, however, would be startled by the relative ease with which improvement is obtained in some of the patients. Physiologists will regret the absence of any reference to important