This is a small book about a large subject. In less than two hundred pages, the author has attempted 'to depict the own person within a social system or nexus of other persons; … to understand the way in which the others affect his experience of himself and of them, and how, accordingly, his actions take shape'. For such a task an author needs a firm position, a consistent point of view, and a theme. Dr. Laing's position is existential, his point of view phenomenological, and his theme a quotation from Confucius, 'The way out is via the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?'

Readers will enjoy the author's style, which is graceful yet clear, and his skilful use of illustrations from the classics, modern literature, and clinical practice. Unlike many existential writers,