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Essentially, this book is a clear, well-written, and detailed attempt to translate psychoanalytic data into the language and concepts of information processing. The authors consider this the necessary first step if psychoanalysis is to join with other disciplines and become part of a general psychology. Inasmuch as the present monograph is but a portion of a planned eight-part work, the reader expects later portions to fill in whatever is not covered here.
In the context of a discussion of methodology and scientific explanation, the authors provide a neat review of standard analytic theory which they compare with their own modern version of the theory. Their argument is persuasive and well presented. It will come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with the previous writings of Rosenblatt and Thickstun to follow their pursuit of the villain of psychic energy once again, and once again to see the enemy vanquished. However, I wonder why the authors have chosen to ignore a wide range of writings on alternative approaches to their proposed scientific methodology. While they agree that our data arises from introspection, they insist on its organization into "meaningful hypotheses" and thus rely on the usual rules formulated by E. Nagel for theory construction. I believe that a significant enough countervoice has been raised by a variety of social scientists to stimulate psychoanalysis to consider the contributions of other schools of thought.