In reading Herbert Schlesinger's book on technique, one finds oneself in the company of a rigorous mind that, despite the attempt to remain jargon free, cannot help but address basic psychoanalytic concepts and think systematically. Schlesinger has written an extended essay emphasizing a humanistic, organized approach to psychoanalytic technique, based on long-standing (but not always emphasized) psychoanalytic principles from the structural model, with a Rapaportian influence. This is not—and was not meant to be—a groundbreaking book. However, it carries an important message from a senior psychoanalytic clinician and teacher. In many ways, it is one component of an ego psychological approach to technique as it should have been, rather than what it became. I found it immediately helpful in thinking about my own