Jerome Blackman's wry, self-parodying title acknowledges that his form is The List. What is a list? A collection, a catalogue, a primer, a handbook, a hodgepodge, a miscellany, a treasure trove. Enumerating 101 is a way of saying that there is something arbitrary not only in the absurdly specific number, but about the categories and taxonomies themselves. Understatement and playful self-awareness are part of this book's appeal, and clear, often crisp writing part of its pleasure.

Blackman aims “to provide a framework that explains the origin, properties, and causes of defensive activity” (p. ix). Noting Freud's first mention of defenses over a century ago, he locates himself, comfortably, in the tradition of , who