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The author is a New York psychiatrist of the freudian school but this latter affiliation is not too prominently thrust into the foreground as his
work is written along simpler, easier and more popular lines, hence largely its appeal to the general public. For it has a definite appeal, is written with grace and in good style, with humor and common sense and with a background of excellent psychological science.
It is not a massive tome but a moderately sized book of about 200 small octavo pages in large well spaced type. It is reliable and readable, qualities too frequently missing in popular presentations.
We might cavil at the author's faulty quotations from Rochefaucauld (p. 41) but this is of little significance even if the French sage, as he is here called, did have something when he wrote “Indolence is the most sublime and the most malign of all passions “.
Notwithstanding its popular form the author has contrived to utilize this form to the best advantage, and given the whole text an excellent literary setting.
It is a work that can be heartily recommended to psychiatrists and the public as well and is entitled to a more detailed analysis than is here offered.