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This large book, edited by Roback, who also contributed several chapters, has forty chapters, written by thirty-eight authors. It is hard to classify. It is not a textbook for students. It is too advanced in many parts, too sketchy, too incomplete in the coverage of the subject matter, to be a textbook. It has no unifying theory nor methodological approach to be a consistent presentation of psychology from one definite viewpoint. It contains a great amount of information; this and the uneven treatment of different topics makes it resemble an encyclopedia. It is good as a reference book on many points. The bibliographical references and discussions in some chapters can stimulate a layman to read further on the subject. Some few chapters are only for the advanced and critical reader. Many are hardly more than a list of names and topics which might be useful as a reminder to those planning to teach a course. It should be said in all fairness to the editor that he himself “questions whether the avalanche of such over-all digests (as we witness today) is a healthy sign for science and literature, whether it does not encourage a tendency to take the easy road and to depend on the judgment of the editors rather than his own discernment”. Nevertheless Roback adds that specialization requires general surveys. In this “Present-Day Psychology”, some of the chapters are excellent but some are but modestly annotated bibliographies.
Z. A. P.