This is the second book by M. Perez-Sanchez on the observation on the child Carlos and his family. It describes the second year of the child's life and is a follow-up to the work published in Italy with the title Primi passi nello sviluppo emotivo , which I reviewed in issue number 3, 1983 of this Journal.

The presentation to the Italian edition is by Maria Pagliarani, whose interpretation of the text hinges on the observer's counter-transference, and who makes some general comments on the meaning and use of the method of observation developed by Esther Bick, who supervised M. Perez-Sanchez.

I agree with Pagliarani's view that it is hard to understand this method if one does not have direct experience of it, and that what distinguishes it from other methods of observation is above all its attention to and elaboration of the observer's countertransference. These elements make it possible to reach the latent and symbolic