More shells than a pasta-salad cook-off. I've given it as a gift to a child. Superb subjects with expert photography. You'll marvel at the beauty and variety.

It is a beautiful book, top photography, every single page catches your eyes. It really portrays the beauty of the seashells.

Leonard Hill was a most fascinating man and shells were his passion. He died far too young, but fortunately left us with a really lovely book that will be remembered for many years to come. Just like the shells he sold with such care, this book shows the seashells as the jewels many of us have come to appreciate. This book is a tribute to his work and is highly recommended.

This is indeed a beautiful and fascinating read. I totally agree with "A reader from Rhode Island" however.
This book is so beautiful and fascinating because Dibs himself is so beautiful, inspiring and fascinating.
However, the power of the therapy used is not truly convincing to anyone who has any real knowledge and understanding of mental "disorders."
What a lovely thought it is to think that if we just listened to people and let them "be" that they would be healed from mental difficulties. As a teenager I would have wholeheartedly taken on board these theories and ideas. However life has taught me that there is more involved in how the brain malfuctions and works than childhood experiences or relationships with parents.
There is much that talking therapy cannot "cure"
"A Reader from Rhode Island" is certainly correct in saying that Dibs showed signs consistent with the autistic spectrum disoders. I know those of you who do not know about these disorders will be appalled at the wonderful, gifted Dibs being "labeled" autistic by anyone. The term I would use for Dibs is not autistic but Aspergers' which is on the Autistic spectrum.
Again you are appalled that I would use any such term to describe the wonderful gifted Dibs.
Well he obviously was gifted and wonderful and a special person. I also belive he has all the symtoms of Asperger's syndrome. A syndrome very common in families of scientists interestingly enough. (Dibs parents were both scientists.)They are very good at organising and putting things in sequence and order and analysing data. One or more of Dibs parents probably had Aspergers' themselves. It is a genetic condition. Such people are often gifted but have a lot of problems expressing emotions and dealing with people socially.
Certainly it is true that the way Dibs confused and distressed parents kept locking Dibs in his room would have made him worse.
However although "Miss A" helped this family interact socially and deal with their emotions.
She certainly did not cure Dibs with her dubious therapy (therapy most children get today at kindy, playgroup and from their parents)
She congratulates herself a great deal and yet at the end of the book Dibs is still not talking to people who say hello to him or to his father.
I wish the ideas that Axline puts forward were true it would be so fascinating, simple and such a fun area to work in. I have been offered the oppourtunity to study Play Therapy and it would be so interesting and fun and right up my alley and consistent with my talents. I'm no scientist I could never become a psychiatrist.
But in my heart and head I know that it is really outdated [stuff]. No amount of talking or "letting a child be" is going to cure them of a neurological problem such as Aspergers syndrome.

are you people honestly saying that by reading a condensed version of therapy sessions you can diagnose a child with 100% accuracy? admit for just one second that this intelligent woman is capable of seeing things that you might not see. i'm not claiming to be an expert, because i'm only a college psych student with little experience with autism, asperger's, or even emotional disturbance, but are you saying that the way a parent treats a child cannot have severe effects on their self-image and expression? childhood trauma is real, and you don't know what really happened in this child's home. there is a possibility virginia axline may have been wrong, but let's admit for a second that we don't know everything. if you read this book as a depiction of the struggle any of us can go through as we learn, grow, and become comfortable with our own selves, it is an amazing read. there is very little commentary on the symbolism of dibs' play, leaving so much room to learn about ourselves! i loved reading this book. luckily, there are still enough people in this world who see the beauty of this book to keep it in print.

Virginia Axline's moving 'Dibs in Search of Self' has probably impacted my life more than any other book I have read. I read this book at age 16, while in my first year as a summer camp counselor. The empathy and emotion she shows in her writing struck a chord with me, and inspired me to take a similar look at helping children. I am now studying to become a child psychologist. I have worked with children with Autism, ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and I can attest to the reality of the thoughts, reactions, and emotions of both child and therapist. This book is a seminal work, and I recommend it to anyone who works with children.