Ecxcellent review for both, Neurology and Psychiatry boards!

This is the most useful and concise guide to psychopharmacology I have come across. I recommend all our residents have it on hand. It is reasonably priced, so it is no problem to replace as new editions become available. It is user-friendly, clinically applicable, and an enormously helpful resource in studying for the written boards. It would also be a useful guide for non-psychiatrist physicians.

(So Many Books, So Little Time!)

Books can be untamed streams of cerebral bliss, comfort for the soul, windows to unconquered worlds, faithful friends, keepers of knowledge, time machines, or an escape from the tedium of daily existence. The only thing better than reading a book you love, is having the book read to you by someone you love.

We adore books, not only for the thoughts they contain, but for the thoughts we compose when we immerse our minds in them. Finding a book to amuse is sometimes not enough. Delving into the minds of the greatest authors of our time and then reviewing their works, can be a very satisfying journey...and I have only just begun.

How does one tame the desire to prowl in libraries and online stores for that perfect book. How do you stop the quickening of your heart as you feel your feet following your desire, straight into the book ambush.

That trap of books that so entices, it makes you dizzy with the perfume of the soul and the voices of authors calling to you from the shelves. Surrounded by living books, you only wonder how many you can carry out of the store and not feel the least bit guilty for the pleasure. The only question is will you find the book or will the book find you and jump from the shelves into your hands?

The sensual experience of owning books and actually reading them takes you above the level of a bibliophile. When you reach the point in your life where you need a good read to survive in life, you enter a world somewhere between the existence of a bibliophile and hell. When you start to believe in books that write themselves and find you so you can breathe, then you are in serious danger of book addiction.

In the pages of Speaking of Books, you will meet your reading soul mates and lose or find yourself in their minds. To decide if you should buy this book, ask yourself:

Do I secretly wish I lived in a library and never had to leave?
Are books some of my most cherished possessions?
Am I an official member of Amazon Addicts Anonymous?
Have I ever fallen in love with the mind of an author?
Do I find myself asking people what they have read or advising them
on what they should be reading?
Am I in sheer torment at the thought of the unread book?
Do I need a good laugh? Because some of these quotes are quite funny!

Once you have identified yourself as an official book lover, you may want to add this book to your collection. Not only will you relate to most of the quotes, you will enjoy reading the introduction to each chapter. I was simply possessed by this book and read it cover to cover in a few hours.

The Index of Authors is also very useful for finding your favorite quotes. It is likely you will find a quote that suits you exactly.

Sir Thomas Phillips, in Portrait of an Obsession by A.N.L Munby (1967) about sums up how I feel. "I wish to have one copy of every book in the world." Now, is that too much to ask for?

If the very thought of communication with a finer mind excites your very being and you imagine what pleasure it will be to steal away to bed with a book for three hours of uninterrupted intoxication, then you will especially enjoy this escape to book heaven.

Finally a book full of hundreds of quotes for book lovers everywhere. Kaplan and Rabinowitz take us through the ages with delightful thoughts about everything related to books; reading, writing, collecting, libraries, children, editors, publishers and booksellers. A to Z and more.

A couple of favorites from Speaking of Books:

"The man who writes for fools is always sure of a large audience."
-Arthur Schopenhauer

"Do you want to get at new ideas? Read old books.
Do you want to find old ideas? Read new ones."
-Edward Bulwer-Lytton

A great gift idea for the book lover in your life.

If you love books, you will adore this book. Full of great quotes about the wonder and joy and passion of loving books. I started copying out many of the quotes when I got this at the library, and finally decided I just needed to get my own copy!

This a very comprehensive textbook (even though it says synopsis) of psychiatry. I have heard it is great preparation for the psych boards. However, it is quite dry and at times dense and difficult to read. A great book but I wish it was easier to read.

I purchased this book when it was the 7th edition, and own both 7th and 8th. I can say that as a student of medicine, this book may be overkill for some people, however, I find it to be the best "complete" text out there. With chapters on neuro A&P, DSM-IV clinical disorders, individual pharmacological agents, and even child psychiatry, it's all one needs to learn medical psychiatry. My only advice is for someone who isn't a student of clinical medicine or a medical professional, you might find it a difficult read.

This is a superb book for both the psychiatric and mental health prfessional reader and for the general public. It is well-written, thoroughly referenced and totally up-to-date. With the revolution in drug treament the authors provide a comprehensive survey of all drugs used in psychiatry. They also cover the psychodynamic concepts of Freud, Jung, Erikson and other theorists. This book is a must for anyone interested in this field.

Although I do not consider myself obsessed with books, I have loved reading since I figured out how. Even when I was in elementary school, I frequently got in trouble for reading during class. Thankfully, with age this hasn't changed. I prefer reading to every other pasttime, and I just don't get people who don't like to read.

I purchased this book sight unseen completely on the basis of its title; I was not let down. I think that the authors/editors did an excellent job of compiling essays, articles, and lists, about the greatest pasttime a person could have; unfortunately, it will never take the place of night baseball. I found several of the articles highly amusing, especially the one story about a man willing to kill for one particular volume. I also found quite a few good reading recommendations through this book. A PASSION FOR BOOKS should not be read straight through like an average novel; it is meant to be absorbed little by little so that the same passion starts to sink in.

You must remember that the title is A PASSION FOR BOOKS, not A PASSION FOR READING. This book is all about books -- good ones, bad ones, weird ones -- and the people who adore them. It extols the virtues of books.

This is a charming, amusing, often poignant glimpse into the mind of the bibliophile, and I, for one, was reassured that I am certainly not alone in my addiction to books (even the smell of them!). I have far more books than I can ever read in one lifetime, unless I am held prisoner in my home for the next 50 years and have nothing else to occupy my time (come to think of it, that doesn't sound half bad), but I must keep buying them, because I not only love to read, but I love the heft, the texture, the smell, the look of a book, and have ever since I can remember. I was heartbroken when I had to give back my first textbook (which I thought was a gift to me!), a reader called "Spot," and perhaps that childhood trauma is still with me! So I surround myself with MY books, and my husband does the same, and we read as much as we can, and it gives us great pleasure. This book has essays, stories, lists (I felt guilty when I hadn't read enough of the books, or, horrors! hadn't heard of some of them!, and even the gentle angst of the guilty book thief or two. Each writer has his own perspective on his addiction to books. Anyone who doesn not care to read has a gaping hole in his soul, I think, and will not care for this book. The rest of us can take consolation in reading the well-chosen words of those who can articulate what this gentle madness feels like and how life-enriching it truly is.

This book is an absolute necessity for book lovers. The editors have put together a wonderful collection of essays, stories, lists, and cartoons all about books. Every aspect of books is covered: collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, the history of, and much more. If you are the type of person who can spend hours in a bookstore, if you feel as if you are losing an arm or leg when you lend out a book, or if you don't understand why nobody else around you shares your love for print, this book is for you. Enjoy.

I'm starting a psychiatry residency after being a general practice doc, and want to get up to speed before beginning. This book is in outline format and covers a LOT of material very briefly--which is fine. But it's full of typos, some of which change the meaning of sentences in important ways! And the numerous tables are done in a font so small that even with good eyes I have trouble reading them. To me this is a good book to review for the psych part of the boards, or for a medical student on psych rotation.

The sectional layout of this edition follows that of the huge comprehensive textbook of psychiatry. However, information is relevant and pertinent to medical students and practicing residents. Although, a bit light on psychotherapeutic treatments it is good on topics of definitions, epidemilogy and psychotropics. Good tables and figures throughout.

Good in terms of what it is marketed as... a handbook. Go to the Synopsis or Comprehensive textbooks for fuller understanding.

I GO TO GUYS ANS ST. THOMAS MEDICAL SCHOOL IN LONDON. I AM DOING PSYCHIATRY RIGHT NOW AND FOUND THIS AMERICAN BOOK MOST HELPFUL. AMERICAN BOOKS GIVE AN ANGLE THAT I FIND BRITSH BOOKS SOMETIMES DONT GIVE. IT IS A GREAT BOOK FOR THE UNDERGRADUATE MED STUDENT STARTING OUT IN PSYCHIATRY ROTATION. I URGE ALL MY BRITISH MED STUDENTS TO BUY THIS BOOK.

Kaplan and Sadock have continued their proud tradition in this update of their classic work. This is the primer of mental health and it provides student and clinician with the required basics for understanding the workings of the human mind.

It is a required edition in every clinician's library.

This is an excellent companion to Kaplan and Saddock. I found the toxicology review particularly helpful. The questions are sometimes too detailed but very thought provoking. Good for any behavioral science/ psych course.

A detailed resource on the field of psychiatry. Based on SDM-IV & ICD-10 diagnostic criteria the author covers the general mental disorders with in-depth information accessible for both the general public & the mental heath professionals. The chapter of alternative medicine & psychiatry is unique in this classical textbook. Combining the CD-ROM for the study guide is helpful resource for clinical cases review & the preparation for the US board of Psychiatry examination. I find it a basic classical referenc for psychiatrist & mental health professionals.