The "Stress of Life" is widely considered to be a classic work in the field of stress research. The "father" of the stress hypothesis, Hans Selye, lays out the concept of a "general adaptation syndrome" to stressors and presents evidence to show that the stress response of an animal or human is a short or long term attempt to maintain a state of physiological balance or "homeostasis" . A book that should be on the shelf of anyone interested in this topic.