Brllat. Res. Thrr. Vol. 21. No. 3. pp. 321-333. 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd. Printed in Great Britain

BOOK REVIEWS

Of the making of books there is no end. says the Bible and the same stems to be true of Waldens. After Thoreau and Skinner, now a South American psychologist has given us the third Walden. The book was originallv written in Spanish. reached us in the German translation. but apparent11 there is an English one also. The scene is Panama. where a humanistic dictator engages the services of a (Skinnerian) psychologist to help him build a perfect society. The book describes the application of Skinnerian principles to a variety of social problems. from education to delinquency. from family to old age. The book is written in an interesting style. less stiff than Waldon Two. but still populated with rather wooden people. For the psychologist the main interest of course is a consideration of whether the operant conditioning principles here used would in fact have the desired effect. Most will probably conclude that the answer must be no. that Skinnerian principles, while no doubt Lalid in their limited sphere, al-c grossly simplistic when applied to the actual behaviour of human beings in complex situations. and that consequently the dictator might have done better had he engaged a more broadly based psychologist! Nevertheless. Utopias of this kind have their obvious interest. particularI> when related to a psychological theory as widely known as Skinner’s and the book uill undoubtedly be read with much interest by psychologists. What non-professionals ma> make of it is ditticult to saq : most will prohablj deplore the hubris of psychologists who rely on very simple generalizations to cover what is surely a very complex field indeed!

H. .l. FYSI.N(.K

L. SMITH, H. MERSKFY and S. C. CROSS (Eds): Ptriw Mrwliny trd .44umqcwwt1r. S.P. Medical & Scientific Books. London (1980). xii + I70 pp. f9.95.

This book offers an unsatisfactory collection of papers on pain which. with a few exceptions. are either general clinical summaries of diagnostic and treatment practice (i.e. pharmacological&S. G. Carruthers: spinal pain-B. L. Pear; pain clinic_Boyd L’I al.) or repetitions of previously published views (Mersky). Two exceptions. however. are the chapters on pain paradigms and on basic research on endorphin. Orme et ul. discuss the current shifting paradigms of chronic pain. attempting to delineate the connection of these to clinical concerns. Olson c~f ul. review the literature on opioid neuropep- tides-entephalin and endorphin-giving a timely reminder that this work. of obvious potential. is still at an early stage of development.

CLARE PHILIPS

This is a simple. easily readable book. useful for parents of visually handicapped children. Teachers. playgroup leaders and occupational therapists who work with the visually handicapped should find the book of benefit. Some of the ideas can be adapted for the sighted mentally handicapped. There are 6 chapters: Essential Factors for Independence: Becom- ing Aware of the Environment; Social Competence and Daily Living Skills; Physical Activities and Games: Mobility Techniques and Training; and A Formal Mobility Syllabus For Children. The illustrations are numerous and delightful but should have been numbered for case of identification. My main criticism is that the author says little about mentally-retarded blind children who now form the biggest group of visually-handicapped children.

BARI~AKA WILSOY

B. M. SCHOENBERG (Ed.): BPr-etrrr~rle~~t Co~rjzsrlling: A ,21ulri-Disciplirlur~ Handbook. Greenwjood Press. Westport. Connec- ticut (1980). viii + 266 pp. $29.00.

In this book. Schoenberg presents a collection of 13 essays on death. bereavement and the counselling of the bereaved. Most of the authors are university counsellors or psychologists, but they also include a ‘counsellor educator’. a psychia- trist, an army colonel. a nurse. a social worker and two members of the American Shell of Hope Institute and the Executive Committee of the Foundation of Thanatology.