This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.

One must expect a variation in the level of scholarship and available information in a multi-authored book such as this one which also carries the burden of three editors. The range of contributions in this particular effort to examine the theory of general systems and the field of psychiatry ranges, however, form the outstanding to the ordinary.

General systems theory is an attempt, fundamentally mathematical, to codify the interrelationships in organizations. Von Bertallanfy feels that the systems model can "provide a conceptual framework in which otherwise unconnected currents are integrated, a synthetic view in which many different pieces fall into place." There is little doubt that the broad field of psychiatry could well utilize such a framework and this promising title might have better gotten us started.

This book has a total of 28 authors contributing three parts, each with an introduction. Part 1 deals