This 613-page volume forms part of an encyclopedic work on human genetics. The present section deals with various neuropsychiatric disorders and is written by psychiatrists, geneticists, and pediatricians.
Despite the title, the handling is by no means exclusively genetic, for there is much that is pathological and clinical, reflecting the extent to which modern genetics involves other disciplines. Clinical neurology, pediatrics and psychiatry, pathology, immunochemistry, and statistical analysis are all represented.
The authors approach each topic via a detailed literature review, including some excellent tabular and graphical material, as in the discussion of familial cases of Pick's disease. However, this method has the disadvantage of slipping, at times, into inconclusive recitals of opposing views from the literature. Verbal economy, and more liberal use of summaries, would make it easier to see the woods rather than the trees.
Fittingly, almost half of this work is devoted to mental deficiency. The developments