This is the fifth book in the MIT Press series on the 'Humanistic and Social Dimensions of Medicine'. The first two were entitled Talking with Patients and the present volume is thus a sequel but stands in its own right. It is an anthology but with a long original introduction (133 pages) by the editor followed by what he calls 'readings', which are reprints of 18 papers by a great variety of authors. The papers vary in length from 9 to 25 pages and date from 1927 to 1978. They are in groups dealing with the structure, the dynamics, the nature, barriers, research and the good relation, of encounters.
Each group is preceded by an overview written by the editor and so, together with the introduction, there is much original material to counterbalance the reprinted articles, which were original in their time but now act as a background to more recent work.
Patientdoctor communication and inter-relation have sometimes taken a less important role in medical practice than diagnosis and treatment-in fact there is a rather give-away phrase in the preface in which the editor, who heads the Division of Primary Care in the Harvard Medical School, acknowledges help from colleagues in the Massachusetts General Hospital 'who, even if not interested in these doctor-