On this page you can read archived reviews written by members and readers of ISTC of the latest professional and self-help books. If you're interested in purchasing any of the books, simply click on their title.

Beier, Ernst G.(2002).  A Question of Belonging. The Woodlands, Texas: New Century Books.
Rating 10; Reviewed by: Lynn Johnson

Ernst was my supervisor in my graduate school days and after, and was always a legendary psychologist. I hadn't spoken to him for fifteen years, but lately was bothered by the thought that I should call. I did, I went to see him, and he told me he had published a book about his life and the events that led him to his career in psychology.

The book is not being publicized. I don't think the publisher knows what it has on its hands. I encourage you to consider getting the book.

Synopsis: A young secular Jew in Germany, Ernst finds in his teen years that he is being persecuted because his Jewishness, something he doesn't even understand. The Nazi net closes about them. His family barely escapes, and comes to America. Ernst quickly finishes a college degree, joins the army (hoping to be in the 10th mountain division so he can ski; since he grew up on skis) and is instead assigned to intelligence, since he is fluent in German. He lands on Utah beach on D-Day, fights across France, and then is captured by Germans at the Battle of the Bulge. How he survives his encounter with a Gestapo officer they called Dr. Death (he was the only POW who wasn't shot after interrogation) is the crux of why he goes on to an outstanding career as a psychologist. The rest of his life is interesting, the climactic encounter with Dr. Death is riveting.

OK, you might be skeptical because he was my mentor and supervisor, so I have a soft spot for him. I agree, but I think the story is first rate and the writing is excellent. I had heard brief stories about Dr. Death, but here I have the whole story, and it is hair raising. What he learns is a core lesson we can all reflect on.

Ernst didn't remember me when I called a few days ago. Well, OK, he was never good with names.  He recalled my face when I went to see him. He is fading, hearing not so good, and memory lapses. He said that writing the book allowed him to forget many of the painful memories. He is a a unique man, a gift to his grad students and to his patients, and I want to share his memories with the world.

Tom Brokaw called these people "The Greatest Generation." I don't know if they were that, but the times brought out heroism and courage. My own father was one, a flight engineer on a B-17. He is gone now. Ernst swears he'll still be skiing when he is 100. I don't know. If he is, I'll be skiing with him. But uncertainty grips me. I fear, like my father, he'll soon be gone too. I wanted you to know him.

P.M.Forni (2002).  Choosing Civility: The Twenty-Five Rules of Considerate Conduct.
New York: St. Martins Press.
Rating:10 Reviewed by: Dan Buccino

As psychotherapists, we often work with clients who, for a variety of reasons, just can't seem to get along with other people. As teachers of psychotherapy, we work with trainees who are learning how to get along with their clients. With families, we face questions about how to help things run smoothly and how to help children behave better.

Though not ostensibly a therapy book, P.M. Forni's small but mighty new reference, Choosing Civility, is the only book I can recommend to all audiences. And if readers are open to his insights and willing to do things differently to improve their relationships at home and at work, Choosing Civility may be the only book they'll ever need.

Forni, a professor of Italian literature at Johns Hopkins University and cofounder of the Hopkins Civility Project, has produced a book that is at once smart yet accessible to a wide audience. It is full of concrete examples and personal anecdotes, and it is written in a warm, engaging tone that is usually impossible for academics to achieve.

Though it will eventually appear effortless, civility, like psychotherapy, requires work - conscious effort guided by vision and perseverance. We ãmake?nice after all, but the practice of civility, as Forni's well-sourced text reveals, is the royal road to health and happiness. Not only is civility the path to personal contentment and connection, but it's good for business too. Often, nice guys do finish first.

We have been led astray by the culture of therapy and self-esteem into thinking that it is somehow more honest to be in touch with our feelings and blurt out whatever comes to mind to whomever we encounter rather than seeing training in etiquette as being training in sensitivity. Civility encourages strength and assertiveness, and it helps us find the tools to say the right thing at the right time to the right person, not everything to anyone. Good psychotherapy will help people speak freely, not intemperately or abusively.

Most therapists know that establishing warm, empathic, genuine, and collaborative relationships with our clients is the central feature of treatment. Choosing Civility offers many valuable relationship management strategies to guide the practice of psychotherapy. Most therapists are thought to be good listeners but Forni offers more specific guidance for listening, paying attention, acceptance, creating hope and speaking kindly. Therapists are not just born, but can be made, and made better; Forni's instruments of civility can be used to help make better counselors, just as the surgeon's tools can improve her performance.

Everything about relationships, in psychotherapy and beyond, is knowable. Choosing Civility is the ideal companion while we risk reaching out to our preferred visions of the future and ourselves.

The Prize
by Marilyn LaCourt

Rater: Deborah Turner
Rating: 9/10

The Prize starts like a familiar cliché about two guys in a bar. A bully-turned-priest and his former favorite punching bag, who's now a successful business tycoon, meet for dinner. The now humbled executioner, John Murphy, begs his old victim, Sydney Schuster, for a donation to save the school run by his church. Sydney gets the last laugh, end of story.

But, no, wait. What follows is hardly a cliché. This timely novel starts where we'd expect the story to end. Intriguing characters quickly draw you in and make you wonder why the reunion. From there, writer M. La Court takes us on a literary journey few have imagined: the two think adults can learn from kids who behave as they did. Then, they plot a way to test their radical idea.

La Court crafts a timeless tale which reads like a tour through a school year of bullies and victims. Readers witness the unlikely pair selling their idea to all who they hope can make it happen. All the while, we become familiar with the middle school aged bullies and victims of the next generation. Although the boys and girls have changed over the years, the same fears exist.

La Court deliberately takes us from peer pressure-filled schools to dysfunctional homes and back again. She crafts each complex character carefully so that we not only see the stereotypical, public masks they use to cope, but also their vulnerable natures within. She sets the boys and girls up in an idealistic place where they are treated like equals and gives them to motivation to save themselves from their own bad habits. We see the strengths and vulnerabilities in each as they grapple with their present and prepare for their futures.

At times while reading The Prize, we suspend our belief. For instance, we wonder how Sydney developed such a close relationship with Kevin, his manservant. Together, they occasionally discuss philosophical concepts. Kevin even gives Sydney a new interpretation of Darwin, which earns him the afternoon off. If this manservant is so enlightened, might he earn his wages in a different occupation? Still, don't let such instances keep you from this modern folktale.

The Prize is essentially a window into the lives of bullies and victims, yet it is more than a literary, reality show. It is based in an idea that misdirected intelligence lies behind bully-victim behavior patterns. It ponders the question of whether or not bullies pass the behavior on to their children. Finally, it moves our common understanding of victims as objects and examines them as subjects capable of choices, just as the bullies are.

For those entrusted with guiding youngsters junior high as well as for those who never wanted to relive it, you'll be surprised at how impelled you'll be by this page turner to read through the months to the end of the school year.

Neimeyer, R.A., & Raskin, J.D. (2000). Constructions of Disorder. Washington DC: American Psychological Association.
Rating 9/10 Reviewed by: Luis Botella

It is in the context of the dialectical tension between an objectivist and a postmodern approach to human psychological distress and its alleviation that Neimeyer and Raskin's volume Constructions of Disorder: Meaning-Making Frameworks for Psychotherapy is to be especially welcome. A threefold congratulation must be made: to its contributing authors, to its editors, and to the American Psychological Association, its publisher. All of them show great courage in pressing the dialogue forward and clearing the space for liberating alternatives to the imprisoning stories implicit in the discourse of deficit in its more objectivist version. More specifically, the editors of the volume must be congratulated for having orchestrated a polyphony of authorial voices including constructivists, social constructionists, narrative therapists, feminists, and even systemic therapists. This interest in catalytic dialogue over parochialism is rare in contemporary psychology, and it must certainly be welcome and fostered. Also, the APA must be congratulated for making the volume available to a wide readership, thereby counterbalancing the current trends toward managed care and pharmacotherapy. When carefully reading the book in order to review it I repeatedly had the feeling that ?challenging the dominant voices in psychotherapy is a hard job? but someone has to do it!?

My reading of the book made me realize that, despite the usual objectivist critique of postmodern approaches being "antiscientific", "esoteric", or "impractical philosophical speculations", this volume was full of extremely convincing arguments, case vignettes written in a highly readable style, and entailing plenty of quite relevant implications for the practice of psychotherapy. The contributing authors as well as the editors have skillfully avoided one of the main pitfalls in such an endeavor: focusing exclusively on a critique of the discourse of deficit and leaving the reader with no viable alternative. Instead, each of the chapters in the book, and the book as a whole, clearly contributes to a fine-grained articulation of a range of new possibilities for approaching human distress and its alleviation. In this sense, the book represents an excellent example of what Gergen (1999) calls "generative theory", i.e., ?accounts of our world that challenge the taken-for-granted conventions of understanding, and simultaneously invite us into new worlds of meaning and action? (p. 116).

In my opinion, as I said before, the publication of this volume is an indicator of the progressive coming of age of what can loosely be called postmodern critiques and alternatives to the dominant biomedical model in psychopathology and psychotherapy. When seen in its context, i.e., together with a growing body of other publications, there is reason to be optimistic about the field?s capacity to enter into transformative dialogue and to bring our own discontent and generative proposals into the public light.

Strozier, C. (2001) Heinz Kohut: The Making of a Psychoanalyst. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
Rating 9/10

If you have any interest in self-psychology or the core therapeutic concept of empathy, you'll enjoy this biography. In this well-written and highly literate book, author Charles Strozier traces the life and work of the Heinz Kohut. He paints a clear and convincing picture of the development of self-psychology and it's focus on the experience of the individual in the life of it's founder. The book is surprisingly revealing and, at times, not at all flattering about Kohut and the many people who made up his "inner circle."

Walter, J., & Peller, J. (2000). Recreating Brief Therapy: Preferences and Possibilities. New York: W.W. Norton.
Rating 9/10 Submitted by Lou Bryant

Martin Buber, Jewish theologian and philosopher, described mankind as creatures of the "in between". Our existence is defined by what occurs in the space between the I - Thou (Holy) and the I - You (Other). Sound familiar? A thoroughly post-modern idea!

In Recreating brief therapy Walter/Peller build on this "space" concept by focusing on two key elements of the consultation/therapeutic experience. First, pulling from narrative and reflective team principles, they show how dialogue is the connecting link between consultant/client. Conversation is key - it is the vehicle by which new meanings and perspectives can emerge. Second, they encourage the use of "preferencing" over the more familiar problem/solution approach to goal setting. "Preferencing", in their view, allows for greater flexibility in the co-creating of alternative realities. It is a less truncated way of defining the direction of the consultation process without the burden of hard line specificity.

The reader will find familiar territory in this book (e.g. Ericksonian, solution focused, and strategic influences), but with a fresh integration. It is well written with clear definitions and illustrations. The clinician is supplied with ample suggestions on sample questions, follow up responses and demonstrations of the broad band utility of thinking/working with these ideas. Thumbs up for the "new space" this book will create in your practice.

Ziegler, P. & Hiller, T. (2001). Recreating Partnership. New York: Norton.
Rating 10/10 Submitted by Ethan Schwartz

Recreating Partnership: A Solution-Focused, Collaborative Approach to Couples Therapy is one of the best books I've ever read on couples work. These folks have combined ideas and techniques from various approaches–mostly solution-focused and narrative therapies–around a concept they call the good story/bad story narrative continuum. In addition, they've clearly read their Miller, Duncan and Hubble because they continually explain how their approach and techniques the three essential ingredients of effective therapy–client factors, the client's experience of the therapist and the therapy relationship, and the placebo factor. The case studies and transcripts are clear and exciting. This book should become a classic.

"What you will find in these pages is designed to keep you from having unwanted contact with people like me, and provide information that may help if you do." (Back cover) William Reid, an experienced teacher and writer in the areas of the law and mental health, delivers the goods. He strikes the main beachheads of risk management concisely and authoritatively. He has advice on consent, duty to warn, confidentiality, boundary issues and how to proceed if you get sued. The latter portion of the book contains a summary of a 1997-98 survey of forensic issues in mental health, sample forms for clinical practice, and several relevant websites.

Many of the concepts in the book will sound familiar to those who had a grad class in Ethical/Legal Issues or have participated in Risk Management workshops. But it serves the reader well to be mindful of the principles and advice of this courtroom veteran - if you want to avoid him or those like him throughout your career.

Chamberlain, T.J. and Hall, C.A. (2000). Realized Religion. Templeton Foundation Press.
Rating: 7/10 Reviewed by: Lou Bryant

Chamberlain and Hall review over 300 studies regarding the association of religion and health. The works reviewed demonstrate how religious faith is related to physical/mental health, marital stability, longevity, and overall increased life satisfaction. Realized religion is defined as "religion being brought into concrete existence" (p. 5). The authors argue that although religious faith is an abstract concept - one can measure its impact on the lives of the faithful. They do a good job in the introduction of defining concepts and giving the reader a context to understand the purposes of the book. Each chapter is full of data that supports the idea that religion is essentially good for you. The reference lists and bibliographies are one of the book's strengths. There is plenty of primary source material for the interested reader to peruse.

I liked the book and the validation it gives to the linkage of faith and reason as well as its contradictions of the modern thought that religion is at some level a neurosis. But I have two knocks on the way it was written. First, after the introduction, the book reads more like a literature review from a thesis or dissertation. I thought the authors could have added a bit more narrative to break up the material and give it a more interesting flow. Second, the authors take up considerable space stating their own theological persuasion in the last chapter. I respect the convictions of Chamberlain/Hall, but this piece seemed out of place in light of the earlier stated objectives for the book. The chapter contains some sound research questions - but the balance should have been saved for another title.

For the counseling practitioner, the book's value is that it is yet another postmodern installment validating the value of faith as a health factor. No longer does faith, spirituality, and religion need to be "out of vogue" in mental health.

Each year dozens of books about how to manage ?explosive,? ?out of control,? and ?defiant? children and adolescents appear on the trade market. In spite of outcome literature that suggests collaborative, change-oriented practices, these books generally offer the latest fad theory and its associated ?quick fix? techniques. Few books help parents and caregivers to nurture the resilience in their children. At last, psychologists Robert Brooks and Sam Goldstein have reoriented the self-help compass toward resilience through fostering strengths, hope, and optimism.

The authors point out that while many parents tend to take a negative view by focusing on the weaknesses of their children, this can make things worse. They suggest an approach that emphasizes strengths, which bolsters self-esteem, and contributes to the development of thoughtful, confident adults. To do this, Brooks and Goldstein offer readers guidelines and principles (i.e., practical ideas and methods) for nurturing resilience in children. Although meant to guide parents in raising children, the authors suggest that in the long run parents may actually benefit most as their children grow up to be confident, compassionate, and responsible. The authors also make a point to underscore the importance of the parent-child relationship by discussing empathy, respect, and unconditional love. This is consistent with studies that identify relational factors as significant contributors to successful outcome.

Raising Resilient Children contains numerous anecdotal stories and case examples with which many parents will identify. The book may be a bit long for some, yet for most, the extra investment of time will be worth the information that is attained.

Horn, G. (2001). The Book of Ceremonies : A Native Way of Honoring and Living the Sacred.  New York: New World Library.
Rating 9/10 Submitted by: Les Smith

The Native Way of Honoring and Living the Sacred, by eclectic Indian spiritual writer Gabriel Horn, reveals enlightening passages that reflect a "conduit for the power of healing". From a philosophical perspective, a fable can often transcend a lecture just as a picture is worth a thousand words. In the brief dialogue between an unnamed man suffering from an unspecified illness, and the elderly woman conducting the sweat lodge ceremony, a transformation takes place. She shares among other insights, ?Try not to let the darkness of another take away your light? If we allow too much of our light to escape or to be absorbed in the shadow of another, we become weakened, and our spirit light dims."

Through a re-awakening, and the realization that the technique is a mutual undertaking, the young man discovers that the desire for wellness is as important as the medicine. Upon gaining a more balanced awareness, ?He felt the energy to stand, on shaky legs at first. They stood together on the porch in front of her houses. She gestured gracefully with her long arms, pointing to the cloudless blue sky. "Can you see the stars?" she asked. Of course he couldn?t, even as he strained to see beyond the sunlight... "Stars during the daylight burn just as steadily, even if they aren?t visible." She looked up with her old eyes. "The universe burns just as brightly without our knowledge or our witness".

By mythological inference, the healing approach transcends the mind, body and spirit. Through a heightened sense of self-empowerment, the individual is no longer simply the subject of a medical practice, but becomes part of the cure? and through being a part of the process, as opposed to just a sick entity undergoing treatment, the regenerative unfurling occurs. In conclusion, the lease is renewed. ?As he watched her disappear, he could feel the child awaken within him again, the world became like new again, and he felt himself dancing through the dream of his own healing and into a consciousness, an awareness, that he?d almost forgotten? dancing again on a hope and a prayer, dancing again on the path of the heart.?

The Painful Legacy of Society's No-Fault Divorce Culture . . .

The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce
Wallerstein, J.S., Lewis, J. M. & Blakeslee, S. (2000)
Rating: 9/10

Wallerstein and her colleagues give us a glimpse into the inner life of children whose immediate families were effected by divorce. Her findings are based on data collected over the past twenty-five years combining ethnographic and longitudinal methodologies. The author's narrative style is engaging as she leads us from one child's story to the next.

Her revelations are sobering as she articulates the pain, uncertainties, strain and, yes, resilience of children who grew into adulthood with the internal label "from a broken home". She challenges us to reconsider the long accepted belief that what is good for adults will trickle down to the children. That is- if parents think divorce will make their individual lives better, eventually the children's lives will benefit as well. Not so says Wallerstein. On the flip side Wallerstein is very much the realist. She accepts that divorce is, at times, justified and now ingrained in our society as an acceptable alternative to an unhappy marriage.

Critics (see Time, Sept. 25, 2000) have waged that her sample was too small and non-representative demographically. Yet, one cannot but be impressed with the testimonies of those Wallerstein has followed for a quarter of a century. Their voices tell us, like no other inventory or survey could, what it is like growing up at ground zero in a divorced family constellation. Wallerstein's work may have sparked controversy, but she does supply us with information to expand our ability to assist those in the various stages of the divorce process. She also gives us pause to reconsider the benefits and caveats of our divorce culture.

Contributed by: Lou Bryant

Successful Organization Consulting

The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry...

Sue Annis Hammond
Rating: 7/10

How do we create change in organizations? Traditional organizational development (OD) attempts to penetrate the obvious and perceive the underlying problems of the organization. At best, the approach invigorates and empowers organizations. At worst, it becomes problem-saturated language, full of frustration and limitations. In contrast to this traditional approach, Appreciative Inquiry (AI) focuses attention on the strengths of the organization, proposing that change takes place in an atmosphere of appreciation for what the organization does right, and inquiry into the causes of success and into the dreams that rise from the nurturing bed of that success. In this small book, the author Sue Annis Hammond, aims at helping traditional OD practitioners understand the assumptions and practice of AI.

Unfortunately, there is little or no real research comparing traditional OD interventions with AI. In this, the approach shares the weakness of many other approaches, namely it is long on enthusiasm and short on actual data. In all fairness, outcome research in OD is incredibly difficult. Yet bold claims require strong evidence. The scientist in me says the evidence isn’t there. But the enthusiast in me wants it to be true. AI can be one of the most exciting organizational interventions I have seen. This thin book does a very fair job of presenting it, but there is much more to it than meets the eye, and further training and study are a necessary next step if you want to know more. Recommended as a functional foundation.

Contributed by: Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.

Stop Walking on Eggshells

Paul T. Mason, M.S. and Randi Kreger
Rating: 8/10

The book stands out for upholding respect and dignity for persons with borderline personality disorder, as well as being an effective educational tool for persons whose loved one has BPD behaviors. The authors have taken care to make it clear that the person with borderline personality disorder is a human being first, not a label or a diagnosis. The work goes beyond DSM-IV diagnostic criteria by adding personal experiences of non-BPDs as well as BPDs, and the authors' experiences with clients and in running an internet support group/newsgroup on the subject. The authors focus on understanding boundaries, and how to effectively manage BPD behavior, not on labeling and stigmatizing the person with BPD. The sections for persons whose loved one has BPD are exceptional by outlining limits, personal boundaries, and asserting one's rights in a relationship. I have used this book and suggested it to my clients, sometimes for situations that have nothing to do with BPD, because the boundary setting section is so helpful. The work is easily accessible to the layperson as well as helpful to the therapist.

Contributed by: Steven Benish [laugh007@hotmail.com]

Saving Marriages! What Science says you can do . . .

The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work
Gottman, J.M. & Silver, N. (1999). New York: Three Rivers Press.
Rating: 8/10

John Gottman's research into successful coupling is rewriting the way we think about and intervene into marital issues. He and Nan Silver contribute yet another research based tool for those who work with couples. In this readable treatise the authors summarize their findings from the "Love Lab" in Seattle and the seven principles they have developed to assist couples in resolving conflict and enriching their relationships. Each chapter is illustrated with case examples, "quickie" quizzes and helpful suggestions for evaluating where a couple is and how they can improve various aspects of their relationship.

Anyone who reads this book will find something they can use to improve their relationship with a significant other. It is a particularly good resource for those who regularly consult in marital/family relationships.

Contributed by: Lou Bryant
Interested in other books by John Gottman? Try . . .
Why Marriages Succeed or Fail

Dealing with Aging for both Ourselves and our Parents

Another Country : Navigating the Emotional Terrain of our Elders
Pipher, M. (1999). New York: Riverbend Books.
Rating: 7/10

In the tradition of Reviving Ophelia, Mary Pipher visits another stage of life with the same sensitive, unpretentious and informed style she is noted for. Another Country is a hard read - hard not because of its organization, vocabulary or style, but its content–aging. As much as we want to think we can live a long healthy life, the fact remains the older we get the more we lose - our hair, our health, our relationships. This is what Mary so poignantly and gracefully describes. She portrays the stresses of the aging process on the family system and the pain of loss and death. Yet she also instructs us on the respect, nobility and esteem these elders are deserving of and what they can offer the younger generations.

We baby boomers are experiencing one level of what she writes about, the care of our elderly relatives. Soon we will be on the threshold of the second level, moving to retirement villages and nursing homes. Perhaps we can do so with more grace and respect as a result of Mary's advice.

Contributed by: Lou Bryant
Interested in other books by Mary Pipher? Try . . .
The Shelter of Each Other : Rebuilding our Families
Reviving Ophelia : Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls