Essays here are collected from more than thirty years beginning in 1961. They cover a diverse range of subjects including social and clinical commentary, individuals, creativity, leadership and "psychohistory". Particularly interesting are his essays on writers and thinkers including William James, Knut Hansum and Freud. Imbued with his own autobiographical meditations, this book is as much a picture of Coles' own mind as the ideas and minds about which he writes. Coles is a storyteller as well as a psychiatrist and this makes his writing interesting. For anyone who loves literature this would be a book to consider. ( )