This book by Dr. Byron Oberst was approached with much enthusiasm because a "how-to-do-it monograph" for the "new pediatrician" is much needed. The author's impressive endeavors during 20 years of practice are to be highly applauded. This book is important in that it confirms my own impression that the pediatrician has the time, the ability, and can enjoy working with the behavioral problems in his practice. Indeed, the pediatrician is as important in preventive behavioral problems as he has already been demonstrated to be with many childhood medical diseases.
The first six chapters seem to be an outline which may be of great benefit for the author's review, but a statement such as "discuss parent relationships" or "discuss the indecisive period" do not provide very practical information for other practicing physicians. (Over half of the first 72 pages simply contain lists of statements like the above or lists of "office