Wisdom Madness and Folly (Canongate Classics) [Paperback]

R. D. Laing (Author)

Book Description

Series: Canongate Classics | Publication Date: June 14, 2001

Subtitled "The Making of a Psychiatrist, " this remarkable autobiography charts the subtle horrors of Laing's own upbringing in a resolutely "respectable" Scottish family in the 1940s. The author's lucid and witty prose offers some unforgettable personal experiences and a host of cultural, political and professional insights as he reflects on the growing unease he came to feel in his role as psychiatrist in a society "destroying itself by violence masquerading as love."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This autobiography takes us up to the time just before the publication of Laing's controversial landmark book The Divided Self. It describes his childhood and medical studies in Glasgow, and his growing disenchantment with what he regarded as the coercive mental-health establishment and the dismal institutional settings of the 1950s. When the book ends, Laing has not yet gained his reputation for integrating the personal aspect into clinical practice and for mental patient advocacy, as well as his denial that there is an unbridgeable gap between normals and schizophrenics. Yet, the narrative successfully conveys a sense of his evolving point of view toward the phenomenology of disordered experiences. For subject collections. William Abrams, Portland State Univ. Lib., Ore.

Copyright 1985 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Canongate U.S. (June 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0862418313
• ISBN-13: 978-0862418311
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,623,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Laing's writing style is easy & colloquial., April 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wisdom Madness and Folly (Canongate Classics) (Paperback)

I read this about 10 years ago & have recently read it again. Laing's writing is easy & colloquial, more like conversation than some exercise with a thesaurus. Laing reviews the state of psychiatry today (1985) & reviews the events in his life that helped shape his iconoclastic views of medicine & society. He eschews the term "anti-psychiatry," seemingly preferring not to name or "institutionalize" his process & praxis for psychiatry. By the end of this book, Laing & his views seem incredibly human & humane, & one wonders, Why aren't all psychiatrists like Laing? Early on, Laing cites the changing psychiatric view in Italy; the new edition of WM&F coincides with the 20th anniversary of Italy's law 180, which pretty much altered the way psychiatric services are dispensed & which was promoted by both doctors & patients, proving that the camaraderie among patient & staff that Laing longed for was possible.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A readable account of a complex man., April 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Wisdom, Madness and Folly, the Making of a Psychiatrist (Paperback)

I first read this more than 10 years ago & found it a pleasant diversion from his more polemical writing. Laing is witty & honest: he cites but doesn't dwell on the cliches & sloganry that have fairly engulfed descriptions of his profession. Laing is incisive & wastes little time with exposition: he's on to another topic before you realize he's just alluded to rabid anti-Semitism in Great Britain during WWII! His descriptions of patients are heart-rending, especially the elderly women with whom he worked after his stint in the Army. Laing was & still is maligned by the psychiatric professional community in the U.S., but in Italy this year, it's the 20th anniversary of the "Basaglia Act," which was promoted by doctors & virtually altered the way "mental disorder" is viewed & treated. Laing made no small contribution here, & his easy style & good humor are evident in WM&F & just two reasons why he remains influential.