The Facts of Life

R.D. Laing's most controversial book to date is "a real contribution to the literature of wonder -rich, disorderly, suggestive, inconclusive, and humane" (Kirkus Review). A startingly original enquiry into the nature and origin of human feelings, it is also an intensely personal book, blending sketches of Laing's own childhood with fragments from his journals, lectures, and meditations. Brief case histories pose urgent questions about the meaning of "sanity" and human experience; other chapters discuss the effects of still-unknown past experiences on life and feelings. A rare mixture of extreme honesty and devastating scientific criticism, The Facts of Life is "a highly readable and vigorously honest book" (Publishers Weekly). -- From back cover.