English abstract
The reviewer Sometimes wonder what the British poet, Alexander Pope, had in mind when he famously improvised "Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again". In our original sin of ignorance, what would be the magic formula to sober us again? Some would say that psychology is a field that is inherently endowed with this talent and that it is the only field of inquiry that leads us to introspective thinking which, in the present parlance, constitutes an important catalyst to sober us again from shallow draughts. By this do we mean the psycho-babble that often comes into our homes via Oprah Winfrey chat shows? No, I mean the volume entitled Fundamental Psychology. Yes, there are many books on this topic; some would say every Tom, Dick and Harry has churned out similar textbooks. Check out Amazon.com or any bookshop and you will find more psychobabble than books on any other topic. If Alexander Pope were alive today, he might well judge that this textbook has some draughts to sober us again. Had I had such a book when I was young, maybe my life would have taken another route. In the interim, I have a copy of this textbook on my bookshelf. Whenever I look at it, I wonder why such treasure cannot be accessed by all.
