This is a most curious publication. The word primer is derived from the Latin primus (first) and usually refers to a textbook that provides the first principles of the subject. Ethics Primer certainly does not do this. The slim volume comprises 11 chapters and an appendix containing the 2001 edition of the Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry (which has been published in many versions by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) since 1973).

Most of the authors are associated with the APA's Ethics Committee and deal with topics within their expertise. When tackling their contributions, I became quite baffled as to what the Committee had in mind when planning and preparing the book. The selection of subjects is not only arbitrary but fails to address many contemporary ethical matters that warrant our attention. Indeed, some of the material covered seems of much lesser relevance. For example, why is there a chapter devoted to gifts, particularly when these are partially dealt with in the chapter on boundary violations? Presentation of material is another problem: the chapter on consultations and second opinions is particularly nebulous.

Further difficulties arise when one tries to detect a common aim. The author of the chapter on children, adolescence and families offers a personal view about the range of issues that arise in this area, whereas the writer of the chapter on involuntary hospitalisation highlights controversies. In another pair of chapters, the authors apply the APA guidelines specifically in dealing with the ethical quandaries on which they focus. After a careful reread, the nagging question remained as to whether this book is intended to be prescriptive, descriptive, a mixture of both, or something else.

Similar criticisms apply to the bibliographies. Some chapters have none; in others they are scanty or dated. A suggested reading list is offered but by only one auther. Again, I wonder what lay behind the editors' thinking when commissioning the contributions.

Having been a proponent of highlighting psychiatric ethics in the professional life of psychiatrists for over two decades, I am always excited about new contributions. Alas, I cannot respond in this way on this occasion and suggest that should the APA consider a second edition it be done with substantially more preparation and planning.