s a junior attending physician who is interested in developing a career in academic psychiatry, integrating a love of teaching and an interest in clinical research, I was intrigued by the title of this book. I felt the objective of the editors was somewhat ambitious, and I was initially daunted by the magnitude of the 663-page, 31-chapter textbook. However, I was more than pleasantly surprised. The wealth of information, carefully edited and researched, and the detailing of further resources, together with several useful appendices, is commendable on its own; but the book itself is well written, relatively easy to read, provocative, and entertaining in parts and essentially able to maintain my interest throughout.

The book is divided into four sections: Career Pathways in Academic Psychiatry, Psychiatric Research, Psychiatric Education, and Psychiatric Administration. Each section has contributions from many authors in the field who have already written extensively within their chosen areas, and the individual chapters are an excellent summation of their expertise.

Section I addresses the development of careers in academia and education, overall professional development, and writing for publication; it has chapters devoted to the problems and challenges facing women, minorities, and International Medical Graduates (IMGs). The career pathways are explained, rewards and pitfalls are detailed, and suggestions for fostering careers in academia and education (mentoring, teaching portfolio, etc.) are given. I especially liked the honest appraisal of the impact such careers can have on one's personal life, together with the examination of personal attributes often associated with success in a particular career pathway. The chapter on writing for publication is valuable for the junior faculty member, in that it demystifies the reviewing process for manuscripts and has very helpful strategies for facilitating publication. Issues concerning IMGs, minorities, and women, both in the context of training and faculty development, are well delineated and sensitively addressed.

Section II discusses the development of a career in research and has three wonderful chapters devoted to the "How to..." quandaries; how to generate and implement research ideas and how to get funding for research—and, if there is no funding, how to do research anyway! The appendices are very useful in this section; for example, the list of organizations and foundations that have a history of funding support for mental health/substance abuse research. The life cycle of a researcher is detailed, with particular attention to the early researcher and his or her need for good mentoring and support for early research-career development. The process of obtaining research funding is very well outlined, from the initial identification of potential sources to the preparation and review of a grant proposal, and interesting approaches to doing research without funding are proposed. Finally, the small subsection on teaching trainees how to do research provides an innovative way of dispelling the very common "I can't do research" view that the majority of psychiatric residents and fellows hold, and offers an alternative to journal clubs and other research-oriented didactics.

Section III is by far the largest section in the book (294 pages, 16 chapters), and it covers the challenges of psychiatric education for the preclinical medical student through to the continuing medical education (CME) of the practicing psychiatrist. The chapters offer well-researched data as to the ingredients of a successful teaching initiative, comments on the characteristics of well-regarded teachers and the contents of a comprehensive didactic and interviewing program, and suggestions for procuring both. Examples of several curricula for the various levels of training are given, together with goals and objectives for each stage. Three chapters underscore the usefulness of psychiatry clerkships, undergraduate electives, and collaboration with other specialties, in order to enhance the educational experience of the student, and the authors give guidelines for their implementation.

Chapters covering the administrative responsibilities of educators include the administration of a residency program (where one appreciates the tribute to the role of other professionals, such as the program coordinator); managing a site visit by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) without losing one's sanity; and negotiating the uncommon, but emotionally charged difficulties resulting from ill or injured residents, maternity and paternity leave, or residents' choosing to leave or being dismissed from the program; and the resident who has legal, ethical, or malpractice difficulties. The authors also address challenges created by changes in faculty, location of training, and size of the program. Other administrative bodies within an institution would do well to observe many of the principles outlined here.

In today's climate of "outcome assessment," the continued evaluation of programs, trainees, and faculty is aptly emphasized, and several examples of assessment tools and feedback processes are given. The professional development of the resident is considered, and this topic covers issues of ethics, safety, learning, and supervision, facilitation of teaching, leadership and administrative skills, and progression to subspecialty training. Finally, there is an interesting chapter on the purpose of CME and step-by-step instruction on how to coordinate and manage such a program.

Section IV is devoted to a more in-depth review of administration in psychiatry. The section examines the characteristics and skills required by an effective administrator and potential pathways toward the progression of an administrative career; it takes time to highlight the 10 crucial mistakes made by the inexperienced administrator. There are two particularly thought-provoking chapters: one discussing the potential changes needed within training programs, given the current managed-care environment; and the other, the need for an alliance between psychiatrists working in the public sector and those in academia, in order to fulfill unmet needs in psychiatric training and research, as well as provide well-qualified staff for often-underserved public institutions and clinics. The last chapter in the book details the Canadian experience in maintaining academic excellence despite dwindling resources, with the progress made and the optimism for the future make a fitting end to this textbook.

In conclusion; the Handbook of Psychiatric Education and Faculty Development is a wonderful resource text for any trainee contemplating a career in psychiatric education, academics, or administration, and is invaluable for its ideas, suggestions, and reviews of material pertaining to the work of educators and academic psychiatrists already practicing in the field. It should be made available to all senior residents in psychiatry, as well as the heads of clinical services involved in psychiatric training. The editors have done a terrific job!