A Psychiatrist’s Casebook, Robert L. Spitzer, Andrew...

A Psychiatrist’s Casebook, Robert L. Spitzer, Andrew E. Skodol, Miriam Gibbon and Janet B. W. Williams (Warner: $12.50), is described on the jacket cover as “an essential guide for professionals in psychology, psychiatry or social work” and “the American Psychiatric Assn.’s reference book for diagnosing mental illness.” In fact, it is neither. Presented more to fascinate than to inform, these spicy psychological cases are devoid of most of the information about causes and treatment contained in the APA’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” the reference source to which the authors allude. The authors’ entry on “panic disorders,” for instance, describes a panic attack but omits the possible causes detailed in the DSM guide, such as “separation anxiety in childhood.” The book features an endorsement from the Journal of the American Medical Assn. as “excellent” and “useful,” when in fact it is more sideshow than psychology, as is evident from the back jacket cover, which hypes the book’s cases in lurid red: (“KILLER, the ten-year-old boy who murdered a little girl . . .”).

The Fast-Food Guide: What’s Good, What’s Bad, and How to Tell the Difference, Michael F. Jacobson and Sarah Fritschner (Workman: $4.95). Acknowledging the inevitability of fast food in our “hurried, harried, and overworked culture,” the authors offer this unusual, intelligently written survey of hundreds of fast-food brands, steering us away from the greatest concentrations of calories, cholesterol, sodium, sugar and fat, and implying, in the process, that we can have our quarter-pounder and eat it too. The authors’ prefatory overview of the origins of cancer and heart disease, however, will dissuade most readers from delving into the detailed lists of ingredients and profiles of fast-food chains that follow. One is inclined either to eat in ignorant bliss or to become conscious and thus celibate. For those who can effect a middle ground, however, this is the best available guide to the lesser of the evils.

The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism, Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin (Simon & Schuster: $7.95). This lively introduction to Judaism for skeptics is grounded solidly in the Jewish tradition, for Israel, the land the Jews have chosen to call “home,” is derived from a Hebrew word meaning “wrestler with God.” The sparring begins with what is perhaps the most urgent question for skeptics, “Can one doubt God’s existence and still be a good Jew?” “Yes,” the authors respond, “so long as one acts in accordance with Jewish law. But the converse does not hold true, for a Jew who believes in God but acts contrary to Jewish law cannot be considered a good Jew.” Jewish law is of paramount importance, the authors argue, because people need ethical systems of thought (they remind us of Genesis 8:21, “the predilection of man’s heart is evil from his youth”) and Judaism is the best available. The authors acknowledge that secular humanists can be just as ethical as observant Jews, but they question “whether the ethical secularist is capable of bequeathing a moral legacy to the next generation.” Here, though, the authors make the misleading assertion that all ethical secularists believe morality is either “relative” or “nonexistent”; humanism, in fact, is not opposed to systems of ethical conduct. Also recently reissued is perhaps the best known introduction to Judaism, Herman Wouk’s “This Is My God: The Jewish Way of Life” (Simon & Schuster: $8.95). In addition, two books on the Diaspora are now in paperback: Jacob Neusner’s “Israel in America: A Too Comfortable Exile?” (Beacon Press: $8.95) argues that Jews in the United States (and in South Africa) have succeeded in constructing a “building,” an establishment to support their faith, but have yet to put a “foundation” under that building by affirming Jewish values and ethics through vigorous discussion; Howard M. Sachar’s “Diaspora” (Harper & Row: $10.95), in turn, studies how 30 Jewish communities throughout the world relate to other cultures while preserving their own.

NOTEWORTHY: Rivergods, Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen (Sierra Club: $18.95). Abundantly illustrated trek through 13 wild, magical and remote rivers, a celebration of wilderness and adventure, and a look at vanishing cultures. The Bird’s Nest, Shirley Jackson (Arbor House: $5.95). Black comedy, first published in 1954, about a young woman who discovers that her mind is divided among four separate and strong-willed personalities. The Exquisite Corpse, Alfred Chester (Carroll & Graf: $4.95). A disconnected narrative and wild, airy writing are featured in this critically acclaimed 1967 novel about obsession and compulsive fantasy. Red Baker, Robert Ward (Washington Square: $5.95), tells the story of an American refugee from the heavy steel industry, and looks at the plight of the American working class today. Critic and author Richard Price says it’s “as American as apple pie and a punch in the mouth.” Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White, Joseph Lelyveld (Penguin: $7.95), shows what it’s like to live under the domination of apartheid and illustrates how the American policy of seeking an end to white domination in fact does little but find ways to make it more tolerable. Winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.