The main purpose of this book is to tell, in a generally understandable language, what medicine has learned about stress… . Book I: The discovery of stress describes the evolution of the stress concept… ." In the second book, "the mechanism through which our body is attacked by, and can defend itself against, stress-producing situations" is analyzed. "The diseases of adaptation [book, 4 chapters] deals with maladies… which we consider to result largely from failures in the stress-fighting mechanism." Book IV is a sketch for a unified theory. The final book on "implications and applications presents the principal lessons to be learned from this study, not only in medicine proper, but also as regards man's ability to devise a natural healthy philosophy of life." Glossary. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)