George Stein has worked as a community psychiatrist in South East London for twenty-five years and ran the perinatal service for his district. He was regional advisor for South east Thames for five years and served on the board of the British Journal of Psychiatry for fifteen years. He has published papers on Lithium, perinatal psychiatry, personality disorder and has recently completed a large book on the Psychiatry of the Old testament. He was co-editor of the first two editions of Seminars in General Adult Psychiatry.