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Widely varying recommended reading lists for psychiatry residents were obtained from 140 AMA-approved training programs. Approximately 4,000 articles, 2,800 books, and 200 serials were listed. The number of recommendations for each book was counted, and a rank-order determined. A second rank-order was determined from the lists of those eighty-seven programs which indicated that their material covered the "basic" literature; a third rank-order was determined from the number of residents using the lists. All rank-orders agreed on the "most recommended" book and the first eighteen books; there was a 92 percent correlation through the first 453 books. One-third of the "basic" recommendations were for the first 104 books; one-third for the next 349 books, and one-third for the remaining 1,994 books. The subject matter of the first 104 books indicated that the currently most popular subjects in psychiatry are psychoanalytic theories of personality, schizophrenia, psychotherapy, and child psychiatry. A list of the 104 most recommended books is appended.

Widely varying reading lists for general psychiatry residents were obtained from 140 three-year approved training programs. The material recommended for reading was listed on index cards, and the number of programs recommending each item was posted on the cards. Approximately 4,000 articles, 2,800 books, and 200 serials were recommended. A statistical evaluation of the book list appeared in a previous paper (3).(*) Part II is a similar evaluation of the article list and the limited editions and serials in which the articles appear.