This Way Madness Lies: The asylum and beyond by Mike Jay As the concept of reason coalesced and gained ascendency in society, so was the concept of unreason increasingly separated from it and those who were viewed as embodying unreason were increasingly separated from the rest of society, confined beyond the ringfence of the 'acceptable', their misfortunes - however kindly or unkindly they were treated – ultimately serving to serve the mechanisms of ascendancy by simultaneously providing reassurance and threat to the populace. Sufficiently separated, there is nothing to prevent the agents of reason acting upon those assigned to unreason, and attempting to modify them through 'treatment' and 'cure'. Throughout this excellently illustrated book, Jay traces the changing attitudes towards 'madness' particularly in relation to the evolution of the Bethlem Royal Hospital ('Bedlam') but also with reference to other European institutions, contrasting these with the parallel evolution of the 'mad colony' of Geel, a Belgian city which has served for many as a model of 'best practice' of noninstitutional care. Also included are a range of artworks by patients, which serve to make the workings of their minds both accessible and reassuringly 'other'. {reviewed by THOMAS}