Recovery is probably the most important new direction for mental health. It represents the convergence of a number of ideas – empowerment, self-management, disability rights, social inclusion and rehabilitation – under a single heading that signals a new direction in services.

This book was originally published in German. The translation has been revised, with some new material added and references amended to reflect the English-language literature. The authors set themselves the ambitious task of providing a text that will be a useful resource not only for mental health professionals but also for professionals from other health-related areas as well as people with lived experience of mental health problems and carers. In this the book is only partially successful. There is a huge amount of information describing concepts of recovery and also examples of how the concept has been put into practice around the globe. For those with an interest and some knowledge of recovery, the book provides a treasure trove of bite-size chunks of knowledge and theory. What the books lacks, however, is a coherent sense of structure, which limits its accessibility and usefulness for readers needing a basic grounding in recovery theory and practice. For example, although chapter one, ‘Recovery: basis and concepts’, starts with Anthony's elegant and succinct definition of recovery, it then runs to nearly 50 pages taking in such diverse areas as political strategy, resilience and health promotion. Subsequent chapters follow a similar pattern, with wildly diverse subjects grouped together, some of which appear to have only a tenuous link to recovery concepts. The references, however, are useful and eclectic, and include a significant number of European authors, reflecting the book's German origins.

This is certainly not a book for everyone and is unlikely to bring many new converts to the ideas of the recovery model. However, for those who are already knowledgeable and enthused by the concepts, it provides a useful information source, albeit one which is most likely to be dipped in and out of rather than read from cover to cover.