There has been an almost twentyfold increase in consultant psychogeriatricians in the UK in the past twenty years, and a comparable growth in the literature. In the early 1960s there were very few specifically psychogeriatric texts, and not all that many on related topics; now the reader is spoilt for choice.

For so long the province of poets, artists, and philosophers, the subject of bereavement has attained over the past 40 years a new status as a topic of clinical and scientific interest. In particular, it has become a major health issue. This was confirmed, for example, by the NIMH initiating an extensive project ably reported by Osterweis et al (1984). Largely due to its health implications, bereavement has now become the focus of attention from a number of perspectives (including cultural, biological, psychological, and social), with the result that an extensive literature has developed on the topic. With such an array of material available, therefore, it is easy to elevate oneself from total ignorance to a state of complete confusion. Consequently, when I was invited to write this article I was relieved to be informed that I was not required to provide a comprehensive reading list, but rather a personal one reflecting material which, in some way, I had found influential, memorable, or worthwhile.