Author Guide · Psychiatry
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In 1965 the Glasgow psychiatrist R. D. Laing and his colleagues opened Kingsley Hall in east London, a house where people in psychosis and their therapists lived together, with no white coats and no locked doors. It ran until 1970. Laing had already made his name five years earlier with The Divided Self, a first book drawn from his work with patients in the army and in a Glasgow mental hospital, which argued that the speech and behaviour of people diagnosed with schizophrenia could be understood rather than merely classified. By the late 1960s he was one of the most famous psychiatrists in the world, and one of the most argued about. This guide covers his 10 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 10 key books · 1960–1985 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
R. D. Laing’s best-known books are The Divided Self (1960), Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964, with Aaron Esterson), The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise (1967) and Knots (1970). Start with The Divided Self; below you will find all ten key books in order, what each one argues, and the controversy that followed him.
Where to Start with R. D. Laing
If you want his defining book
→ The Divided Self (1960) — the 1960 study of the “divided self”.
If you want the family case studies
→ Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964) — eleven families, in the patients’ and relatives’ own words.
If you want the 1960s Laing
→ The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise (1967) — the book that made him a counterculture figure.
If you want something short and strange
→ Knots (1970) — relationships drawn as verbal knots.
10 R. D. Laing Books, in Order
The Divided Self
Laing’s first book, published by Tavistock in 1960 and drawn from his work in the army and at Gartnavel Royal Hospital in Glasgow. Using existential philosophy and phenomenology, he describes “ontological insecurity”, a basic uncertainty about one’s own existence, and how it can split a person into a hidden true self and a protective false self. It became an international bestseller; David Bowie’s estate listed it among the hundred books Bowie had read and loved.
Self and Others
First published as The Self and Others and revised in 1969, this follow-up moves from the individual to the space between people: how one person’s actions shape another’s experience, and how misunderstanding and misperception take hold in close relationships.
Sanity, Madness and the Family
Written with Aaron Esterson, the book presents interviews with eleven families in which a daughter had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and argues that her experience makes sense once you see how the family talks to and about her. It became the most contested of his books: relatives felt blamed, and the comparison study of families without schizophrenia that the authors promised was never published.
The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise
A short book compiled from articles Laing wrote around 1964, published while he was living through the Kingsley Hall years. It denounces the family and society as the forces that make people “mad”, and suggests that psychosis can be a journey with something to teach; it ends with “The Bird of Paradise”, a piece of visionary prose. It made Laing a hero of the 1960s counterculture and marked his break with mainstream psychiatry.
Knots
A thin book of dialogues and patterns that read like poems or tiny plays, each tracing a trap in a relationship — between lovers, parents and children, analyst and patient — around themes such as dependence, jealousy and doubt. Edward Petherbridge adapted it for the stage, and a film version followed in 1975.
The Politics of the Family
The core of the book is Laing’s 1968 CBC Massey Lectures, broadcast on Canadian radio, on the unspoken rules families live by and pass on: what members are allowed to notice, and what they must not see. The 1971 edition adds further essays.
Do You Love Me?
A return to the form of Knots: short conversations and verses about love and the questions people ask each other in relationships. It came out in the same year as The Facts of Life.
The Facts of Life
An exploration of birth and life before birth, and of the idea that these earliest experiences shape adult life. It belongs to the later Laing who also made a film criticising the obstetric practice of the time; critics found this phase highly speculative.
The Voice of Experience
A late book that sets lived experience against the claims of science and clinical psychiatry, and returns to his interest in experience before and around birth.
Wisdom, Madness and Folly
The first and only volume of his autobiography, covering his Glasgow childhood, medical studies, army service and early psychiatric training up to 1957. It ends before The Divided Self. His son Adrian later disputed parts of his account of his childhood.
In What Order to Read R. D. Laing
Publication order works well with Laing, because the books record a change of mind. The first three are careful clinical studies of individuals and families; The Politics of Experience turns those findings into a social argument; the 1970s books leave case studies behind for verse, dialogue and speculation about birth.
If you want the clinician, read The Divided Self and Sanity, Madness and the Family and stop there. If you want the cultural figure, add The Politics of Experience and Knots, and finish with Wisdom, Madness and Folly for his own version of how he became a psychiatrist.
A reading path
1. The Divided Self (1960)
2. Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964)
3. The Politics of Experience (1967)
4. Knots (1970)
5. Wisdom, Madness and Folly (1985)
Everything Else R. D. Laing Published
Beyond the 10 key books: 4 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Co-written and theoretical works
2
2 books · 1964–1966
- 1964Reason and Violencewith David Cooper, a study of Sartre’s philosophy
- 1966Interpersonal Perceptionwith H. Phillipson and A. R. Lee, a theory and research method for how couples see each other
Later and posthumous books
2
2 books · 1977–1995
- 1977Conversations with Adam and Natashatalks with two of his young children; in Britain titled Conversations with Children
- 1995Mad to Be Normalconversations with Bob Mullan, published after his death
The years · 1927–1989
Quick facts about R. D. Laing
- Known for
- R. D. Laing is known for arguing that the experience of people diagnosed with schizophrenia can be understood as a response to their families and their world, an idea that made him a central and contested figure of 1960s psychiatry.
- 1927
- Born in Govanhill, Glasgow
- 1960
- The Divided Self
- 1970
- Knots
- 1989
- Dies in Saint-Tropez, aged 61
- Born
- 7 October 1927, Govanhill, Glasgow; an only child
- Died
- 23 August 1989, Saint-Tropez, France, of a heart attack while playing tennis
- Education
- University of Glasgow, MB ChB 1951
- Worked
- Royal Army Medical Corps, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, then the Tavistock Clinic in London from 1956
- Founded
- The Philadelphia Association and the Kingsley Hall community (1965–1970)
- Archive
- University of Glasgow Special Collections
The red mark is 1960: The Divided Self, the first book and the one that made his name.
How R. D. Laing Writes: Making Madness Make Sense
Laing’s method in the early books is to quote. The Divided Self and Sanity, Madness and the Family are built on what patients and their relatives actually said, set down at length, followed by his reading of it. The case studies carry the argument: a remark that looks like a symptom in a hospital note starts to look like a reasonable reply once you hear the conversation it answers.
His vocabulary comes from existential philosophy — Sartre above all, whom he and David Cooper studied in Reason and Violence — and from phenomenology, the description of experience from the inside. Terms such as “ontological insecurity” and the “false self” are his attempt to describe what it is like to be the patient, rather than what the patient has.
From The Politics of Experience onwards the tone changes from clinical to prophetic, and then, in Knots and Do You Love Me?, to something close to poetry: short repeated lines that trace a trap in a relationship until the reader feels caught in it too.
Watch
R. D. Laing in Conversation with Mavis Nicholson
Mavis Nicholson interviews R. D. Laing on the Thames Television programme Good Afternoon, broadcast on 19 May 1977; in this first part he talks about his upbringing and his experience as an only child. From the official ThamesTv channel.
Frequently asked questions about R. D. Laing’s books
How many books has R. D. Laing written?
About fifteen, several of them co-written. Ten are the key books on this page, from The Divided Self (1960) to Wisdom, Madness and Folly (1985); the others include Reason and Violence (1964), Interpersonal Perception (1966), Conversations with Adam and Natasha (1977), a volume of Sonnets, and Mad to Be Normal (1995), conversations published after his death.
What are R. D. Laing’s books in order?
The Divided Self (1960), Self and Others (1961), Sanity, Madness and the Family (1964), The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise (1967), Knots (1970), The Politics of the Family (1971), Do You Love Me? (1976), The Facts of Life (1976), The Voice of Experience (1982) and Wisdom, Madness and Folly (1985).
Where should I start with R. D. Laing?
The Divided Self (1960). It is his first book, it explains the ideas the rest depend on, and it is grounded in real cases. If you want something shorter, try Knots.
What is R. D. Laing’s most famous book?
The Divided Self, his 1960 study of how insecurity about one’s own existence can split a person into a true and a false self. The Politics of Experience (1967) sold widely in the 1960s counterculture, and Knots (1970) is his best-known book outside psychiatry.
What is Knots by R. D. Laing about?
Knots (1970) is a book of short dialogues and verbal patterns, each describing a tangle in a relationship. It opens: “They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game.” Edward Petherbridge adapted it for the stage, and a film followed in 1975.
Was R. D. Laing an anti-psychiatrist, and why was he criticised?
He is often grouped with the anti-psychiatry movement alongside David Cooper, but he rejected the label and never denied the value of treating mental distress. Critics said he romanticised madness, neglected biological causes and left parents feeling blamed; the comparison study promised in Sanity, Madness and the Family was never published. Later, his public admissions of heavy drinking fed into a General Medical Council case, and on 20 May 1987 he withdrew his name from the Medical Register. His son Adrian Laing’s biography (1994) gives the family’s account of his life.
What was Kingsley Hall?
A community in east London that Laing and colleagues, including Aaron Esterson and David Cooper, opened in 1965 through the Philadelphia Association. People in psychosis and therapists lived together without the usual hospital hierarchy. It closed in 1970, when the lease ran out. The artist Mary Barnes, who arrived in 1965, became its best-known resident.
Are there films about R. D. Laing?
Yes. Mad to Be Normal (2017), directed by Robert Mullan, stars David Tennant as Laing at Kingsley Hall and is a fictionalised account. Peter Robinson’s documentary Asylum (1972) filmed a Laing community, and Ken Loach’s Family Life (1971), written by David Mercer, drew on his ideas about schizophrenia and the family.
When and how did R. D. Laing die?
On 23 August 1989, aged 61, of a heart attack while playing tennis in Saint-Tropez, France.
Footnotes
- R. D. Laing — Wikipedia
- R. D. Laing — Britannica
- Papers of Ronald David Laing — Archives Hub (University of Glasgow)
- History — The Philadelphia Association
- A man who used to be Ronnie Laing — Times Higher Education
- Mad To Be Normal, review — The Arts Desk, 2017
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“They are playing a game. They are playing at not playing a game. If I show them I see they are, I shall break the rules and they will punish me. I must play their game, of not seeing I see the game.”
— R. D. Laing, Knots (1970)
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