An inspired observer of the Indian psyche, Sudhir Kakar trained as a psychoanalyst at the Sigmund Freud Institute, Frankfurt. He set up a clinic in Delhi in 1975, thus embarking on a lifelong search for the wellsprings of Indian identity. He went on to establish the new discipline of cultural psychology.

A Book of Memory records not only the crises of identity and intellect but also the highs and lows of love and pleasure. It is fearless and revelatory with regard to the self and its motivations, a rare candour illuminating the urbane prose.