''Add the quixotic touch of a rabbi to the adroit questions of a family therapist. Enough already? No. Add an Aesop-like creativity.These fables are fun and teasing, some probing, some coy, and some poignant. Wow, it's a goose! It's a read!'' --Carl Whitaker, M.D. ''Teaching by parable has an old and honorable tradition. Ed Friedman, beloved rabbi and noted family therapist, is a great modern master of the art.

FRIEDMAN'S FABLES is a delight, of course. These stories are funny, but they are also profound, provocative, even shocking, as they present crucial truths of systemic thinking, vital lessons of family therapy and family life, and a slyly modern, hard-nosed re-evaluation of the wisdom of the ages. Friedman is using these stories to punctuate his lessons, lessons to therapists and to anyone else who expects to deal with people, lessons about human relationships, human suffering, and human integrity. One emerges with a great sense of the wisdom and humanity of Ed Friedman himself.'' --Frank Pittman, M.D. ''Ed Friedman, with humor, wisdom, and a devious mind, has created a series of fables that highlight the classic dilemmas and struggles of relationships. His characters haunt the reader long after the stories are over and inflict insight better than any formal interpretation ever could.

These parables make great lessons and great reading for those caught in the web of trying to change another person or themselves.'' --Carol Anderson, Ph.D. ''I used a fable for my sermon, and you could have heard a pin drop by the end.I find the book thoroughly delightful and powerful.'' --The Rev. Henry C. Galganowicz, Rector, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Weston, Connecticut.