'Knots' is Laing's dark, ultra-perceptive account of human relationships. Taking observed situations and distilling them into sets of exact, clear sentences, Laing achieves just the balance between the specific and the general to ensure that you will recognise each portrait either in your acquaintances or, most disturbingly, in yourself. Broadly mirroring the pattern of a life, from a child's observation of adults, through adult sexual relationships and finally to the nihilistic aspects of old age, 'Knots' was and still is a ground-breaking work, and when taken in context with Laing's other writings, forms a formidable source of insight into daily life.