Niall (Jock) McLaren is a psychiatrist in Darwin, in Australia's steamy Northern Territory. He graduated in medicine in Western Australia and then completed his training in psychiatry. Almost from the beginning, he was interested in the idea of a rational psychotherapy, which led him to study the philosophy of mind and of science. Since then, he has written extensively in the area of rational psychiatry, publishing two books on the topic. This is in addition to working in some of the most isolated parts of Australia where he often had no contact with other psychiatrists for years on end. He lives with his family in the bush outside Darwin and leaves occasionally to undertake lecture tours in the US.