5 comments about The Listener: A Psychoanalyst Examines His Life.

1. It can be embarassing sometimes for a reader to hear about sexual desire-- particularly when it reveals so well that forbidden place men seem to know. Somehow, Wheelis avoids going overboard. At one point, he admits to the reader that if we like him, he has failed to truly reveal himself. Perhaps the reason I like him is that I am thankful. Usually male sexual desire is loaded-- we (as men) are either taught to embrace it (machismo) or chastise it. In this case I it was simply felt and explained.



2. I am editor of the professional journal "Psychotherapy In Australia" and also a therapist. So I've read many many books on, by, and for therapy and therapists. Allen Wheelis' "The Listener" is utterly distinctive and forced me to confront myself about just how honest I have been with myself in my own life. It is also beautifully written. I've read this book three times now, ans gained more each time, and I've set off on a quest to read all his other books. Irvin Yalom has reviewed this book by asking if a more honest autobiography has ever been written. I have no fear in answering "No".



3. I've read many, many self-help books in my pursuit to resolve issues such as controlling food intake, poor social skills, negative self-image, and just simply how to manage what happens externally, so that I'm internally balanced. Then I read Wheelis's "How People Change". POW. What a great impact on me. And in that small book, I got a good glimpse into his life. I absolutely had to know more about him. But while reading Listener, I had to keep reminding myself that is not a self-help book. What I was thinking while reading, was how interesting it was to hear about his emotional challenges, the whole range of dilemma's he lived through. This book supplies a lot of very valuable lessons on how *not* to live life, in contrast to his People Change book. 1.) I will make absolutely sure I am emotionally available to my wife when I do find her and get married. LIke Wheelis, I've been over-analytical, but moreso than Wheelis, been very lonely,( full of meaningless short relationships where sex was pretty much it) 2.) Concerning his agony over not being able to sow his wild oates, not getting enough sex as a young man, this is something I used to dwell on. My attitude, as a Christian I've recently become, is, everytime I feel that heart-in-the-pit-of-my-stomach feeling when I see a beautiful woman with wonder what I'm missing out or how I'm suffering, this life as a human being is short and I'm running out of time to give as much as possible, not lust as much as possible. The lust you experience with one spouse is enough! No other sex is necessary. I wish that Wheelis could have replaced his thoughts of deprivation, during his life, with these sort of thoughts. I am not saying to be a Christian or even religious, but take *some* kind of spirtual approach and realize that a part of you never dies and just because you didn't experience as much sex as you wanted, doesn't mean you've officially blown a "chance". You are eternal, and there are joys ahead after this little margin of human existence, I'm convinced (yeah i guess I *am* asking you to a little religious), that make human lust very minor in comparison. I really felt for him and the pain he described. In an especially sexually-explicit segment of about two pages, he speaks for all men, in terms of our unfortunate hard-wiredness to want sex so bad and under any condition that we want. More than anything, this book will drive you right back to his How People Change book to re-read it and absorb it. ( If your inspirational book of choice is something else, then go re-read that again. I recommend the road less traveled)



4. Allen Wheelis who has written a series of extraordinary novels and professional psychiatric books, offers a moving, beautiful, and powerfully evocative memoir. Psychoanalysts, he says, know too much to hide behind self-decption and this astonishing book reveals the shape of a life seen straight, seen without distorting lenses.



5. Throughout the whole book I felt nothing but pain for this poor little boy; abused by his father, who grew into the adult victim of his elderly mother---a mother whose repressed sexual desires (due to her husbands illness) were directed toward her son. I cried for Allen the boy and Allen the man.

No comments about Freud at 150: Twenty-First Century Essays on a Man of Genius.

No comments about The Wisdom Of the Dream: The World of C. G. Jung.

No comments about Fifty Key Sociologists: The Formative Theorists (Routledge Key Guides).

3 comments about The Art of Therapeutic Communication: The Collected Works of Kay Thompson.

1. Kay Thompson was one of the great hypnotherapists of the 20th century and one of Milton H. Erickson's most gifted protégés. She was a trainer of international renown and a brilliant hypnotherapist whose artistry with language patterns amazed her pupils and colleagues. The Art of Therapeutic Communication chronicles her professional life through her papers and presentations, transcripts of seminars, commentary on her life and work, and tributes by contemporaries. The CD that accompanies the book records ten of Thompson's "live" presentations. Thompson's collected works cover hypnosis, hypnotic language patterns, trance, pain management, hypnosis in dentistry, metaphor, utilization, and ethics.
   
   Thompson began her career as a dentist, and studied under Dr. Milton H. Erickson in 1953. She went on to become an internationally recognized speaker and trainer in medical hypnotherapy. She participated in the Erickson Foundation as a lecturer, workshop leader, and panel member. Colleagues admired her linguistic skills, integrity, ethics, and spirituality. She spoke and taught on the power of imagination, motivation, and belief as essential elements in the practice of psychotherapy.
   
   Her unusual style of delivering suggestions became her trademark. Her "word play" was engaging, trance-inducing, and confusing all at the same time, yet somehow always to the point, speaking to the mind via several levels of meaning. She employed puns, double-entendres, rhyme, and alliteration in spell-binding ways.
   
   Thompson advised using the client's own interests and common, every-day occurrences as metaphors for suggestions about problem-solving and personal growth. She debunked the common expectation that hypnosis requires relaxation, suggesting that hypnotherapists give clients the latitude to experience trance idiosyncratically. Thompson reminded her audiences to see the client's point of view and guide the client to tap into his or her own potential.
   
   The text features methods and demonstrations for pain management, describing how she helped clients prepare for surgery by teaching them to control anxiety, pain, and even bleeding. Thompson spoke on how hypnotic pain management can help cancer patients and the terminally ill. She described her own experiences in pain control during rhinoplasty, dermabrasion,root canals, and an auto accident in which she had broken bones.
   
   You can read her discussions on amnesia, time distortion and post-hypnotic suggestion. There are several papers on hypnosis in dentistry, in which Thompson explains the relationships among psychology, hypnotherapy and dentistry. She was an expert in approaches to bulimia, tongue thrust, gagging reflex, bruxism, hemophilia, root canals, dry sockets, and temporal mandibular jaw dysfunction.
   
   Kane and Olness poured devotion and painstaking effort into this book, locating, examining, and transcribing hours of tape-recorded interviews, panel discussions, and seminars. I enjoyed this book, consuming it like a smorgasbord of ideas. With a notebook at my side, I madly scribbled notes to myself about how I could adapt some of Thompson's methods in my own work. In my home library, I have a shelf reserved for favorite hypnotherapy books. This book will go on that shelf. I know I will turn to it again and again, seeking Thompson's advice for difficult cases. Through The Art of Therapeutic Communication, Kay Thompson continues to teach, to heal, to motivate, and to inspire.



2. This fascinating book is an inspiration, and an outstanding learning tool for therapists and those interested in hypnosis,and this extraordinarily profound woman.



3. BOOK REVIEWS
   The Art of Therapeutic Communication
   ( The collected works of Kay F Thompson)
   Edited by Saralee Kane and Karen Olness
   Publisher Crown House Publishing Ltd
   ISBN 1904424287
   This is a love story. It is a story of a love of words and a love of communicating them in a positive and healthy way. More than that it is a love of people and the story of a woman's dedication to helping all those around her for whom she felt compassion and love - her fellow men. No monument could provide a more fitting or lasting tribute to Kay Thompson than this skilfully executed and beautifully presented book
   I felt sorry for the girl who delivers my post when she came down my front path bearing the parcel which contained this book. To say that it is a hefty and weighty tome is an understatement, almost 600 pages long and with an accompanying CD.
   I too groaned under the weight of it and just wondered whether the reading would be as heavy as the book.
   I was very pleasantly surprised.
   It proved to be not only a joy but also a privilege to be allowed to explore the pages of this book. It was fascinating to have insight into the thought and work of Kay Thompson who was arguably one of the world's greatest hypnotherapists of the twentieth century. She was an intellectual, a lively brain, but also had the linguistic capability to be able to share her thoughts and ideas with a wide audience. Indeed, if she hadn't made the grade as a therapist I am sure she would have made a great novelist or communicator in other ways..
   Regular readers of my reviews will know that I am an ardent fan of the work of Milton Erickson. You can imagine the delight I felt when I read of Kay that she was one of his most gifted students. They shared a joy of communication, a gift for language. Their work is professionally intoxicating and compulsive reading.
   Much of our thinking and methodology has been built upon foundations laid originally by Kay Thompson. She has done much to develop and expand the whole subject of contemporary hypnosis.
   The book, a testament to her life and work, deals with the subject of therapeutic communication from a variety of angles - direct teaching, comment, explanation, example and is at all times fascinating as well as informative.
   On the one level we get excellent instruction and advice on how to approach and conduct our own therapy sessions to achieve the greatest benefit. On the other hand, and in a very subtle way, we are also taught much about ourselves and the way we think and live. It is a book of intense humanity not a scientific tome alone.
   Throughout all of the book we are being taught sensitively yet firmly, how to conduct our own personal lives ! It is a book of inspiration and interpretation. It is a book with both breadth and depth which covers the complexity of the subject in an immensely readable way. It is a book written with care, concern , understanding, respect and total integrity, and not a little love.
   Speaking of love, I just have to quote a poem by Roy croft included in the book. It is sensational !
   It sets out to describe the teaching of Erickson and the shared values and thoughts of his followers.
   
   I love you, not only for what you are,
   But for what I am when I am with you.
   I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself,
   But for what you are making of me.
   I love you for the part of me you bring out.
   I love you for putting your hand into my heaped up heart,
   And passing over all the foolish, weak things you can't help dimly seeing there,
   And for bringing out into the light all the beautiful belongings
   That no one else had ever looked quite far enough to find.
   I love you because you are helping me to make,
   Of the lumber of my life, not a tavern but a temple,
   And of the words of my everyday,
   Not a reproach but a song.
   I love you because you have done more than any creed could
   Have done to make me good,
   And more than any fate could have done to make me happy.
   You have done it,
   Without a word,
   Without a touch,
   Without a sign
   You have done it by being yourself
   Perhaps that is what being a friend means, after all.
   I wish that I could have been one of the pupils that Kay guided through in their early years. I feel that I would have been uplifted by her excitement and commitment, captivated by her strength of personality and personal warmth and dazzled by the depth of her knowledge and the brilliant way in which she could share this with others.
   It is a great book about a great woman written by two great authors who, through their careful editing and selection of material and contributors etc, have almost allowed us to travel within our minds so that we can experience the power that was, that still is Kay Thompson.
   I finished the book feeling that I had met her, spoken with her and most certainly been affected by her in a very positive sense.
   I will make a sweeping statement but it is one that will be true, I know, and that is I will never be the same therapist, maybe even person, again. I will have been strengthened, guided and enlightened by this experience and feel most if not all readers will feel the same. As Akira Otani says within the book, " and her words will go on".
   Practically the book covers all aspects of a therapist's work. There are fascinating and very valuable sections on Therapy with Pain and an excellent section on Hypnosis in Dentistry which I found most helpful.
   Inductions and the nature of trance are dealt with at length, including commentary on clinical work and demonstration.
   As I said earlier, this book is about humanity, and I was delighted to see included a section on Ethics in caring, so often omitted from such texts. You will enjoy, too, " Why do we learn about hypnosis?"
   "Well, if you can do something good for them, Do it!" Was her catch phrase and could well be the catchphrase of each and every one of us who endeavour to tread in her footsteps.
   I have no doubt that if there was an Oscar for Hypnotherapy books of 2004 this one would come storming home as an undisputed winner, but it wouldn't be Kay standing up there making tearful thanks to her family, friends, patients, baby goldfishes. This would be drowned by OUR acclaim of a woman who has been and will continue to be a beacon for us to follow, an example to emulate. Sincerity breeds sincerity. Love breeds love.
   As you read this book sense the sincerity, bathe in the love and bring part of her professionalism and expertise into your lives and practice.
   Do I recommend this book ??
   I most certainly do!!!!!! Oh yes, by the way, the experience in being in the company of this wonderful lady and teacher was made possible by the inclusion of a CD, secreted right at the back of the book. Crown House - I salute you. Another astonishing achievement I feel.

5 comments about Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision--An Analytical Biography.

1. It has been a long time since I have come across a book title that so aptly summarizes its subject, in this case the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Louis Breger provides a splendid historical overview of Freud's importance in the development of the healing art of mental health, but it is certainly not an attractive man who emerges from these pages. It is to the author's credit that he makes every effort to explain why Freud does not engender in the public arena the warm regard of the second generation psychoanalysts, many of them orphaned by their autocratic intellectual leader.
   
   Himself a practicing psychoanalyst, Breger traces Freud's Austrian developmental years and his early forays into medicine. Freud was born in 1856; his family was numerous and poor; his mother appeared to do most of the worrying for the family while his unruffled father carved out a precarious existence. Freud's disillusionment with his father and his jealousy for his mother's attention amidst a near constant stream of young rivals--mostly girls--in an environment of little privacy is usually given as the traditional spawning ground of his best known theories regarding the Oedipus Complex and the natural role of women.
   
   Breger, however, examines this childhood more critically. Young Freud suffered several significant losses in his early years--the death of his infant brother Julius, for example, or the firing of his beloved housemaid Monika, who actually served as a surrogate mother for a time when his own mother was afflicted with grief and depression. But most of all, Freud missed his mother, who understandably was emotionally unavailable to him, though as a youth Freud could certainly not understand her predicament. Breger observes that her son could never bring to his consciousness his deep anger at her, and it is the author's contention that this subconscious pain was the fuel for the father-son warfare so central to the Freudian system; in essence a subterfuge for what really ailed him. The masculine oedipal trauma as the source of neurosis was the only explanation Freud would tolerate for nearly all of his 80 years--and it would impair his work and cost him his closest friends in years to come.
   
   And yet, Freud's predicament was hardly unusual in his time. There were many poor children who did not get what they needed from their parents. My only critique of Breger's analysis is his omission of treatment of Freud's driving ambition to "be someone great." The author does note that in his escapes to imagination, Freud throughout his life identified with Hannibal, an interesting military choice for a scientist.
   Freud's first medical work was highly technical for the time, neurological research under the gifted Ernst Brucke, but after some years he left organized research to work with the charismatic Jean-Martin Charcotte, "The Napoleon of Neuroses." Charcotte made some respectable progress in the understanding of hysteria, though his cultivated flamboyant style was no doubt an obstacle within scientific circles.
   
   At the very least, Charcotte opened Freud's eyes to the stimulating and monetary possibilities of psychiatry. Now married, Freud opened a private practice in what was called at the time neuropathology. His survival depended in no small part upon the financial and personal support of a more seasoned physician, Josef Breuer. Breuer, it may be recalled, is remembered for his modest but innovative success with his "talking cure" for neurological symptoms. Working together, Freud and Breuer spent a decade refining the treatment of hysteria until Breuer finally refused to endorse Freud's hypothesis that all traumas of loss were ultimately sexual in origin. Freud turned his affections to Wilhelm Fliess and abruptly dismissed the kindly physician Breuer, the first of many men to be taken into Freud's bosom and then discarded for perceived doctrinal [read: personal] disloyalty.
   
   With a thriving practice and a highly developed [albeit skewed] theory of neurosis and personality, Freud became the father figure for young men who shared his passion for psychoanalysis and who generally were in search of father figures themselves. Nearly all of the early practitioners were Jews from Austria and Switzerland; the ethnic identity, coupled with Freud's fondness for military imagery, tended to mold the movement into a kind of defensive zealotry for some years. It was not unusual for colleagues to psychoanalyze each other or interpret each other's dreams. Confidentiality and boundary ethics were poorly defined, creating enormous professional and personal problems for many practitioners and their patients.
   
   Breger observed that for all the talent surrounding Freud, there was little by way of innovation or verification to discern if psychoanalysis was truly effective. Moreover, those who did advance their own personality theories [as did Jung] or therapeutic styles [as did Rank] were excommunicated from Freud's associations and publications with virtual liturgical solemnity. It should come as no surprise, then, that the heretic who may have been most dangerous to Freud was Alfred Adler. Adler, like Breuer, realized that a multitude of traumas could set off neuroses, not merely fatherhood or sexual issues. [Amazingly, Freud learned nothing from soldiers' traumas of World War I.] Adler, whose own interests took him into family dysfunction, came to understand not just Freud's past, but what was worse, how Freud was repeating the sibling rivalry pattern with his present colleagues.
   
   Breger assesses Freud's counseling style from copious notes and correspondences, and concludes that the master frequently disregarded his own rules of objectivity and impersonal pose. He credits Freud with making the critical connection between trauma and neurosis, even if excessively limiting the boundaries of trauma. Moreover, Freud provided the springboard for gifted men and women to develop the psychological healing arts, unhealthy dynamics notwithstanding. He does not evoke outright admiration today, and yet I myself felt sympathetic as cancer and Nazi persecution ravaged his last years.



2. To read this book, you'd wonder why psychoanalysis ever had the inordinate success it enjoyed. Though Breger does say at various points that Freud's contributions opened up whole new vistas on human life, and he states that Freud had a compelling personality, that's about all he does--he just says it. Thus this book fails on a fundamental criterion of good writing: It says, but does not show.
   
   The book really isn't a biography, but an over-long monograph. That is, it aims to prove one point: That Freud, unable to deal with his own emotional life, concocted his major theories to protect himself, then created the psychoanalytic movement through harsh, often slanderous, authoritarian strategies, in service to his own emotional needs.
   
   If you buy the idea that early childhood determines adult character and behavior--a view not much in vogue these days--you'll probably judge that Breger makes his point well enough. Even so, he makes the point over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, and always basically the same way. It gets a bit tedious.
   
   If you don't buy the idea that early childhood determines adult behavior, there's no point in your reading this book at all. Without Breger's highly speculative account of the influence of Freud's childhood on his subsequent life, there's little of interest here. None of Freud's very real, often-disgusting sins discussed here are news.
   
   I have two major complaints, beside the tedium of repetition and the recherche modes of thought:
   
   First, even if Breger's point is accurate, the book offers no sense of the genuinely awe-inspiring intellect that radiates from the pages of most of Freud's work. Even if you find many of Freud's central doctrines utterly bizarre, as I do (and always have--which caused me no end of grief at my training institute), you can't read Freud (unless you come at the work with extreme prejudice) without a humbling sense of the presence of genius. The hundreds of millions of copies of Freud's works don't sell because of Freud's authoritarian control over the buyers!!!! Likewise, to read accounts by many estimable souls of their experience with Freud, you cannot but realize that, for all the deep character faults he suffered, he was a most remarkable, often-generous, human.
   
   Second, Breger decries the penchant of the psychoanalytic community for "debate through diagnosis." But I can't see how this book can escape the same charge. If the book were really a biography, Breger's thesis might be an interesting aspect of the story. But the book does not give a comprehensive or rich picture of Freud's life, history, or personality. This simply is not a biography--it's an argument.
   
   I'm reminded of a point Bertrand Russell made, that one's biography is better served by a brilliant enemy than a second-rate sympathizer. Yeah, Breger's sympathetic, in his own way, and probably a kind-hearted, honest man. But he gives no evidence of much brilliance of his own--and doesn't convey Freud's.



3. It is refreshing to come across a biography of Freud--and an analytical biography at that--without an obvious agenda or an ax to grind: in other words, without idealization (Jones, Gay) or retaliation (Crews at his most sarcastic).
   
   Professor Breger's fine book eschews the pleasure of peeling the narcissistic Freud like an onion and instead looks into his early woundings, repressed longings for love, and lifelong grandiosity and thirst for fame while never losing sight of Freud's accomplishments. I teach depth psychology to graduates and undergrads and have recommended this scholarly and lucid book to them as a means for understanding (as Jung put it) "a man in the grip of his daimon."



4. As one contemplates purchasing this biography, attention must be paid to the subtitle: "An Analytical Biography." This is not an all-encompensing portrait of Freud, in that it's not focussed on his many contributions. Rather, the biographer provides a rare glimpse into a man who's name has been omnipresent in all of psychology as well as the arts since his works first began to be published at the end of the 19th century.

   Frued's influence is undeniable and inescapable. Yet, there remain very few studies into the psychology of the man himself. What is found mostly are brief accounts of Freud's genius and heroism. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, what we have with this biography is a psychological profile of the man himself.

   In this biography, there is no "hero worship" to speak of. I would like to say that the biography is balanced, but it's not, and that is not even the point. I believe the reason to read this book is to gain account of historical facts that have been white-washed and profound insights that are missing in other Freud studies. We learn, for instance, of the dynamics between Freud and his mother, which (fascinatingly) were characterized by avoidance, fear, guilt, and denial. We also learn of Freud's far-reaching, heavy-handed influence in the early days of psychoanalysis, a level of control that managed to destroy careers, even lives.

   One could be left with a vision of Freud-as-tyrant. In this case, pick up another biography of Freud, and you will find some "lightness" to counter the darkness presented in this biography. This book is not, however, some sort of hatchet job. It is vital, important, clear-headed, insightful, and absolutely necessary to gain an understanding of Freud the man. He was no different than the rest of us. This biography helps to balance unreasonable "hero-worship" that, after all, isn't helpful or conducive to level-headed understanding human nature.




5. He was the founder and autocratic (some would even say dictatorial) leader of one the most controversial, yet profoundly influential, intellectual movements of 20th century. While his own thought sought to systematically dismantle the prevailing medical orthodoxy of his era, it simultaneously introduced a new and even more rigid orthodoxy. Though he was largely uninterested in politics, he proved himself to be the consummate politician, always carefully calculating the effects his actions would have on his movement, the psychoanalytic movement, as a whole. He zealously recruited the best and brightest minds of the time, only to shackle and ultimately squander much of their individual creativity through an endless series of loyalty tests in which the more sycophantic and unquestioning you were, the higher you rose within the inner-circle. His fateful obstinacy extended even to his own physical well-being, as he continued to smoke his trademark pipe even after much of his lower jaw had rotted off from the cancer that eventually killed him.

   Freud is a legend, no doubt. But, as this skillful biography of the man makes clear, his legendary status is marked as much by deep personal flaws as by personal greatness. This is only fitting for the man who invented psychoanalysis. We all have tendencies toward self-mythologization, towards the creation of a narrative which minimizes our weaknesses (either by ignoring them outright or blaming their causes on others) and maximizes our strengths. Indeed such narratives are but the linguistic manifestation of our unconscious defense mechanisms. And consequently much of analysis centers around penetrating the core of this chain of signifiers and discovering the breaks, infinite loops and ideological repetitions within. And while he is no Lacanian (the Frenchman is never even mentioned in this text), Breger's analysis is completely given over to this psycho-linguistic imperative, an imperative which is governed and ultimately enforced by the biographical narrative of Freud himself.

   This is because so much of what has been written about Freud's life has been directly influenced by Freud's pathological desire to craft a public persona that fits within his own neurotic view of himself as the great conqueror . And so Breger's destructuring of the typical Freudian biographical narrative is tantamount to a bloody confrontation with the man's well-fortified psycho-linguistic defense mechanisms (Freud himself always spoke of analysis in military terms). Whether we're talking about Freud's own autobiographical hero narratives ("On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement", "An Autobiographical Study"), Jones' dutiful doting, or even the more recent version of the same by Peter Gay, the man himself is almost always lost in the excremental haze of pre-digested meaning. Thus Freud's neuroses--his travel phobia, his dislike of music, his prudish attitudes towards sex, his desperate, inverted oedipal desire to slay his adopted male children (Jung, Adler, Rank, Ferenczi)--are rarely given the hermeneutical space necessary to stand in their proper relation to the events of his life. Breger's diegetic approach places the events of Freud's life in their proper socio-historical context, but without simply substituting history for personal responsibility, as is so often the case. Freud's cruelty (towards his fellow analysts, towards his patients) is shown to be a symptom of his neuroses, rather than mere juridical technique. (Freud constantly claimed that utter coldness and neutrality was required in the relationship between analyst and analysand, but he was most successful as a therapist when he befriended his patients and showed them warmth and sympathy.)

   As you may have guessed, Breger is a practicing analyst, which obviously brings certain prejudices to his account of Freud's life. But Breger shows a remarkable level of honesty by pointing out this fact himself in a section at the end the book. And though I may quibble with him over his emphasis on the primacy of personal trauma over the primacy of sexuality and the role of larger social institutions in the formation of the individual ego, I still think this is a superb example of that particularly personal form of insight which only the very best of psychoanalysts can achieve.

   A fine piece of work.

1 comments about No Time For Lunch: Memoirs Of An Inner City Psychologist.

1. Blumberg is a psychologist in the city of Baltimore, Maryland helping students and working in conjunction with teachers, social workers, and other school professionals. This book is her story- both inside school and in general. As the mother of an intellectually limited child herself, one of Blumberg's focuses is on increasing the interaction and understanding between health workers and the parents of the children she works with. Additionally, Blumberg is a staunch proponent of behavior management to help students, both inside and outside the classroom.
   
   Quote: "Prevalent here are the success stories of children whose lives I helped transform, and included to are the tales of the naysayers who said `It can't be done.'"
   
   I chose this book because I am about to begin teaching in a city school and am looking for tips and inspiration anywhere I can find them. Unfortunately, this book had very little of either. This book, short as it was, contained too much of Blumberg's life story outside of schools, and not enough just about working with the students. Ultimately, I'm sure she has helped many students during her career, it was just a bit too self-congratulatory a work for me.

No comments about Musically Speaking: A Life Through Song (Personal Takes).

5 comments about Freud: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions).

1. Freud is now somewhat unfashionable, and stands on the periphery of current psychological thought and practice. Yet the very people who denigrate his work do so using terms and concepts that owe a great deal to that work. To be a 'Freudian' today makes as much sense as being a 'Newtonian', but that should not blind us to the importance of his contribution. Storr adopts just the right approach -- he begins each topic with a summary of what Freud said, then offers criticisms of it. He talks more than once of the need to 'separate the wheat from the chaff'. Freud was once revered as a kind of Messiah. Now he is reviled. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between. Given the brevity of this book, it is remarkably comprehensive, and is an ideal introduction to the man and his work. I read Schopenhauer: A Very Short Introduction before reading this book and I would recommend doing that. There is an obvious indebtedness, although Freud specifically denied it.



2. We are all aware of many of Freud's ideas, even if we're not conscious aware of that derivation. The concept of the id, the ego, the super-ego, Oedipal complex, etc., are now so much a part of our everyday language that we could find it easy to forget that they have not always been so.
   
   This little book is truly a perfect introduction to Freud's life and work for those who'd never read any Freud and who want to get a good starting point. The writing is exceptionally clear and remarkably unbiased - readers will gain a good understanding of why Freud was so fêted and they will also have the information to make decisions on whether his theories are justified. To acknowledge that Freud was a highly intelligent man is not to admit that he understood human nature. In fact, in his case studies and his determined turning of every neurosis to a sexual starting point is the most exasperating element one encounters in reading Freud - that of Freud's certainty of his own right point of view, without the evidence to support that viewpoint.
   
   But certainly the reader will be able to follow up on the writing here. For those wishing to read Freud's own works, his books have been translated into English for those who are not able to read the original German. I have always found reading Freud to be a puzzling experience. On the one hand, the man had a very intelligent way of writing. On the other, he leapt to conclusions without bridging the gap with anything other than his own certainty. One can certainly "interpret" Freud in terms other than the organic or strictly literal, but any reading of his own writing will reveal to the reader that Freud didn't have a metaphorical interpretation in mind. But even if his ideas were often stubbornly wrong, Freud is well worth reading.
   
   As Anthony Storr says, perhaps the greatest gift Freud gave to the world is the understanding that it is important to listen. To simply listen.
   
   This is a highly recommended book for anyone not familiar with Freud's writings. Anthony Storr is well worth reading.



3. Yes, it's true that he pretty much reduced everything to sex in some way or other. But if you go beyond that little foible then you see that SF was one of the most brilliant people of the last century, without doubt. There's a section in here on his analysis of jokes and why we tell them that is priceless. And if you are honest with yourself then you will have to admit that he is exactly right on target. This book has definitely spurred my interest in the field and SF himself. I do think that the author glosses over SF's religious views and writings a little too glibly, as though he thinks that SF really didn't believe what he wrote. I actually think that these are some of the most profound of Freud's writings and some that I definitely intend to pursue further. All in all though, this is definitely worth your time and money.



4. I concur with the other reviews I have seen on this book. It is a clearly written , fine introduction to Freud's work. It does what it can in the space it has but cannot provide the interpretation of interpretations of the great over- interpreter of us all.
   Freud's genius was in making mankind see fundamental truths about its own nature it had conveniently ignored throughout its recorded history.His genius was also in understanding ways the mind works ( The defense mechanisms) which explain us to ourselves in a way we did not know how to before. His genius also consisted in a powerful capacity for interpreting and reinterpreting the realities before him, so that he gave us the sense that there is more in us than has been dreamnt in any of our philosophies.
   The master investigator of the human mind was an immense and complicated mind himself. Storr shows us how some of it worked and developed.



5. I studied philosphy as an undergrad, theology as a grad student, dropped out of a Ph.D. program in philosophy to write fiction, and as a result, grew more curious about human beings and why they act the way they do.
   
   So I took up the study of psychology. I'd heard a lot about Dr. Freud: about how great he was from some people and what a crackpot he was from others. Still, whatever view you have of him, you must admit (and I mean MUST admit) that the man was a genuis.
   
   Dr. Storr's book is a nice intro to Freud; all the bases are covered in this little book. It's written in a simple style and offers clear explanations of Dr. Freud's views of sexuality, dreams, religion, and more. There are plenty of quotes throughout the book and biographical tidbits. I checked this book out at the library but will probably buy it to have on my bookshelf. A very interesting read and a solid foundation for any future reading of Freud.
   
   Also recommended: The Gospel of Arnie

5 comments about My Father's Guru: A Journey Through Spirituality and Disillusion.

1. If you are interested in Jeffrey Masson, Paul Brunton or the process of disillusion in "spirituality", you may want to read this book.
   
   If you are interested in spiritual teachings by a Guru, don't waste your time with this. Go for something better like:
   
   Autobiography of a Yogi
   by Paramhansa Yogananda
   
   AWAKEN, CHILDREN! Dialogues
   by Mata Amritanandamayi
   
   Be as You Are: The Teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi
   by Sri Ramana Maharshi (Author), David Godman (Editor)



2. Brilliant autobiography and testimony of a person's freedom from the bondage of spiritual arrogance from his lifelong family guru. Not all gurus are the same. In fact, most mainstream religions have hierarchies to manage a cult of personality even though it can emerge in churches. The fact is ... this man got away from the seduction of false theology and other ramblings to see that critical thought did have a place in his life. While many Hindu teachings are valid and timeless wisdom ... in the hands of those who are seeking to be a sort of Jesus Christ superstar character complete with groupie devotees .... one must take a step back and go direct to source. Read this and challenge your own spiritual illusions before an independant investigation of truth is always in your best interests. Do not get taken by a wolf in sheep's clothing.
   
   On the flipside to modern day application of this one man's own journey into reason AND spirit: Do you due diiligence on the credentials, even at the Ph.D. level of other more woo-woo writers on this field of energy and intuitive healing .... before you listen to their counsel. Many of them have Ph.D.'s from unaccredited places ... which means they didn't go through the same kind of rigor. Many popular New Agey type writers such as Sonia Choquette, Doreen Virtue, Carolyn Myss, John Gray, Barbara De Angelis, Dr. Emoto of the Hidden Messages of Water etc .... who are examples of Ph.D.s whose source were unaccredited universities, some who have now been shut down by government authorities as degree mills. Please keep this in mind when venturing out to learn from an inuitive healer ...



3. The book is a long excuse for Masson's personal problems and is interesting only to readers very concerned with Paul Brunton. Masson looks for the worst he can remember about a person, he knew in his youth, and expands on every little word. If I was held accountable for every stupid word and phrase I have myself uttered (and the book is littered with that stuff) then my sisters could have me declared insane. Paul Brunton affected many people and engaged many readers, but to require him to be absolutely right all the time would be to ask for Buddha combined with Jesus. The book makes Masson sound childish and preoccupied with himself. The destroyed childhood, he describes, to me sounds like and extremely privileged situation where several adults deeply cared and paid attention to a pretty uninteresting kid. Get a grip Masson.



4. Jeffrey Masson recounts his experiences growing up with a family under the direction of self-appointed Guru and misdirected(-ing?) "Eastern Star" Paul Brunton. Masson makes no attempt to hide the illusions he and his parents and sister were held by, telling how "P.B." (Paul Brunton) was able to hold sway over his impressionable if well to do and world traveled, educated parents while himself undergoing no scrutiny. Indeed, I found this book to be a blueprint for many families that have chosen to drop everything, and seek "spiritual improvement" from an outside source. It seems so much easier sometimes to get all of the answers from the source, a teacher or minister, rather than be truely introspective and fix the very real personality problems and faults we all have.

   Masson unflinchingly includes excerpts from his younger years, when he was convinced he was on a higher spiritual plane than most of his fellow beings. The arrogance and naivete of his youth is humorous if somewhat worrisome, though we find that he is gifted with a humble introspection that allowed him to outgrow the worst of these. He also explains how over the years through his own education he came to find that most of Brunton's teachings were manufactured or misquoted, the man he'd once so admired didn't know the difference between Sanskrit and Hindi, and certainly was confused as to the texts he supposedly had mastered. Perhaps most interesting, Masson documents his years at Harvard when he has the opportunity to meet other "spiritual" minds in the orientalist religious movements, and discover that supposedly great spiritual men like Alan Watts and Edward Conze were hardly above treating their own families with disregard and cruelty (see page 160). Slowly Masson comes to take critical account of what the "spiritual masters" around him, including family guru Paul Brunton, lack--compassion and a base in reality is traded for the freedom of power over others. Paul Brunton is humiliatingly debunked by the newly savvy Masson upon his return from college--a lesson in developing critical thinking skills and overcoming pithy know-it-all canned "spiritualism" for all of us, written in a thoughtful and reflective manner. Why after all, do the "spiritually developed" so crave the "Maya" of worldly recognition and devotion? Masson is critical too of his old self, and closes on a gentle note.




5. I would give this book a zero if Amazon made such an option available. And I would have quit reading it after the first chapter had my book group not selected it for discussion. (What on earth possessed us to choose this book, I cannot say.)

   Unless one has a personal interest in Paul Brunton (the guru in question), as do some of the the other Amazon reviewers, the book is boring, superficial and pedestrian. To my mind, the interesting story here is how members of an intelligent, educated, Jewish family suspended their critical faculties and cultural assumptions to became followers of a man who claimed variously to come from another planet and a far off star. But Masson offers no insight - psychological, cultural, religious or other - into the motivations of his father, mother and uncle to reform their lives in supplication to a wacky charlatan. Instead he gives us an event-by-event account of the details of life with Brunton, told in the mind-dulling, repetitious prose of a what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation type of essay.

   Self-deluded gurus are a dime a dozen. Intelligent, intimate insight into what makes others follow them is not. This book does nothing to disturb that balance.

   The only insight you'll get from this book is that the author thinks quite highly of himself, with no demonstrable evidence to support the conclusion. I got my copy from the library, and though it was overpriced at that.