2 comments about Man's Search For Meaning.

1. It has been many years since my original read of this book, and I won't let it happen again. This thought provoking book is a must read for everyone interested in the study of human behavior. Exceptionaly insightful!



2. This is a must read for all those "woe is me" people always complaining about everything. Man's Search for Meaning will enlighten you to what "having a bad day" really means. I applaud Viktor Frankl for his inner strength to survive such an ordeal and come away with such dignity and inner peace.

5 comments about Secrets of the Talking Jaguar.

1. If you liked Don Jaun, this is for you. A total fabrication. Even the references to geographic locations are wrong. A literary mess on top of that. Enough New Age drivel to go around. It will appeal to the same touristas that crowd Solala. No resposible anthropologist would touch this.



2. Martin Prechtel paints a magic world that we all at some points of the book wish we could live in. But I feel that the book is far from in the truth as any sci-fi book I have read in the past. The book outlays personal Spirits and ways in which we can find our indigenous soul. I worry that in Martin Prechtels search he lost sight of what he was looking for.
   If you are looking for a book that will through you into a vivid world of imagination and full of exciting metaphors and mental illustrations this is the book for you.
   However if the book details the beliefs of the Tzutujil people correctly I seriously doubt the fact of him publicizing about them. I find the book is in the wrong genre and if you want to know about the Tzutujil/Mayan people then read something else.



3. Martin is a great storyteller and transmitter of wisdom. I could not put this book down.



4. This book is such a pleasure to read and reread.... lots of food for thought about modern culture and alternative ways of living, about aging, about wisdom, about Mayan culture, and about seeing the challenges of life in humorous ways!



5. I give this book as a gift to everyone I know who has read Marlo Morgan's appalling book of lies about the Australian aborigines. Here is a story that actually HAPPENED, has none of the racial arrogance of many "new age" books where some rich whitey goes off and lives "with" the natives and grants them recognition. (Morgan's 'Mutant Message Downunder" has made +100 million, even though the woman made the whole thing up, stole a whole lot of religious symbols out of some anthropology journal that shouldn't have published them in the first place, stole the end sequence from a film called "Quigley Downunder", wrote absolutely absurd and stupid things about the Australian landscape and when the real aborigines demanded that she stop spreading lies and saying they want to die out and are no longer real aborigines, and to stop pretending she is the true guardian of their culture, she admitted the fraud, but her publishers sheltered her and told her to keep going.)
   
   Prechtel's mother was a native american, and he suffered being brought up on a reservation. This book is a solid dose of reality, not sugarcoated with esoteric fantasy, but full of reality. Grief and beauty are in western culture (he says) seen as a side show attraction, but actually they are the right and left hand of the goddess of life.
   
   It is really one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

5 comments about Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain.

1. ...I must report with envy that I had to keep inturrupting the story to comment on how very much I was enjoying the writing. I rank this craftsman on a level with Charlie Pellegrino and David Guterson. I also publish and edit and I'm a wrtiting coach so I don't have a lot of read time these days, but this is one writer I brake for. The odd characters pop right off the page and run around the room and get you to thinking, "but don't I know this guy?"...and make you realize that they are living people just like Uncle Jake and grandad, and perhaps in some of the same ways, and this is what a really good wrtiter does-- make you see your own life with clarity. You drive this book like the author drove the car with the tupperware treasure (?) in the trunk, and the country materializes outside the windshield and in the diverse living-rooms where they sat and shared meals with typical Americans... all different, all slightly dysfunctional or dissatisfied or disturbing, again, like life... and the various aspects of living and questioning and trying and losing take form, with this journey as the alarm-clock, the wake-up call. Read it and don't be in so much of a hurry.



2. I first picked up this book about three years ago, but with so little time to read, it just sat on my overcrowded bookshelf. I always joke to friends that I am a Book Buyer, not a Book Reader, and as a result my shelves are full of interesting tales just waiting for my life to slow down a bit so I can enjoy them.
   
   I regret that I let this one sit idle for so long!
   
   As a writer myself, I always appreciate a fresh story, and it has been a long time since I read a book that was this original. What began as an article in Harper's Weekly has been magnificently transformed into a real page-turner.
   
   Author Michael Paterniti became interested in a story, an urban legend actually, about a pathologist named Dr. Thomas Harvey who was charged with performing Albert Einstein's autopsy and subsequently absconded with the genius's brain in 1955. For over 40 years, he has been preparing a study on his specimen, causing controversy at every turn. At best, some believe he is unqualified for such an important scientific task. At worst, he is accused of stealing something that did not rightfully belong to him.
   
   Eventually Michael tracks him down, they become friends, of sorts, and ultimately embark on a road trip from New Jersey to California to meet with Einstein's granddaughter Evelyn.
   
   The unlikely pair begin the cross-country journey of a lifetime, visiting museums and friends along the way, taking in the scenery, and trying to figure each other out. Michael is at a crossroads in his relationship with girlfriend Sara, and he uses the time to think about what she means to him, what their future might hold, and what he really wants out of life.
   
   They stop at a strange cement sculpture museum called the Garden of Eden, created by "American maverick" Samuel Perry Dinsmoor. The museum's deceased founder's body is the grand finale of their tour, as they are led into a dark mausoleum with a coffin specially designed by Dinsmoor himself.
   
   Michael and Dr. Harvey also stop at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library & Museum, and a small place called the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, site of the infamous Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb.
   
   I was struck by Michael's observation that "The museum...is most glaringly defined by what its curators seem to have forgotten about the bomb." He goes on to describe how the exhibits never mention the Enola Gay, the horrific aftermath of the explosions, or the scores of Japanese civilian casualties. It made me think about how powerful we curators are as the "editors" of history, how what we choose to leave out is sometimes as important as what we choose to include.
   
   At times, the book is a bit repetitive, especially when the duo repeatedly orders their food in some slice of Americana diner, or when Dr. Harvey yet again dismisses Michael's request to see the brain for himself. But such episodes are not common in the pages of this book. (At times, the scientific explanations were a bit over this historian's head, but that is to be expected from someone who never set foot in a physics class - not even in high school!)
   
   Seamlessly woven into the story, the author shares biographical snapshots of Einstein's life, insights from people who knew Dr. Harvey, and all kinds of tidbits to delight the trivia aficionado.
   
   Michael's sense of humor really resonates. His writing style is readable, yet full of depth. His similes are original and his words are fresh. I wholeheartedly agree with the Boston Globe, who wrote, "In a world in which it seems that all the good ideas have been taken, it is singular."
   
   I couldn't put it down. I'm only sorry I didn't pick it up sooner!



3. In Walter Isaacson's new biography, Einstein: His Life and Universe, he recommends Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti. This book is filled with interesting facts, great observations, but above all, it's a fun read. Driving Mr. Albert reminds me of the oddball travelogues I've come to enjoy written by Tony Horwitz (Confederates in the Attic, Blue Latitudes, etc.).
   
   When Einstein died in Princeton Hospital in 1955, the pathologist who performed the autopsy, Dr. Thomas Harvey, took the brain for himself. He did it without the permission of the family, but when it was discovered, the family allowed him to keep the brain provided that any results were to be published in scientific journals. Harvey rationalized his actions by saying that he wanted to research the brain to discover the key to Einstein's brilliance. Unfortunately, Harvey was not a neurologist and didn't really have the knowledge to perform a proper study of any brain, let alone Einstein's. He gave out parcels of the brain to various scientists, but until many decades after Einstein's death, nothing definitive was able to be determined. In the meantime, Harvey switched jobs, moved around the country, and all the while, he kept Einstein's brain with him.
   
   A young writer, Michael Paterniti, became fascinated by the story of the brain and befriended Thomas Harvey when the doctor was 85 years old. Harvey mentioned that he'd like to travel to California to meet Evelyn Einstein, Einstein's step-granddaughter. So Paterniti volunteered to be his chauffeur, and they set out from New Jersey with pieces of Einstein's brain in tow. The main story is not the destination but the things that happen along the way. Some of the stops (like Los Alamos) have ties to Einstein, while others (Las Vegas) do not. Throughout the journey, Dr. Harvey remains almost as much of a mystery as the brain. Not only does he not reveal any secrets, but he is also reluctant to show the brain to Paterniti. Paterniti hopes for a glimpse of the brain--perhaps when Harvey falls asleep. He writes "I want to touch the brain. Yes, I've admitted it. I want to hold it, coddle it, measure its weight in my palm...Does it feel like tofu, sea urchin, bologna? What exactly? And what does that desire make me? One of the legion of relic freaks?"
   
   Driving Mr. Albert is a great compliment to Isaacson's more serious and in-depth biography. Paterniti writes that "having Einstein's brain in the trunk rearranges the way you see everything." Reading Mr. Paterniti will rearrange the way you perceive Albert Einstein.



4. As Paterniti remarks in the prologue to the book, "Desire is a tricky thing." It can make even the most mundane activity the first step in a journey of unimaginable unraveling discovery, or it can just simply prolong the mundane. When a stalled career and a dissolving romantic situation left the author in a state of malaise and boredom, he was willing to try anything just to break the stagnation. What better cure, when the opportunity bizarrely presented itslef, than to take a cross country drive with the doctor who had performed the autopsy on Albert Einstein and who had absconded with the great scientist's brain; that the brain was still in the possession of this doctor and would make the same road trip, only made the desire more pronounced.
   
   Thus was the unlikely partnership of Michael Paterniti, Dr. Thomas Harvey and Albert Einstein's pickled brain formed. Ostensibly, the purpose of this trip was so that Dr. Harvey could present what was left of Einstein's brain (there had been numerous pieces and bits sent out to brain experts over the years) to the scientist's granddaughter who was living at the time in Berkeley; and in performing this hadj, perhaps, absolve himself from all the criticism and guilt that Harvey had been living with ever since the autopsy. In spite of some very interesting characters encountered along the road (William Burroughs, literally on his last legs, makes a cameo appearance) the trip never lived up to a life transforming event for the three pilgrims, and slowly dwindled into the realm of the mundane: motels, greasy meals, and endless stretches of road, the by-products of any cross country drive.
   
   Because even the most bizarre situation (like driving across America with Einstein's brain sloshing around in a Tupperware container) is only a temporary reprieve from the mundane, any book describing such freakish events shares the same danger. The book reads something like a Seinfeld episode, where nothing really happens but is so well presented that the audience is enthralled nevertheless. Paterniti has a nice style and in some descriptions even reaches the poetic, and throughout the book manages to keep the reader's interest. I don't, however, share some of the reviewers positive opinions of the author as a "travel writer." Paterniti makes too many mistakes. For example, he describes approaching Santa Fe, NM as zagging "through saguaro and scrub, in the shadow of the Jemez Mountains." Apparently the author and his editors need to do some research. There is not a saguaro anywhere (except maybe in a desert museum) on I-40, and the Jemez Mountains form the western backdrop for Santa Fe, not the eastern. Then again, this book deals quite a bit with relativity and just perhaps ....



5. This book is first of all a research project of Albert Einstein and second a biography of Mr Harvey who saved Albert's brain for over 40 years. Then it's a memoir and philosophical rant of the author's feelings toward his girfriend Sara. The travel came in fourth as a backdrop to all of the above. Still, it's a very good read with a unique angle.
   
   The book is well-written and well researched but at times during the read the author jumps from present to future or even the past and throws the reader off course. He'll write about a conversation with Harvey in the car and then jump with something like "after this trip I did some research on what Harvey said and discovered that..." which was unnecessary for the reader. It kept me from truly experiencing the STORY of the trip with Einstein's brain. He should have kept those comments for the end of the story.
   
   I learned a lot about Einstein from reading this book, though. I learned that Einstein had little respect for women and had therefore trouble keeping a relationship. He had an illigitimate child. He seemed self-absorbed. And what truly fascinated me was how much Einstein was hounded by the FBI, both while alive and also post mortem. But how could a man with some proclaimed genius be so scatter-brained? He died at the age of 76 with signs of dymensia. His brain only weighed 2.7 pounds, which is no means a record.
   
   I was hoping this book would be more of a travelogue, obviously, because I love traveling, both vicariously and in reality. On the first day together on the road with Mr Harvey, there is very little description of the landscape passing the passengers by. The New Jersey Turnpike gets mentioned on page 32, Philadelphia on page 39, The Susquehanna River on page 40, Columbus, OH on page 44, and the Indiana-Illinois border on page 59 as "two states conjoined like Siamese twins." If you haven't traveled I-70 as often as I have, then all this means nothing to you because nothing more gets mentioned of the surroundings during the trip. Those places are merely mentioned to pinpoint the reader on a map.
   
   Things do wrap up better once the two reach Kansas and the trip really begins from there to California.

5 comments about LSD: My Problem Child.

1. While this book does share some of the background on the development of LSD and investigations into other natural physchedelics by Hofmann et.al., the book is as eloquent as you would expect a translated book originally written by a German chemist. Hofmann also shares his and many other peoples' personal trials with LSD, and delves into the spiritual mysticism of the drug. I would recommend it for the more science-minded individuals.



2. Clears up a lot of the misconceptions. Got book through drug legalization lobby I give money to. What a Brilliant guy!!



3. There are a few books in the world that are touchstones for our psyches. This is one of them. It should be read by all young people coming of age, regardless of their position on the use of mind altering substances. It should be re-read every 10 years or so as they mature and their world view evolves. For those experienced with exploring internal frontiers it should be checked in with every 10 years or so as well. In just 209 pages of straight forward text some of the fundamental first principles of reality, and our relationship to it, are spilled out onto us without the need for preaching, screeching, moralizing, or deciphering obscure philosophical and scientific texts.
   
   It should be read by every political leader in the world, and you won't find too many people who'd disagree with that!



4. I first read this book when it was first published, maybe 25 years ago. The book still holds up well all these years later, as it is a calm, rational history from the Center of the Cyclone (if I might borrow the title from Dr. John Lilly). Clearly, Dr. Hoffman was no stranger to realms of what many these days call entheogens, often experimenting himself with other "new" substances he discovered in other organic plants that found their way to him as a result of his monumental inadvertant destiny in "discovering" LSD. While some of the other substances he writes on were very new at the time, and therefore might read a little dated, on the whole, there is no one better qualified or in a better position to tackle such a significant topic.



5. an elegant and substantive discourse on the curious ways in which science has coalesced with spirituality through the last several decades. This man's mind is truly unique and his monumental discoveries, combined with his spectacular longevity and health, command respect.
   
   Publish a great book and give all the proceeds to a worthwhile cause: you cannot go wrong here.

5 comments about The Wheel of Life: A Memoir of Living and Dying.

1. Kubler-Ross had a massive impact on our society and the way we approach death. Her collection of 20,000 interviews with people who died and came back to life showed common threads in almost every way, a spiritual goldmine of positive and loving experiences. This autobiography details how she came to be the person who let us know for sure that death isn't some hokey religious shell-game available only to those who tithe but rather a guaranteed return for all of us to a more loving place.
   The first half of this book is tear-inducingly sad and beautiful, and it's hard not love the young Kubler-Ross as she lets her heart lead her through very tough times. There are some exceptionally moving passages that make this book a real must for those who want to feel better about letting go of life and living it more fully here and now.
   Unfortunately, the latter part of this book and her life found her enamored of charlatans and spiritual quackery, but in no way does that lessen her accomplishments. Not a one of us is perfect, and very few of us change the way the world sees life. Elizabeth was one such soul, so it's easy to accept her foibles.
   I read this book while preparing for an interview with Kubler-Ross, which sadly turned out to be the last she gave before her passing. She was as gracious and wise and funny as this book indicates, and was very much ready to die. She spoke lovingly of her life and happily of letting it go to move on homeward, and she clearly embodied the many positive attributes of this truly moving autobiography.
   Highly recommended for those who like to both feel and think.
   Knowing that death will be joyous sure takes the load off.



2. Heard THE WHEEL OF LIFE by Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the author
   of the classic ON DEATH AND DYING . . . here, facing her own death
   at age 71, she tells the moving story of her life and what makes life so
   worthwhile.
   
   It is love!
   
   As she notes, "I have never met a person whose greatest need was
   not love."
   
   She then concludes with a powerful final statement, saying, "It is very
   important that you do only what you what you love to do. You may be
   poor, you may go hungry, you may live in a shabby place, but you will
   totally live. And at the end of your shabby days, you will bless your life
   because you have done what you came here to do."
   
   It seems that doing so will make dying easier. Or so it can be
   hoped!
   
   Ellen Burstyn's narration added to my enjoyment of the book . . . in
   addition, I liked that there was an introduction by the author.



3. I never received my product. I only purchased this product as it was of very sentimental value to my mother, however I was bitterly dissapointed to find the product was lost in transit. I would love to say amazon made every effort to find my product, I personally could not believe this to be true. I do appreciate the jesture of a full refund, but I can honestly say I feel totally dishartened by the whole ordeal. I only purchased from amazon as I knew the item was difficult to locate but to pay almost 13 dollars for it to be lost is in my opinion both unacceptable and extremly unsatisfactory. I shall not purchase from amazonm in the future.



4. Those who grouse & are dismayed at the second half of the book perhaps have not traveled far enough on their own spiritual journeys yet to understand. I found the book, like all her works, thoughtful, insightful & honest. Having worked in hospice nearly 30 yrs, in part due to Dr. Kubler-Ross, I can honestly say that in hospice you see many things that are beyond the scope of everyday life. The more I see of human Spirituality in hospice paitents & their families the less judgmental I tend to be.



5. It is definitely a book worth reading. For a week or so, it actually inspired me to go to med school. (I quickly gave it up when I picked up Sam Walton's Made in America, and applied to business school) The author has a very interesting view of death, which is in my opinion, why people think the second half of the book is a little wacky. You don't have to agree with her, nor believe in everything she says. Despite all the wackiness, it's still a good book.

5 comments about Out of Place: A Memoir.

1. As an Arab living in the West, reading through this book was like a practical guide to de-construct and attempt to reconcile the many conflicting elements of my identity.



2. It's one thing to write a warts-and-all memoir, but this one seems at times to be all warts - at least as far as it goes, to Said's early years as a young man, when he was still a graduate student at Harvard. During those 25 or so years, Said represents himself as being a mostly hapless loner, with a record of troublemaking and lack of self-discipline, compounded by a confused identity as a Christian Palestinian growing up in Cairo and spending long summers with his family in Lebanon. For readers looking for the origins of the man who became known as an exponent of Orientalism, he's here, but they certainly have to connect all the dots for themselves. There are only hints of the scholar and critic Said would become.
   
   Heavily under the influence of his parents during all these years, Said devotes considerable time to a portrayal of both of them, his father a successful, demanding, and emotionally remote businessman, his mother a constant solace to him but almost willfully manipulative. Their worried and oppressive presence continually erodes his confidence in his abilities, while making him even more deeply dependent on them. Sent to America for his education at the age of 15, his isolation is intensified and his "otherness" keeps him at a distance from peers who might have provided companionship and support. Meanwhile, the protected world he has known gradually disappears as political realities (the establishment of Israel, the rise of Nasser, the 1967 war, the civil war in Lebanon) make of him finally a man without a homeland.
   
   Focusing as it does on the years of his youth and young manhood, the story makes an interesting contrast with Israeli writer Amos Oz's memoir, "A Tale of Love and Darkness." Each is a very personal, self-critical story written late in life (Said was dying of cancer) retrieving an inchoate self from the past and reconstructing the origins from which both men emerged in later life to pursue an almost unpredictable career.



3. Not only this Edward Said autobiography is breath-taking in its style, it narrates the story of every Palestinian who displaced after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
   Unlike the other Said works, this one is personal in which Said recounts his memories since childhood: His early days as a boy in Jerusalem, his school in Egypt, his college and adult life in the US and his family gatherings since he was a little kid.
   Said's wit imposes itself as he discovers the origins of his name, how his grandmother used to call him Edwad (without the R) and how his father used to shop everyday at the nearby grocer during their summer stay in the village of Dhour Shweir in Lebanon even when the Said house did not need any missing items.
   This book can be easily mistaken for a novel but Said makes sure to capture his disorientation, after he and his family loose the sense of home, and puts it in context.
   The bottom line message of Said, after his long stay away from his Palestinian homeland and in the US, was that he couldn't find his identity their after. With Arabs, he felt American while among Americans he felt Arab. After his death, Said - a Palestinian-American feeling always out of place - had willed that he be buried in Dhour Shweir in Lebanon, perhaps to illustrate how Palestinians, whether alive or dead, will always be displaced.



4. Edward Said is famous for being a Palestinian and being a leading polemist on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Visciously anti-Israel he has caused many scnadals and was a renowned thinker. His memoir, written when he was sick, is insightful a true tale of what the Palestinian Arab elite looked like on the eve of the 1948 war. Said was born in Jerusalem, according to him, and was raised in Egypt, with a nanny and drivers, his father was American and had served in WWI, both his families came from Baptist protestant and Anglican backgrounds. His father made good money in Egypt in a stationary business, employing many of the diverse people that lived there then, including Armenians, Greeks, Copts and Jews. Today that community isd gone, as is the elite neigborhood where Said grew up and the private schools he attended. Said was in Jerusalem in Talbieh during 1948. He recalls the war and its aftermath. He also writes about Lebanon, about the village where he stayed there and travelling in the Middle East as a young boy. His was a life of luxury, a life that was 'destroyed' by 1948. His uncle was murdered by the Egyptian police for being a communist. His parents didnt talk politics, he makes up for that.
   
   An interesting work, helpful for anyone interested in what the Palestinian Arab elite looked like in the 1930s.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



5. "With so many dissonances in my life I have learned actually to prefer being not quite right and out of place." This last line in Edward W. Said's memoir Out of Place is a fitting end to book that takes the reader on a journey from his childhood full of uncertainties and anxieties about being different, to embracing individualism at the end of Said's painful, yet privileged life. Said's memoir is chronologically dated from his childhood to the present, but interwoven amongst his life are stories about his family, colleagues, friends, and even himself that juxtaposition him in such a way that sometimes it is hard to follow how old or where Said is. Central to his memoir are Said's parents: His mother who demands his unconditional love, while often cruelly pointing out his faults and throwing wrenches into his relationships with his four sisters and girlfriends. His father starts out as a shadowy and silent, yet dominant presence in his youth. As Said grows though, their relationship becomes more interactive. This paradoxal relationship is demonstrated through his father's actions: paying for his son's elaborate trips to Europe, prep schools in Cairo, Beirut, Princeton, and Harvard, but chastising him for spending sixpence on a program to a play they once attended. Said's memory for his youth is astounding, remembering details of his schools, people he encountered, and descriptions of places he visited as if he wrote them down in stored away journals (he does not mention that he kept any journals), While Said is part Palestinian and grew up pre and post Israel, he often comments on the subject very fleetingly, or at least he seems not to want to go into the subject, suggesting only slightly of him being disgruntled with the situation. Said grew up in Cairo during the pre-WWII period, a time in Cairo he successfully describes as a romantic place for foreigners and is ruled under British sovereignty. In comparison to Tobias Wolfe's This Boy's Life, Out of Place depicts a Christian, part Palestinian, part Syrian male growing up in Cairo Egypt and vacationing around the Mediterranean and the Middle east while enjoying a privileged life of schooling and living Initially Said depicted himself as a misfit, but eventually growing into a strong intellectual who observed the great changes of Islamic culture during the 20th century.

5 comments about The Man Who Shocked The World: The Life And Legacy Of Stanley Milgram.

1. In July of 1961, just three months after the beginning of the trial of Adolph Eichmann, Yale Psychologist Stanley Milgram began a series of experiments destined to change the world's view of human behavior. The essential elements included a `teacher' and a `learner'. In reality only the `teacher' was part of the experiment. His job or rather his orders were to test the `learner' and for each question the learner answered incorrectly he would receive an electric shock up to the point at which he might die from it. Milgram showed that many of the randomly selected `teachers' would inflict the maximum punishment without disobeying their `orders'.
   
   This brilliant book tells the story of the man behind the experiment and the legacy at has left in the world today. A brilliantly written, well constructed, fast flowing narratives takes the reader from Milgram's early days through his family and professional life and discusses the legacy of this amazing experiment.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman



2. I admire those who ask the hard questions. I admire those who don't fall into line with easy answers. I'm glad Stanley Milgram existed and did his groundbreaking work. I'm sorry he's not still alive to be doing more of it. I'd love to see his take on the current state of affairs in our country. I first learned of Milgram as a college student who was one of a group duplicating his experiment. I didn't shock anybody and argued with the "experimenter" as the task was being explained to me. And having read this book I still proudly wear my "Question Authority" button in honor of Milgram. The Blass book is an excellent read if you're willing to entertain some uncomfortable thoughts.



3. Great book, couldn't put it down. It is an excellent book to get the whole story about Milgram and his famous experiment. What great insight Milgram found out about man, but was man ready to look in the mirror? If you teach psychology, or you are just interested in psychology, and want a more in depth look at Milgram, you won't go wrong with this one. My students are enjoying this as well.



4. Milgram seemed to share the showmanship of P.T. Barnum and ingenuity of reality show creator Mark Burnett. If Milgram were alive, he might have been a top reality show creator.
   
   Milgram seems most notable not for the results of his experiments but for their conception and content. He hardly modified the approach used by Asch in his conformity experiments, which relied on deception, but he changed the subject to something considerably more striking. The result may have been significant, but think about it: any result would have attracted attention. Comparing the experimental situation with concentration camp situation is what first made the experiment newsworthy. If the result had been that no one or very few shocked, then news could have been generated of how much better behaved Americans are. Or if Germans also didn't shock much, it could have been claimed people nowadays are much better behaved than folks back in World War II. Given the catchy experiment, the results hardly mattered in the sense that the very description of what the experiment was doing would catch people's attention.
   
   Which isn't necessarily bad. Milgram brought social psychology out of relative obscurity. To a good extent, he bailed out psychology in general, whose reputation had been damaged by decades of speculations without much support.
   
   As a situationist, Milgram recognized that our social lives are quite complex. Rather than spend much time theorizing, he experimented. Don't know? Don't invent a reason, go gather facts. It's a measure of just how complex we are socially that even having gathered results, as with the "obedience" experiments, Milgram seemed at a lost to explain what was happening. Blass notes about Milgram's "Obedience to Authority book" that "Milgram's theorizing is the weakest part of the book". Milgram's feeble appeal to cybernetics contrasts sharply with his description of the experiment. Blass also notes that the kind of "obedience" Milgram studied doesn't seem at all sufficient to explain what happened during the Holocaust.
   
   Milgram shouldn't be faulted for the problems with his theorizing. How many psychologists can theorize well? There's still an enormous amount we don't know about ourselves and the way we interact. Milgram's gift seems to have been sensing that and instead finding novel ways to help us to learn about ourselves. Even if the content and results of his experiments are someday forgotten, the spirit of bold experimentation that Milgram brought to social psychology will be of great value. Blass communicates that. So I don't know if Blass is the "undisputed expert" but the book seems well-researched and quite readable.



5. Stanley Milgram is one of the most influential social psychologists of our time, who through his obedience studies, made some of the greatest and most enduring contributions to psychology. Through his controversial experiments, that "shocked the world" he enabled us to make some sense of the atrocities that occurred during the Holocaust. He made us look at our dark side, and began a world-discourse about why we blindly obey authority. That discourse continues today and can be found everywhere and in everything from academic journals to films, books, music, and even dog-training manuals. Not only is Milgram's work fascinating but the man himself was just as captivating.
   
   In this superbly written biography of Milgram, Thomas Blass gives us an intimate look at the man behind the brilliance. Blass has meticulously researched Milgram's life and presented the reader with an honest, and not always complimentary, view of Stanley Milgram. I applaud Blass for his candid approach, and his balanced view of an extraordinary man. By revealing Milgram's darker side, Blass has cleverly demonstrated that we all share the same human foibles and weaknesses, and that ultimately the experimenter is no better and no worse than the subjects he uses in his experiments. We are all just humans.
   
   With the current state of our world, I believe renewed discourse on the subject of blind obedience could not have come at a better time. Milgram's work is relevant to just about every aspect of our lives from workplace social dynamics to terrorism. Because of that, I recommend this book to everyone who shares a background in psychology and most certainly for those who do not. Blass's book is a marvelous introduction to Milgram's work and to the fascinating man himself.

5 comments about The Death of Sigmund Freud: The Legacy of His Last Days.

1. "The Death of Sigmund Freud" is a timely look at the last days of Freud since he was facing the march of Nazism, and since after 9-11, the US has tilted quite a bit to the Right, and it is wise to weigh into possible reasons to be concerned about tilting further, and a look from Freud's perspective is certainly interesting.
   
   Since anti-Semitism was rampant at the time, from the book, critics did say that psychoanalysis was right, just that it was a 'Jewish Science' only applying to Jews, an attempt to discredit it. Some of Freud's thoughts on the matter were:
   
   1. Freud called the relationship crowds form with an absolute leader, erotic. Hitler, himself, in his speeches said that he made love to the German masses. Essentially, the crowds become hypnotized. Not that we are anywhere near such a situation, but one surely can notice a more 'patriotic' tone to many of the current presidential supporters and calling dissenters un-patriotic.
   
   2. Inner conflict, between one's ego, id, and superego, is not only inevitable, but desirable to better modify behavior. Seeking some perpetual, peaceful state is dangerous because it is more likely to erupt into really bad behavior. So, public dissent is healthy and should be encouraged.
   
   3. Freud, a Jew, recognized in monotheism, that the ability to internalize an invisible god prepares a person to think more abstractly. He saw Jews' long history with that as allowing Jews to distinguish themselves in math, sciences, law and literary arts, ways which effect some control over nature. Better to have some invisible god, than some human authoritarian one, be it political or some religious one who tries to have crowds focus on him or her. Freud felt that such thinking made Jews more likely to reject pageantry and less susceptible to elevating humans to god-like status, one reason for anti-Semitism to run rampant as Nazis knew they would meet resistance from Jews. Not that one should conclude that Judaism is superior, just that the internalizing of an invisible god is the important part of monotheism.
   
   4. Rather than blame something about Germany, Japan or Italy for the rise of 20th century fascism, Freud felt that internally we are all fascists/fundamentalists, at least potentially. So, it is the inner conflict we need to use to overcome it. Once again, dissent is healthy.
   
   A very interesting book!



2. This is not intended as a complete review, as I have nothing to add to the other reviews which appear in this space. However, in what is otherwise a thought-provoking and inspiring book, there are some lapses in German usage which are a little disconcerting. Nouns in German always capitalize the first letter, so it is a bit wierd to see Hitler referred to as "the fuhrer" rather than "the Fuhrer". (And the capitalization would give a better sense of his own self-importance.) Also, in spite of the fact that recent spelling modifications now render the combination "oe" as a single "o" with an umlaut, this does not usually apply to dead historical personages such as Goering or Goethe.



3. OK, who were the most influential people of the 20th century? Einstein, Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Freud. You can jockey the order, probably add Hitler depending on your definition of "influential", but that's the short list.
   
   Freud's life as a writer/thinker, like Churchill's and Einstein's, was very long. If you want to learn something about this giant, you definitely want to start slowly. THE DEATH OF SIGMUND FREUD is a great way to get a feel for both the man and what he stood for. Mark Edmundson picks up Freud, after a brief introduction about Vienna in 1909, in 1938. Freud is 81, in poor health, and about to come under Adolf Hitler's Anchluss.
   
   Edmundson, in this short volume, gives you a great feel for how Sigmund Freud lived: how his study looked, his industriousness, his love of dogs, his relationship with his daughter Anna, his relationships with his disciples, what Freud's Vienna was like, what he collected, his (ultimately dangerous) love of cigars, etc. Even if the book did nothing more than accumulate these bits of Freud's life in 1938 and 1939, it would be wonderful, because what can an author do beyond transporting the reader to a place and time? And what a place and time! Freud, Hitler, Vienna, Anchluss.
   
   The author also gives readers a great short course on some of Sigmund Freud's work. As certain subjects dominate the last year of Freud's life - the rise of Nazism, his relationship with his daughter, the need for conflict in his life to create brilliant work, his enjoyment and suspicion of fame, his need to shock and create controversy (to name a few) - Edmundson describes how Freud wrote about those matters, quoting from and summarizing Sigmund's most famous theories and ideas, usually from works created decades before.
   
   Even as an introduction to Sigmund Freud, this book is incomplete (though by design). But it gives you a taste as well as a feeling you're following Freud at the end of his life, trying to make sense of it all. You may find yourself, like me, back on Amazon.com looking for a comprehensive biography of Freud and ordering translations of some of his classic works. I'd say that's a pretty high compliment for the book and author.



4. Outstanding book....couldn't put it down. As a psychology teacher this book really put into perspective Freud and his relationship to Hitler and many other prominent leaders of the time. Historically, it brought together so many of the major movers and shakers of Hitler's quest for power. Highly recommend for those interested in Freud or Hitler.



5. The Death of Sigmund Freud is a perfect companion book to the bigger Freud biographies ... a critical addition to the Freud section of your personal library on this fascinating man, doctor, thinker. The author begins the narrative just before Freud fled Vienna for England ... and it ends with Freud's pitiful death.
   
   The comparative exploration of the life of Hitler and Freud as Europe began to change is interesting and well constructed, but the real fascination is found in the details of Freud's working and personal life. I think the real punch in a biography is felt at the point in the book where you feel the subject's been fleshed out ... really captured by the author ... and Freud is now more real and understood in my mind than ever before. He's a mythic personality now. He was back in his day. Edmundson has rendered Freud's human, day-to-day life beautifully ... and what Freud professionally and personally believed, whether it's believable to us or not.
   
   Reviewer Todd Sentell, a Psychology major who graduated "Oh Lordy," is also the author of the hilarious social satire, TOONAMINT OF CHAMPIONS

1 comments about Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions: A Project of Division 15 (educational Psychology) of the American Psychological Society.

1. I found this book a good starting point in graduate level courses that I teach because it provides a historical framework for discussing issues of importance to teachers using seminal work in the field. The authors have a great track record and are prolific in the Ed Psych. I wanted this text because of its purpose and content.

5 comments about Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt.

1. Ms. Burleigh's Mirage is an excellent account of the invasion of Egypt by Napoleon's army, and the French intellectual Savants that accompanied the military on this ill-conceived and failed military expedition. The accounts of the physical trials, successes, and failures of the Savants is profoundly interesting.
   
   Ms. Burleigh's depth of research on the subject was very good. She provides many detailed accounts and examples, taken from first hand journals, that provide the reader with first-hand accounts of a very trying period in French and Egyptian history.
   
   For those interested in this period of colonial French history; interested in the Egyptian art, architecture and culture; and the practical application of 18th century science to the infancy of archaeology, this is a must read for you.



2. This is a terrific book. I highly recommend it to almost anyone. All you need is an interest in history or science or adventure or foreign affairs or botany or ancient Egypt. On many levels, this book is fun and informative. And it's all true. For flavor, it's like Indiana Jones meets Albert Einstein meets James Audubon. It's hard to put down.
   
   The story concerns Napoleon's foray into Egypt in 1799. Ostensibly it was to expand scientific knowledge of this ancient and mysterious land. In reality, it was the start of the anticipated conquest and annexation of Egypt. As the British did with India (i.e., creating a far-east outpost), the French were hoping to do with Egypt. But things did not go exactly as planned.
   
   In other books on the subject, the focus is on the military aspect of the expedition. About 50,000 soldiers and sailors accompanied Napoleon. In Mirage, the author (Nina Burleigh) focuses on the 151 scientists (or savants) who also accompanied him. Here, the savants are the "heroes." We learn of their trials, tribulations, and successes.
   
   Each chapter concerns a different savant and their respective expertise: botany, math, medicine, engineering, art, etc. Through the eyes of learned gents, we learn about Egypt, the parochial views of 19th century Europe, and the folly of imperialism. It's a terrific perspective that is told in an easily accessible style.
   
   Burleigh keeps up the suspense. She covers many academic fields but does not overwhelm a reader. It's a fun read and you can't help but learn. For example, she describes the savants' discoveries while stuck in desert sands. She puts discoveries in the context of the time and shows how some still apply, like Fourier's math work.
   
   The only knock on the book, and it is minor, is that it lacks a map of the region. Readers should print one before starting the book.



3. Many people have read about Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and of the many scientists and engineers who accompanied him. However, many history books usually allot but a few pages perhaps to this important event, which led, among other things, to the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. The author of this book has done an excellent job of focusing entirely on Napoleon's Egyptian campaign with particular emphasis on the many "savants" who were charged with studying and documenting this ancient land. The many hardships that they endured are vividly described, as are their relationships with the French military and the local inhabitants. The author's writing style is accessible, friendly, authoritative and most engaging, making this a work that is difficult to put down. This account indeed forms an excellent link between the decaying ruins of an ancient civilization and the birth of modern Egyptology. This is a book that can be enjoyed by everyone, but history buffs, particularly those with a fascination for Egypt, will likely relish it the most.



4. Nina Burleigh paints a vivid picture of the curious minds of the scientists who accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, a land beyond their imagination.
   
   The scientists' desire to understand what they were seeing and to map, catalogue, paint--and in some ways, dominate--this exotic place feels real. Though the cast of characters is large, and occasionally unwieldy, the book draws fine portraits of individuals, many of whom are worthy of their own biographies. And Mirage projects a sense of excitement about learning that is contagious.



5. 
   
   Though I normally don't read nonfiction, Mirage immediately drew me in with its vivid descriptions of this strange, historic expedition. Aptly titled, the book chronicles Napoleon's disastrous foray into Egypt in pursuit of some exotic, orientalist fantasy that never existed in reality. Aping Alexander, Napoleon took with him some of the best and most adventurous French intellectuals of the time. These scientists and academics, or "savants," become the core of the narrative -- distinct and eccentric characters that I followed with interest. Some of the situations the savants found themselves in were truly surreal -- but despite the hardships and suffering they endured during the journey, they were able to expand their fields of study -- and even discover the Rosetta Stone!
   
   I knew very little about this expedition -- or this period in history -- but the book is enormously informative, with loads of facts as well as being entertaining, and in spite of myself I learned a lot! As I read I kept thinking of our current fiasco in Iraq, which seems to repeat in so many ways the arrogance and ignorance of Napoleon and his French soldiers. So the book is amazingly timely as well.
   
   A great read and a well-written, fascinating book! I recommend it highly.