No comments about Biogrphical Dictionary of Psychlogists, Psychiatrists and Psychotherapists.

5 comments about Bettelheim: A Life And A Legacy.

1. The Uses of Enchantment (Penguin Psychology)
   
   First, it is good to get all evidence and opinion out and above board. This should be true of everyone no matter if one is an ethnical or religious person Jew or Christian. Then, there is a matter of how this should be done? Where it should be done? When it should be done? Why? For instance, if persons or person passionate few agrieved against a group or political body they should attack prudently but immediately. Strike when the iron is hot as the old adage goes. No time to waste! Whistle blowing on companies are best done by individual(s) when their is enough information and evidence to find guilty in a court of law. And so should it be with doctors and hospitals, persons and people of positions of extra-ordinary trust and power over others. Not only for the patient-personal reasons but so the rest of us can be aware of malpratice and the knowledge that all that is white and professional fascade is NOT okay. Put on guard by those who are insiders. However, and this is how the case of trying to destroy the reputation and thereby Dr. Bettelheim was done, it was done long after the fact, after the doctor was dead(and as it handily happened for his detractors by his own hand) and in such a dramatic concerted media trial like ganging



2. I simply wish to say that there would no controversy if thoughtful, sensitive people were in control of their own emotions and were objective enough to put Bruno Bettelheim and his times in perspecitve. This is one of the implicit themes of the book.The author, a journalist, has study the facts and has the intuition to understand as much as any biographer can at this time a complex suffering personality. I hope only that the time will come when such a understanding can be objectively drawn. But meanwhile the biographer has made at least this attentive and by no means unskeptical reader understand the controversy and the facts of the case are not always one and the same...



3. The reviewers who praised this book didn't check the facts and neither did the author. In fact, the book is highly inaccurate both in its facts and conclusions. The book merely applies the same pseudopsychoanalysis as the subject applied to his "patients," including me.

   I was a source for the book and nearly everything in it about me is totally wrong. I shared considerable information with the author following a 1990 article in the Washington Post I wrote detailing Bettelheim's unsupported claims and physical and psychological abuse of his wards. The author promised that I could control anything that appeared in the book about me. But the book came out with all sorts of unsourced untruths about me that the author never bothered to check with me. From the looks of them, I suspect some she made up and some she heard from Bettelheim's defenders who worked at the school and broke their professional code of silence to reveal "information" about a "patient." It evidently never occured to the author that these people may have wanted to smear me to save their own reputations. The author even had the nerve to state as fact how I was feeling, which is amazing because she never asked me. In fact, I never felt the way she said I felt.

   The book just amounted to the same type of Freudian nonsense I was subject to at Bettleheim's school -- someone else telling you that you don't feel what you feel -- you really feel what I tell you you feel. The book even managed to completely misrepresent what I wrote in the Washington Post. I have been quoted in many publiciations on this and other matters but I have never seen anything so far from the truth. The author didn't like my thesis and couldn't get me on the facts, so she apparently made up her own.

   Immediately upon the book's publication, I notified the publisher by letter of the book's errors, but the publisher never corrected them in subsequent printings. And no one even had the decency to answer my letter. To this very day, the company continues to sell a book it knows is inaccurate.




4. This book moved me deeply. Not only did it tell me a fascinating story about a man whose life span the century, but it moved me deeply. It's not a funny book, but it is a riveting one. Rather than pretending to know it all, the author takes her reader on an investigative journey: Who was the true Bettelheim? She shares her doubts as well as her discoveries some of which I shall never forget. And in the end, everything seems to fall into place - the good, the bad, everything human, I guess.



5. As a former student at Dr. Bettelheim's school in Chicago, I found this book to be very inadaquate in its description of Dr. Bettelheim. This man did a great deal of harm to the students attending this school and was not the savior which Ms. Sutten would like him to be potrayed as. His methods of treatment can be compared with how the German Nazis treated their concentration camp victims. He did beat the students a great deal and fear was a common, shared, feeling which most of the kids felt towards him. His use of imtimadation towards the children, as well as the staff, was complete. Since Ms. Sutton was not a student at the Orthogenic School, of course she would not know the things that went on there. If Bettelheim was alive today, he would be arrested for child abuse, and this is a fact that Ms. Sutton doesn't want to admit.

No comments about Bastide on Religion: The Invention of Candomble (Key Thinkers in the Study of Religion).

No comments about Key Sociological Thinkers.

No comments about Ephraim George Squier and the Development of American Anthropology (Critical Studies in the History of Anthropology).

No comments about Many Paths: Searching for old Tibet in new China.

No comments about A History of Psychology In Letters.

2 comments about Unknown Philosopher: The Life of Louis Claude de St. Martin and the Substance of His Transcendental Doctrine.

1. A well documented study into the life of Louis Claude de St. Martin and how by discovering the works of Jacob Boehme he turned away from a conventional life to live "The Way of the Heart." He created a mystical society and his teachings and initiations still exist today. A fascinating read about the man and his work and how he influenced French culture.



2. The book is an awesome biography of the Mystical life of Louise Claude de St. Martin. The author fully described the sequence of events of the life of this Unknown Philosopher. Excellent reference for the students in Martinism or traditional Martinist Order as well as a path in the search of Truth by modeling from the examples of the book.

3 comments about A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the 'Curse of the Pharaohs'.

1. Mainly and above all, this book gives you a great insight into what might be called "the golden age of archaeology in Egypt". I greatly enjoyed all the little stories covering the various social events of that time (particularly the "party at the ombdeh's") which manage to cover Weigall's own colourful imagination and way of storytelling.
   
   Nevertheless, this biography never quite suceeds in bringing you near Arthur Weigall as a person. What I disliked most was the apologetic tone in which Hankey tried to "answer" several references to Weigall made by TGH James in his book "Howard Carter - The Path to Tutankhamun". It almost seems as if Hankey desperately tries to make clear to the reader that in reality, Weigall was a truly "heroic" guy, fighting for Egypt's heritage, while the "evil" Howard Carter was putting stones in his way.
   There is no doubting the fact that Carter was a pretty difficult character but reading Hankey's book, one begins to suspect that Weigall was one as well - a fact not really admitted by his granddaughter.
   
   In comparison to James, who painted a very objective and not in the least biased picture of the person he portrayed in his biography (Carter), Hankey trusts in letting Weigall's own views and thoughts speak for themselves without ever trying to question them.
   For me, Weigall's behaviour towards Carter and Carnarvon during the Tutankhamun excavation is still more than questionable, even if one has to share his views concerning the "Times"-agreement and the division of antiquities.
   
   In the end, for me, Howard Carter with all his faults remains the more interesting personality, especially when compared with Julie Hankey's semi-perfect Arthur Weigall.



2. This book is really a great read. Not only does it give you a great deal of insight about Weigall and his exploits, but it also has a lot of good stories about Egypt and it's exploration during it's most colorful time period of the early 20th century. I have always enjoyed Weigall's books and his ability to weave a good story and describe what it would be like to be exploring various sites while on his inspection tours.

   This book really goes into a great deal about his crusade to save and catalogue monuments instead of just digging for "treasures". He doesn't seem to get his due for what he tried to accomplish under the difficult conditions he had to work within at the time. What I also found interesting was the perspective of his relationship with Howard Carter from more his point of view versus what is more often seen discussed from Cater's. Being that it was written by his grand-daughter I'm sure there's a little bit of bias there. Either way, it is truly a great book written about a great author.

   Wiegall showed that a history book doesn't have to be dry and boring. It seems that his grand-daughter inherited that trait too!




3. This book is really a great read. Not only does it give you a great deal of insight about Weigall and his exploits, but it also has a lot of good stories about Egypt and it's exploration during it's most colorful time period of the early 20th century. I have always enjoyed Weigall's books and his ability to weave a good story and describe what it would be like to be exploring various sites while on his inspection tours.

   This book really goes into a great deal about his crusade to save and catalogue monuments instead of just digging for "treasures". He doesn't seem to get his due for what he tried to accomplish under the difficult conditions he had to work within at the time. What I also found interesting was the perspective of his relationship with Howard Carter from more his point of view versus what is more often seen discussed from Cater's. Being that it was written by his grand-daughter I'm sure there's a little bit of bias there. Either way, it is truly a great book written about a great author.

   Wiegall showed that a history book doesn't have to be dry and boring. It seems that his grand-daughter inherited that trait too!

4 comments about Darkness to Sunlight.

1. Having the size and skill to succeed never guarantees one will. "Darkness to Sunlight: The Life-Changing Journey of Zaid Abdul-Aziz" is the story of a man who formerly went by the name of Don Smith. It follows his life from a fledgling kid in Brooklyn to the NBA Hall of Fame, and recounts all of the racial, professional, and spiritual obstacles he overcame along the way, all to become the legend that he is known as today. "Darkness to Sunlight: The Life-Changing Journey of Zaid Abdul-Aziz" is highly recommended for community library biography collections.



2. I was called to read Darkness to Sunlight after meeting Zaid and his beautiful family. I was drawn to read about his life story not because I am a basketball fan, but becauase of his deep-hearted spirit. Our human family needs more stories like this one.
   
   That a woman like myself with no interest in sports would find this book a pleasure to read speaks volumes. His story is inspirational, accessible, enjoyable, and timely. I look forward to enjoying this book in movie form. It will do much to help bridge understanding between Muslim and Christian faith communities. Thank you, Zaid, for writing this book.
   
   Lisa Iversen, MSW, LCSW



3. Zaid's story is uplifting,interesting and an easy read. Basketball fans who want to know more behind one of the game's most unselfish players should read this book. Zaid's life story is much different than the stories of the NBA players of today. He was a great defensive player, leaper and rebounder who has been unnoticed by many.



4. Zaid Abdul-Aziz (formerly Don Smith) was a stand out basketball player at Iowa State, and played for several years in the NBA, including several years with the Seattle Supersonics. However, the book is really about his life journey from the rough neighborhoods of Brooklyn to life in the NBA and beyond.
   
   The book is written entirely in first person narrative, and reads in a manner which gives the reader the experience of sitting down with Zaid over a cup of coffee and hearing the stories. As such, it can be at times a bit choppy from an editing standpoint, but is wonderful in how it captures the mood and tone of the experiences.
   
   Of particular importance are the depictions of how Zaid struggled with racism, specifically in nearly 100% white Iowa, and how this struggle defined many of his views to this day. I was personally very struck by how Zaid viewed these experiences, and how he handled the vast contrasts between his home in Brooklyn and the corn fields of Iowa. He managed to steer clear of many of the challenges with drugs and gangs that derail way too many lives then and now. The emotions of these times were depicted exceptionally well. A story in Sports Illustrated in 1969 brought much of these issues to the public eye and helped raise awareness for race issues in sports.
   
   The chapters about his life in the NBA were great. The politics of the NBA are not often discussed, but are depicted well here. Zaid was a truly under-rated player whose rebounding skills and scoring touch would earn him millions if playing today. He averaged numbers that would rank him in the top 3 of rebounders in today's game, and he put up headline kind of numbers against some of the all-time greats.
   
   The story has a personal touch for me. I met Zaid when I was about 5 or 6 years old. My father went to Iowa State when Zaid was there and reached out to him when he came to town to play Seattle, and when he was a player here. It was a fascinating realization for me that in an ironic twist, while Zaid was experiencing life as a minority, he was in fact the only African American person I knew for many years, and he formed many of my perceptions as well. I still remember him coming over to the house for dinner on several occasions and playing basketball with my brother and me in the back yard. When he was with the Houston Rockets we went to see him play and he had all the Rockets sign my cast for my broken ankle after the game. As a young child and an NBA fan, I felt quite special to count a real NBA player as a friend.
   
   I really appreciate his views about people and about life. While he did not get the credit he deserved in the NBA, his attitude today serves to show that life is indeed a journey. His views on theology and his faith are interesting to read as well. While I do not agree with him on several key theological areas, the story of how he came to his faith and what he experienced by being an NBA star and making this change in the public eye were powerful. Whether or not you are a fan of basketball, I recommend the book and thank him for writing it.