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 Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft.

1. This book was in great physical condition...it just looks way older than I expected...you know how old paperbacks get...kind of yellowish and pages don't totally lay flat...It won't stop me from reading it, and it was a bargain for the price, but I am not sure it was LIKE NEW.



2. A very wow story.
   
   When the author was told that a particular people's migration was impossible, given the ocean going technology and distance involved, he set out to prove it wasn't.
   
   Crazy, brave, or whatever, but a pretty impressive real-life adventure tale, along with a spot of first-hand scientific historical research.



3. This was one of my summer reads and I found it incredibly entertaining. The story of how a bunch of crazy Norwegians, many of whom were WWII vets, floated across the South Pacific on a balsa raft during the middle of the 20th century is one of the best adventure stories I have ever read. The line between scientific investigation and insanity is thin on this one. The men set off to prove a link between Ancient Peruvians and Polynesians by proving that the Peruvians had sailed as far as Polynesia on balsa rafts. The group procures its wood from the dangerous, lawless countryside of Peru, floats it down a river to the sea, and sets forth on an epic adventure on a scrappy looking sail driven raft they slapped together using diagrams based off ancient documents.
   
   The accounts of flying fish, battles with sharks, and struggles against the elements are highly entertaining. They drifted across seas drawn by the currents through areas of the ocean free of shipping lanes, an adventure unparalleled for its time. Their raft literally became a home to hundreds of sea creatures. They encountered sea creatures that nobody had ever seen before. Although their voyage seems crazy, it was really done and I was actually relieved when the raft broke up on a reef on a South Pacific Island and the men were able to swim to safety.
   
   If you've ever dreamed of doing something crazy in the name of scholarly pursuits, or if you like a good adventure tale, this is a good read. Its also an interesting piece of history and Thor Heyerdahl went on to receive hundreds of awards for his incredible accomplishment.



4. It's a great read and an epic journey. What amazed me, even more than the raft itself, was that the crews' relationships with each other survived the trip. I don't know many (any) people I'd want never to be able to get out of sight of for months on end...
   
   Read and be impressed, be very impressed!



5. I made some Mormons angry over my reviews of books that defend the Book of Mormon, and they have been slamming my reviews. Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks
   
   On Kon-Tiki: I absolutely got lost in this magnificent adventure. Nevertheless, Heyerdahl's theory that civilization was spread around the world by some lost white race is simply bogus racism. Still, I enjoyed all his books, including "The Ra Expeditions," and "Aku-Aku."
   
   It is sad to think that Heyerdahl's career as a fearless adventurer is marred by his zealous devotion to a dated idea. Yes, Peruvian Indians could have crossed the Pacific, but it is more likely that contact came from the other way. At any rate, Heyerdahl manufactured the archaeological evidence he found on Easter Island.
   
   In the July 2002 issue of the "Smithsonian Magazine," Richard Conniff demonstrated that Heyerdahl actually paid the natives to make reed-boats relics (Kon Artist?" was the title). "A good story," said Conniff, "can be so compelling that teller and subject become entrapped together in its charms...." (p. 28). This astute observation could apply to novels claimed to be actual history, and anyone interested in the Book of Mormon should give it long thought.
   
   Heyerdahl wrote about Pedro Pate, an Easter Islander and how Pate found a two-masted reed boat in a cave. Conniff wrote: "I showed Pate a two-page photograph of the reed boat from Heyerdahl's book, and he grinned. He'd carved the boat himself, he said. Dubious, I offered him $100 to carve such a boat now, 37 years later, and he accepted." "A few days later, he presented me with the 18-inch-long reed boat he had carved. It was as good as the one in the book" (p. 29).
   
   In "The Ancient American Civilizations," Friedrich Katz asked some very hard questions of Heyerdahl's theory.
   
   "If the Polynesians really do come from America, why do their chronicles record the exact opposite direction, naming South-East Asia as their place of origin? Why is their language first and foremost related to South-Asiatic and Malayan languages? Finally, as Trimborn remarked, 'Were not the Polynesian Vikings, rather than the Indians, not the sailors who crossed the high seas?'" (p. 18).
   
   Heyerdahl should also be criticized for playing word games, selecting a word here and there, but ignoring the whole language. Many linguists criticized this erroneous method of relating two ancient peoples. See Robert Wauchope's magnificent little book, "Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents: Myth and Method in the Study of the American Indians." See my review. Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents Myth Method in the
   
   Mormon writers frequently cite Heyerdahl because he proved that ancient voyages across the oceans were possible--an idea going back hundreds of years and not new with Heyerdahl. Very few scholars ever denied that such ancient voyages were possible.
   
   But ah, there's the rub, as Hamlet said. If they occurred, what would be the effect on an entrenched native culture? The Book of Mormon has ancient voyages (the Jaredites were supposed have crossed the ocean on a 344-day voyage in eight submarines in about 2,000 BC). It is primarily about the great civilizations the Jaredites and Nephites established in the Americas.
   
   Robert Sharer summarizes the modern state of knowledge in his heavy and authoritative book, "The Ancient Maya." Sharer writes:
   
   "After more than a century of gathering and analyzing archaeological evidence, we have discovered nothing to support the idea of intervention by people from the Old World." "This is not to say that accidental contacts between the Old and New World peoples could not have occurred before the age of European exploration" (p. 6).
   
   "On the basis of the available evidence, then, the courses of cultural development in the New and Old Worlds seem clearly independent of each other and devoid of significant contact until 1492" (intro., p. 7).
   
   The ancient Maya civilization, Sharer continues, "are to be `explained' not as a product of transplanted Old World civilization, but as the result of the processes that underlie the growth of any culture, including those that develop the kind of complexity we call civilization."
   
   "The idea, which either explicitly or implicitly asserts that the peoples of the New World were incapable of shaping their own destiny or developing sophisticated cultures independently of Old World influence, is still popular in quarters."
   
   "But this is but one more popular myth devoid of fact, for the evidence points unmistakably toward the evolution of civilization in the New World independently of developments in the Old World." See Sharer's book and my review. The Ancient Maya, 6th Edition
   
   None of these serious criticisms of the claims of Mormons or of Heyerdahl's theories, however, should detract from Heyerdahl's great adventures. His accounts of his raft voyages are breathless and compelling reading.
   
   For a masterful telling of Polynesian history (especially about Easter Island) by a scholar with a Moari heritage, read the essential book "Vikings of the Pacific," by Peter H. Buck. Click here to read my review:
   Vikings of the Pacific

5 comments about Prozac Diary.

1. This book was just okay. It was somewhat interesting to read about her experiences with Prozac, but she did a lot of whining about the things that it took away from her, rather than focusing on the fact that it gave her her life back. Her writing is also tangential when she tries to become poetic. Something seemed to be missing. The book felt incomplete or rushed. It is a quick, easy read, but I can't say that I would recommend it.



2. Dr. Lauren Slater woke up one day to discover that Prozac had eliminated one of her most closely held realities - Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This book is a journal of her experiences for the ten years that would follow.
   
   Slater documents her fear of losing that comfortable reality, her ability to write creatively, her disciplined reading and eating habits, her inhibitions and her familiar internal voices. Having survived multiple hospitalizations for anorexia and other medical interpretations of her behavior, Slater agrees to begin therapy with Prozac during the drug's infancy. Her physician, overtly wooed by the pharmaceutical's manufacturer, supplies an ever-increasing dose of the wonder drug without mentioning its side effects and its temporary efficacy. While the author refuses to become the Prozac poster-child, she does experience a significant amount of success with the drug and is forthright about her satisfaction as well as her fears.
   
   Lauren Slater is inspirational on many levels. Not only does she treat the status of her psycho-emotional health as something to be embraced as worthy, she regards this unique piece of her identity as something normal for her in this place and time. Slater acknowledges the need for caution when it comes to safety and well-being without negating the value that an alternate psychological reality can present. In addition to her open-minded views on psychic illness, Slater channeled her experiences into motivation and earned her PhD in psychology. She now sees patients of her own and writes professionally regarding subjects in her field.



3. Lauren Slater was prescribed Prozac in 1988 when the pharmaceutical first came out. She recalls having an almost immediate and "blissed out" feeling. Slater says that Prozac made her "high" and goes on and on about it obsessively as she describes her reaction to Prozac as, "the single most stunning experience of my life." This is rather melodramatic. I have tried Prozac and I have been depressed throughout my life. Taking a pharmacetical like Prozac does not make a person "high."
   
   I have a real problem with the way Slater portrays Prozac as her "drug." She pontificates as if taking an anti-deppressant for DEPPRESSION is shameful, secretive. Slater becomes an intern at a half-way house for "boozers" and is informed that staff member's sign waivers allowing the administration to do random urine screens. Athough Slater does not use any illegal drugs, she panics at the thought of "being revealed." Slater compares herself to the addicts who live at the half-way house. Describing a client, she says "he stared straight at me, one junkie to another..."
   
   It insulting to those of us who have struggled with addiction to have Slater describe herself as a "junkie" because she is over dramatizing her experience with Prozac. It was persribed to her for the treatment of a disease and she was NOT abusing the medication.
   (I am in recovery and have been clean for 3 years). Slater later also considers herself "drug-dependent" and tries to convince the reader of her claim with her interpretation of what The DSM IV calls addiction. I don't buy it, and I don't think anyone who has struggled with drug or alcohol addiction will either. Maybe a reader without a history of addiction and/or depression won't notice that Slater is a phoney and an alarmist. Nobody is buying the "addicted to Prozac" crap.



4. well written. scary details about mental illness. both scary w/ respect to what i might see in myself and what exceeds greatly in a dystopic fashion what i see in myself. is a testament to how well prozac can work, and in that fashion, this memoir is quite effective and honest, although some may call it "over salted" (as Hamlet didn't want his plays to be like over salted dishes.)



5. Lauren Slater's 1999 memoir Prozac Diary is a worthy addition to the "women and madness" genre or for the millions currently taking antidepressants. What makes Slater's book a standout, though, is that it's the experience of one of the first people to use Prozac for depression. Slater writes her diary ten years after she first started taking the drug regularly in 1988, so we get to read of the long-term affects of daily dosing and how the drug changed her life over time. What was most interesting about Slater's story is how she had to learn to live life as a no-longer-depressed person. Her entire life, depression and its consequences dominated her life, gave her life meaning and routine, and defined who she was. When the "Zac" started working, she struggled to develop a new sense of herself, separate and apart from the depressed Lauren.

   For me, the problem was that there wasn't enough experience there; something felt missing from the story. Perhaps it was the editor's fault. Or maybe my expectations were incorrect from the start. Slater's history is briefly given: lifelong struggles with depression and other forms of mental illness, a history of hospitalizations and attempts at various therapies, none of which were successful until Prozac in 1988. Perhaps I wanted to know more or I wanted the story to be told in a different style. I can't put my finger on it, but for this reader there was just something missing. Slater's writing style is poetic, but it was sometimes a distraction.

   I highly recommend the book to those interested in antidepressants for any reason, whether it's history of Prozac's rise to prominence (what some call the aspirin of our age), how it affects people over the short and long-term, or simple voyeurism into the mind and life of someone classified as mentally ill. Lauren Slater truly benefited from this drug, and while many people think Prozac is tossed around too freely these days, she is an excellent example of whom this drug was originally developed for. It's staggering and sad to think how many lives could have been saved if we'd had this drug fifty years ago.

   Prozac Diary is a slim read that can be devoured in one day by the voracious reader. Definitely worth the time for those of us living in this Age of Anxiety.

5 comments about Freud for Beginners.

1. promt delivery. recommended by one of my tutors at university. frank easy to read, some of the illustrations made me smile but i found them easy to remember.



2. The 'xxx for beginners' are marvellous not just because they give you a valuable grounding in forbidding subjects, allowing you to approach primary texts with more confidence, but because they are so entertaining, even in subjects you have little interest in. Though this book is a much-needed introduction to and exposition of Freud's basic theories, making you feel clever as you join the dots you always knew were there but for the intimidating jargon, the real joy is in the irreverent presentation, especially the illustrations. These are full of in-jokes about Freud's life and times which are not always treated explicitely in the text, as well as being technically expert, imaginative and, sometimes, bracingly shocking. So while it is pleasing, in these anti-Freudian times, to be reminded of the man's incalculable importance and influence, the illustrations offer an in-built critique that puts everything in perspective. Great fun.



3. This book is just a book, but a better book than its successor of the same title by Richard Osborne. Mostly because it does not hang onto the relationship between Jung and Freud as long and focuses more on the theories of Freud. In fact, what I really enjoyed about this book is that gave a good round about summary of most of Freuds theories inside each book. Certainly acts a good stepping stone for those who need to know Freud in a hurry and wants the gist of his work. Richard Appignanesi displays good understanding of Freuds work and summarizes it well and concise. Reccomended for the prodigal psychologist.



4. (See page 79 for explanation and a very funny illustration of the second stage of psychosexual development). This book, in addition to being very informative, is also incredibly funny. Very well written and drawn; though in the form of a comic book, it is nevertheless a splendid introduction to Freud's life and work. The author and illustrator are quite witty as well as knowledgeable, and in this book they have succeeded at what should be the goal of all beginners' book writers: piqued my interest in the subject and made me want to learn more. Would be a great supplementary text in a course on Freud or on psychology/psychoanalysis in general. Highly recommended!



5. The pictures were fun (especially pg. 79) and the text clear and informative. This book has explained some Freudian concepts better than some of my classes in college have! Fun and stimulating at the same time... what more could someone ask for?

5 comments about Two Lucky People: Memoirs.

1. Milton Friedman needs no introduction, so let me just talk about the book. In this book, you almost get a comprehensive account of the life of Milton and Rose. But this book is about so many other things. I cannot possibly cover everything that this book covers, so let me tell you about one part of the book that has helped me--it's the part where Milton talks about learning and teaching economics. I'm an undergraduate planning to major in economics and political science. (Milton Friedman actually got me interested in economics & politics through his book Free to Choose.) But when I first started taking economics courses, it was... a little bit dull, if I may say so. I didn't know how all these supply and demand curves were supposed to help me understand the world. But I've checked out this Memoirs from the library, and Milton is talking about his years as a student. He talks about the courses that he took at the University of Chicago, and especially "Economics 301: Price and Distribution Theory," which he took with Rose (that's when they first met), and which he taught at Chicago. When he took the course, he understood that "economic theory was a coherent set of tools, to be used with care and the utmost attention to logical rigor, but to be judged primarily by its usefulness in understanding and interpreting important economic events" (35). Just by reading this quote, I'm starting to understand what economics is about. So Milton Friedman got me into economics, made me passionate about it, and helped me make sense of it. Milton Friedman was so many things, but what a brilliant teacher he was.



2. This is a great book for anyone who is interested in Milton Friedman, economics, The University of Chicago, twentieth-century intellectual history, university politics, or rags-to-riches stories. Both authors have led very interesting lives and the tone throughout the book is upbeat and positive. This is one of the best and most-influential books I have ever read. Milton Friedman is one of the most clear-thinking, intelligent people of the twentieth-century and our country would be better off if more of his ideas on economics, education, and freedom were put into practice.



3. Milton Friedman is one the of tough guy who always support the free market idea.He is the first guy who builds the monetary school and also a good story teller.He does do a great job and I guess that is not just luck.



4. The memoirs extend from the Friedmans' early years to 1997. The earliest times are recounted in separate voices by Rose and Milton, each telling her or his own story seriatim. For the later years, their narrative voices are presented sometimes jointly and sometimes in tandem. This method adds a great deal to the readability and interest of their story. It allows the reader to get different impressions of the same people and places and brings out the (rare) disagreements between the two authors. It provides more information and presents a more vivid picture than is typically the case in memoirs by a single author....

   To read "Two Lucky People" is to get on intimate terms with a wholly delightful and wholly admirable couple. Here is a book to savor. Instructive and endlessly entertaining, it brings to life a whole era from the Great Depression to the present day.




5. More of a travelog than an interesting business book. I could not even finish it, which is very unusual for me.

5 comments about The Fire That Will Not Die.

1. Excellent book, I would read " To Sleep With The Angels " first and then this book. That is the order in which I read them and it was very imformative. You get the overall view and then the view of a person that went through this disaster.



2. I don't know that one can 'review' such a book the same way you can review a novel about pioneers or a non-fiction work about politics or hunting. This document of Miss McBride's is valuable because it is a historical record of challenges that most often are not written about by the victim, but by journalists and other 'authorities'. This soul is an authority on her own life.
   
   When I first read this work and now again, I have to say that it is a genuine memoir that does not shy away or try to protect the reader. Just as such a memoir of a survivor ought be. I think the pages here are a testament to the author finding her way back despite the lack of pathways offered. That is the heart of this work, that she finds her way.



3. I was disappointed that there were only a few photos (which were printed on the page, not photo plates). I sympathize greatly with Ms. McBride's experience, which I have no doubt was absolutely terrible. When I received the book, I paged through it and was disappointed with the almost constant repetition of thought-lines that became rather tediious. If one were to cut out the repetition, the book would be about 1/3 its length. Very little is said about the OLA fire itself, and even the months of treatment and recuperation - while one could never say this should be "interesting", one would not expect it to be verbosely boring. By contrast, I found "To Sleep With The Angels" to be spellbinding and sobering.



4. With medical science now making great advances in treating burn victims using synthetic skin grafts (and hopefully with even greater advances on the way), this book brings home (through the personal experience of a survivor of the fire at Our Lady of the Angels) the deep physical and psychological scars that stay with a burn vicitm for life. The author refers to herself as a "burn," which also reflects her experience in a time when those with scars or handicaps were not viewed so much as people with difficulties, but instead as walking embodiments of their disfigurement. This book is well worth reading. I recommend it highly.



5. Michele McBride is an inspiration for all of us. Never again will I complain of little aches and pains, after reading what this woman endured for more than forty years after the tragic fire. I had no idea that being burned affects your muscles and joints making them practically unbendable, and also interferes with your circulation. Michele rose above the ashes of this tragedy and can teach us all how to cope with disaster. The most horrible part of the story is how the community in which it took place basically fell apart after the fire. Children, adults and clergy alike were encouraged NOT to talk about the fire at OLA, when talking and expressing grief would probably have been the best therapy for the survivors. I lived in that neighborhood and many people said that the neighborhood "changed" because of a shady real estate practice called blockbusting. I think the neighborhood changed because the heart went out of it when all those children died - the people couldn't cope and moved away.

   ...

5 comments about Adventures of a Psychic: A Fascinating and Inspiring True-Life Story of One of America's Most Successful Clairvoyants.

1. This is an incredibly awful book. I clung to every word she said and honestly felt enlightened. That was before I did some more research on the book. Now I feel sick to my stomach and can't believe that I ever liked this book.



2. I've seen Sylvia Browne a few times on the Montel Williams show
   and have always been amazed by the gift she seems to
   have . . . so when I came across the CD version of her book,
   ADVENTURES OF A PSYCHIC, I decided to give it a listen.
   
   Doing so enabled me to learn about her fascinating life
   story . . . I also appreciated the point she made several
   times; i.e., that despite her desire to help others, her abilities
   have not enabled her to guide her own actions.
   
   Brown contends that all people have psychic abilities . . . I'm not
   sure that listening to and/or reading ADVENTURES OF A
   PSYCHIC will help you discover yours . . . yet if you're open
   to what might be a new way of thinking about yourself,
   you will gain better insight into the events that help shape your life.
   
   That Browne was also the narrator of this program added
   to my enjoyment.



3. What a load of tripe! This Browne lady is not only a felon, but a liar when it comes to her education, psychic abilities and being a non-smoker. She doesn't even write the books her name is attached to. Even watching TV is more entertaining than this garbage.



4. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed with Sylvia Browne. I have watched her for years on the Montel Williams Show. When I first bought this book, I was disappointed once I started reading about Francine who I come later to know as part of Sylvia Browne's psychic abilities. By studying psychics like Sylvia Browne, I gain a better understanding of myself more than her. I don't agree with her a hundred percent of the time but it doesn't mean that I don't love her or admire her ability. She's here to help us. Her life has been traumatic, difficult, and messy at times. That's because psychics too are human and make mistakes. We're terrible with predicting ourselves but we can guide our family and friends to better lives if they only listen to advice. Maybe the book is beneficial in helping us unload the stress of our lives. No, being human and alive is not easy. Psychics tell me that I'm going to live to be about 90 and I'm scared. I don't want to live that long. I'll outlive all my family and friends and be all alone. If Sylvia Browne might be outrageous, outspoken, and opinionated, it doesn't mean that she gets it wrong most of the time. All psychics make mistakes and are not perfect. But if you love Sylvia Browne, you will love this book. But by reading it, i had to seek out my own knowledge and it's been a whirlwind adventure of trying to become more psychic, intuitional, and better atuned to natures and our surroundings. We don't have to pack up and move to find serenity, peace, and love. We just have to close our eyes and let your mind go there. This book and other books about the paranormal are not suggested for skeptics, atheists, and those who seek to disprove her claims. That's such a waste of energy!



5. A common sense approach to life-keep it simple.Many of the things she
   wrote about were things I felt I already knew on some level and this was the first time I had seen them in words.
   Reassuring,comforting,thought provoking and humorus.

5 comments about Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America.

1. A lot of good detail is presented in this biography, a lot of moral force worth bringing to our attention.
   
   Many of us are curently such spoiled and cowardly workers that we need historians like Ellliott J. Gorn to give us a dose of a truth that most of our employers, politicians and media don't want us to be exposed to. Is "American Idol" on? I suppose we do need someone else to shake up.
   
   From the historical record, it may not have been possible to uncover more of what made Mary Jones into Mother Jones: what it seems, as a historian and not a psychologist, Gorn has wisely done is to show how the conditions of Mary Jone's times presented her with challenges which she responded to bravely. You or I may have dodged the same challenges but not Mother Jones. It is well worth Mary Jones and Gorn showing us what is possible.
   
   Mother Jones eschewed religion, socialist parties, and the IWW. If without an answer, she demanded answers of those who we might have thought could help us. She knew what common folk were capable of but she also insisted on leaders being leaders and not servants of the rich.
   
   Hard times are upon us. Globalization and war machinery of unprecended strength and concentrations of wealth threaten all working people, whether in the United States, Mexico, India, China, Uganda, Peru, or Antarctica. Mother Jones did not cater to national or religious boundaries. I hope I can rouse myself from my reading of this book as I suggest you do. We have hope if we don't delay.



2. Elliott J. Gorn has written a well-researched biography of one of Labor's greatest spokesperson. Gorn writes a complete book on Mother Jones, Mary Jones, and even Mary Harris -- the person AND the persona. His objectivity allows him to correct Mother Jones' revisionist history of her own life and her achievements, even as he praises her deep committment and her probable rationale for exaggerating her achievements. One slight criticism is that Gorn on occasion follows one aspect of the Labor movement (or Mother's) struggle, then goes back in time to pick up another thread. In his great favor, though, Gorn details the incorrect details and unfair attacks of other authors, both of her day and later. If you read only one book on Mother Jones, this should be it.



3. This biography recalls early American radicalism and the efforts of one Mary Jones, a force in the early labor movement. She traveled throughout the country lobbying for civil rights, labor laws and basic worker's rights: her career, life, and long-ranging effects on American labor are recounted in a lively coverage.



4. Elliott Gorn has written an excellent biography of Mary Harris Jones, better known as Mother Jones. Gorn has applied critical analysis to his meticulous and quite impressive research--this was not an easy woman to pin down, and Gorn has managed with limited materials to convey the essence of her life. In doing so, he tells three simultaneous stories, all significant for a broad view of American history. First is the story of Mary Jones herself. Her life was both tragic and triumphant, and Gorn treats it with sensitivity and a light touch, conjecturing at times to what she must have felt, but never presuming to be inside her head or heart. The second story is the story of the American labor movement, particularly that of the United Mine Workers, and their struggle against BIG CAPITAL. Gorn does not overemphasize the uneven nature of this struggle, nor does he dwell on the massive injustices against the mine workers by mine owners, coal interests, and even the Federal Government. He gives it to us straight. The facts speak for themselves. But Gorn presents the facts in the context of Jones's life and her struggle, and never preaches. He lets the history--a history too seldom told--be revealed through the contours of Jones's life. Which leads to the third story: the story of American self-invention. Mary Jones invented herself, and went to great lengths to sustain an identity that would allow her, as a woman and a mother, to become one of the toughest and most feared labor organizers in American history--not a normal or accepted role for women, generally during her lifetime. Throughout these three stories, Gorn engages the notion of gender in late Victorian and early twentieth century US history. This, too, he does with a subtle hand and a light touch, totally without jargon. The book is thoroughly enjoyable, accessible to all readers, and interesting in its own right. Plus it sheds light on important processes in American history. I highly recommend it.



5. Mother Jones was a character of mythic proportions, created by the all-too-human Mary Harris Jones. The author takes the position that while many of the details of her life - as portrayed in Mother's speeches, writings and autobiography - are impossible to verify or demonstrably false, they stood for a larger truth.

   Gorn obviously has sympathy for Jones and does a good job of putting her life in its context, but this book is no easy read. It is written in the dry verbiage and cadences of academia.

   An unequivocally positive addition to the library of labor history, but don't try to read it at night before bed unless your aim is to hasten sleep.

2 comments about Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On : The Autobiography and Journals of Helen M. Luke.

1. I found the autobiographical section of this book a little hard to follow. Could not understand how her life was structured, timeline-wise, and what actually happened.
   
   The journal section is clearer and more accessible.
   
   How do devoted Jungians find time to pursue all these symbols and images? The true weakness of this book is that I could not quite grasp how the author's inner work really related to her life with other people. In some cases, obviously, it is clear. But entire swatches of love, romance, child rearing, friendship, analytical work, are left out, leaving me agog with curiosity. What happened?



2. Recently in an interview with Charlie Rose Meryl Streep spoke of women needing a dream that portrayed them as powerful, particularly as they age. Helen Luke's autobiography is just such a dream. It is a carefully woven tapestry of her dreams, her thoughts, her readings (the wide range of her reading & interests included Lord Of the Rings by Tolkien, Dante, T.S. Eliot, C.K. Williams,& Larry Dossey's Shamanic books), and the encounters that she had in her life (which included Robert Johnson, Carl Jung, Dr. Meiers, Toni Sussman,Dr. Kunkel). The patterns of this tapestry speak to us of a life that followed the Way of individuation, as she refers to it in the autobiography. What most impressed me was the way in which she lived the path, risks and all, that Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell taught, despite her Christian Scientist upbringing. This straightforward autobiography & her journals model The Way. Her courage to leave her mother behind while she was dying in order to follow her "dreams" was inspirational. Her discussion in her diary entry about C.K.Williams work Descent Into Hell (which she refers to frequently, reminding me of how good a book it was) and it's demonstration that "a `daughter's gift to an injured mother' through language, even many years after a mother's death, may be valid" fed many beliefs that I have had about how healing can occur and ones role in it. The book read like a road map to a fulfilled life, well marked by the signposts of the numinousities, synchronicities, and struggles encountered by a thoughtful individual. It is hard to put down, I read through it almost at once, and will be studying and thinking about the lessons it holds for a long time. I am quite confident that most men and women will not regret studying this book.

3 comments about Freud (The Routledge Philosophers).

1. This smallish book is not for those who have already spent a considerable amount of time with Freud, and it doesn't attempt to be. The project undertaken here by Lear differs significantly from Ricoeur's Hermeneutic or LaPlanche's extensive dictionary. Those looking for a comprehensive history of psychoanalysis, a mitigation of Freud and Lacan, of Freud and Wittgenstein, or similarly advanced readings of Freud should look elsewhere. That said, for those attempting to gain access to the breadth of Freud's work, even and especially those with the intention of eventually arriving at an advanced appropriation of Freud's work, this introduction is better than anything else available. It is telling that we find Richard Rorty, Slavoj Zizek and Sebastian Gardner corroborating on the back cover that there really is no philosophical introduction to Freudian psychoanalysis more worthwhile.



2. This book about Freud by Lear is totally disappointing. I bought it because I found Lear's other book both sensitive and thoughtful. But in this book Lear reduces Freud to a very ordinary psychologist, who is mainstream and mostly commonsense. In this way he completely misrepresnts Ferud's originality, his daring hypotheses and the fact that much of what Freud said is highly questionable, partly on purely methodolgocal grounds. According to Lear, to mention one example, Freud's chief significance consists in he fact that he "discovered" (?) that sexual libido can be directed towards a fetish, rather than towards a person of the oposite sex (sic!).Lear takes no notice of the highly critical literature about Freud, nor does he refer to attempts to reinterprete Freud in terms of, say, Wiitgenstein's philosophy of our understanding of language. Readers might like to look at chapters 5 and 6 of my book of 1999, entitled "Critique of Impure Reason. An Essay on Neurons, Somatic Markers and Consciousness", published by Praeger.These chapters will make them realise how supeficial and misleading Jonathan Lear's book about Freud is.



3. As soon as I heard that Jonathan Lear was writing "Freud" for the Routledge Philosophers series, I pre-ordered a copy. I am sorry it's taken me so long to post a review, but I have been savoring the book since it arrived, re-reading portions and making notes . . . as I've done with most of Lear's previous offerings, which have proved invaluable in my own philosophy-psychology study project going back at least 15 years.
   
   The point behind Lear's books, if I may be so bold as to seek out a ruling idea, is that, and I quote, "In general, in the English-speaking world, there has been a regrettable tendency for philosophers and psychoanalysts to ignore each other." And Lear explains why they shouldn't. If I may paraphrase: Psychology without philosophy is personally rewarding and beneficial but limited in scope; philosophy without psychology may be enlightening but personally non-transformative, which is to say that the "great" philosopher may be a wretch whose vast knowledge does nothing to promote inner harmony or expand personal freedom; indeed, his entire study project may be nothing by a psychological aberration!
   
   Lear goes on to say: "Philosophers take seriously such notions as autonomy, authenticity, freedom and happiness in their accounts of human life and its possibilities. But it is difficult to see how these notions can be adequately addressed without taking into consideration" accounts of how individual psychology develops and influences all we think and do. Conversely, psychologists tend "to be ignorant of all the work done by philosophers on the nature of happiness and freedom." Lear aims to heal the "intellectual splitting that has lead to impoverishment on both sides."
   
   Lear wonderfully launches his project by citing Socrates' motto, "Know Thyself," as a starting point for bringing the two camps back together, not that he believes it is likely that anyone can really know himself in any once-and-for-all manner, but because he believes understanding the genesis of the self is fundamental, that without it the philosopher mistakes knowledge for wisdom and forgets ignorance and complexity.
   
   Remember, Socrates is also known (some say disingenuously) for widely proclaiming his ignorance, which starts with the limits of knowing himself. He is, in effect, humbled in the face of his personal complexities in ways that most philosophers are not, and this brings out, I believe, a crucial difference between knowledge and wisdom. Philosophy means, "love of wisdom." But it seems to have become more about knowledge and truth. In other words, it's not uncommon for the philosopher, like the religious fundamentalist, to think he has some absolute knowledge about the world and to make bold claims about those "facts." Wisdom makes no such claims, and therefore comes closer to a way of life than a body of knowledge.
   
   That philosophy started out with wisdom and care of the self is wonderfully illustrated by Pierre Hadot in his, "Philosophy as A Way of Life." I could write pages on Hadot's wonderful book, (as I could about Lear, too) but one quote from Epicurus will do: "We must concern ourselves with the healing of our own lives." Then we may try to learn about the world but with less likelihood of getting waylaid by our hidden agendas. I think Epicurus sums up Lear's project, which is to show that we err when we split psychology and philosophy.
   
   To come back to the book at hand: It goes without saying that Lear writes brilliantly about Freud. The chapter on transference -- and the whole idea of the transference world, in which we're all caught -- is worth the price of admission alone. "Freud" by Jonathan Lear is highly recommended for insights into the first psychoanalyst and for healing the split between two important disciplines!