Social Scientists & Psychologists Books - Page 6

The Measure of My Days

Florida Scott-Maxwell

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Playwright and Jungian analyst Florida Scott-Maxwell explores the unique predicament of one's later years: when one feels both cut off from the past and out of step with the present; when the body rebels at activity but the mind becomes more passionate than ever. Written when Maxwell was in her eighties, The Measure of My Days offers a panoramic vision of the issues that haunt us throughout our lives: the struggle to achieve goodness; how to maintain individuality in a mass society; and how to emerge--out of suffering, loss, and limitation--with something approaching wisdom. Maxwell's incredible wisdom, humanity, and dignity make The Measure of My Days both timeless and timely--an important contribution to the literature of aging, and of living.

"Pure gold. . . . Here is essential writing, profound, compassionate. . . . I have read it slowly, marking almost every page."-- Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"A great, pulsating, sensitive, heartbreaking, loving, and joyous book which simply celebrates life."-- Malcolm Boyd

Albert Schweitzer: A Biography (The Albert Schweitzer Library)

James Brabazon

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An engrossing and thorough biography. 5 out of 5 stars.
29 of 29 people found this review helpful.

This second edition of Brabazon's incredible biography contains new material regarding the relationship between Schweitzer and his wife, Helene, due to the discovery of numerous letters between them. The author also adds material in the later chapters, focusing on the antagonism that erupted between the United States government and the old doctor, as Schweitzer and other activists, such as Albert Einstein and philosopher, Bertrand Russell, exposed to the public at large the fall-out hazards of the hydrogen bomb testing that the government wanted to keep secret, as the Cold War was then in full swing. This new material is rich in insight, revealing that Albert Schweitzer the myth, the modern saint, "The Greatest Man in the World", was indeed human, and whose long and arduous work in West Africa, paved the way, or at least set an example for present day and future humanitarians.

What is most striking about this man was his incredible capacity for work. He held Doctorates in three major subjects - theology, philosophy and medicine and was an accomplished organist and world expert on Bach. Schweitzer's published works in theology, philosophy and music remain in circulation, which continue to shed light in these areas. His "Reverence for Life" philosophy on the surface, appears almost too simplistic, but on closer examination, is a worldview that encompasses an attitude of mind, that if practiced, could radically change the world for the better. Schweitzer was not a philosopher of the abstract variety, at home in an ivory tower creating complex theories that only a select few would understand. As the man said and wrote many times, "he lived his argument" and his accomplishments certainly prove this.

Brabazon's biography of this great man is thorough. He delightfully brings together Schweitzer's letters, books, articles, and interviews with friends, colleagues and family, including sermons from his early career as a young minister, that tells us that his love of Jesus and the foundations of his philosophy was already set in his mind and spirit, well before embarking into his long and productive life. Brabazon brings Schweitzer to life in these pages as only a great biographer wholly connected to their subject can do. It is extremely well written and engaging.

If you are only slightly interested in one of the great humanitarians of the twentieth century, an intellectual, a man of God, Samaritan, healer and example of goodness, read this engrossing biography - a labor of love and inspiring in every sense.

Editorial Review:

The second edition of this biography of humanitarian Albert Schweitzer has been updated to include documents discovered since the work was originally written, including the letters between Schweitzer and Helene Bresslau written during the ten years before their marriage. This correspondence tells of a complicated love story and throws a completely new light on Schweitzer's personality and the genesis of his decision to go to Africa. The author's ongoing research has also included more recently released documents from the State Department regarding Schweitzer's battle with the United States Atomic Energy Commission to halt H-bomb tests.

LSD: My Problem Child

Albert Hofmann

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

problem children can do great things 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

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.

Editorial Review:

This is the story of LSD told by a concerned yet hopeful father, organic chemist Albert Hofmann. He traces LSD's path from a promising psychiatric research medicine to a recreational drug sparking hysteria and prohibition.

We follow Dr. Hofmann's trek across Mexico to discover sacred plants related to LSD, and listen in as he corresponds with other notable figures about his remarkable discovery.

Underlying it all is Dr. Hofmann's powerful conclusion that mystical experience may be our planet's best hope for survival. Whether induced by LSD, meditation, or arising spontaneously, such experiences help us to comprehend "the wonder, the mystery of the divine‹in the microcosm of the atom, in the macrocosm of the spiral nebula, in the seeds of plants, in the body and soul of people."

More than sixty years after the birth of Albert Hofmann's problem child, his vision of its true potential is more relevant, and more needed, than ever.

Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul

Clare Dunne

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A penetrating examination of the man and his ideas 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 13 people found this review helpful.

This wonderfully illustrated, spiritual biography of one of psychology's most original thinkers will be welcomed with enthusiasm by Jungian scholars and students. This penetrating examination of the man and his ideas which helped revolutionize psychology and our understanding of the mind is multidimensional and highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul is a spiritual biography of one of the most important figures of the twentieth century, a man whose ideas revolutionized modern psychology. Through over 150 full-color and black and white illustrations, including rare photographs and never-before-seen artwork by Jung himself, his life and work comes vividly to life. By combining Jung’s voice with the impressions of his contemporaries, author Claire Dunne gives the reader a multi-dimensional view of this complex genius. A book that will deepen and expand the understanding of both novice and expert.

“Claire Dunne’s sensitivity of feeling for her subject allows us to meet Jung in all his diverse complexity — his contradictions and paradox, human failings and strength, his greatness and creativity. We meet a man at once transparent to transcendence but also earthy, practical, a craftsman of wood and stone as well as souls.” — From the introduction by Jean Houston.

Jung (Past Masters)

Anthony Stevens

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A new volume in the acclaimed Past Masters series, this is the most lucid and up-to-date introduction to the thought of Carl Gustav Jung available. Though he was a prolific writer and an original thinker of vast erudition, Jung lacked a gift for clear exposition and his ideas are less widely appreciated than they deserve to be. In his extremely readable introduction, Anthony Stevens--one of Britain's foremost Jungian analysts--clearly explains the basic concepts of Jungian psychology: the collective unconcious, complex, archtype, shadow, persona, anima, animus, and the individuation of the Self. He examines Jung's views on such disparate subjects as myth, religion, alchemy, "synchronicity," and the psychology of gender differences. He also devotes separate chapters to the stages of life, Jung's theory of psychological types, the interpretation of dreams, the practice of Jungian analysis, and to the unjust allegation that Jung was a Nazi sympathizer. Finally, he argues that Jung's visionary powers and profound spirituality have helped many to find an alternative set of values to the arid materialism prevailing in Western society.

A small masterpiece of insight and concision, this volume offers the perfect introduction to one of the twentieth century's most important thinkers.

Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life

Hugh Brogan

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Complete Understanding of Tocqueville 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I have been using Tocqueville's teachings in my college classes for years. However, it has been difficult to piece together exactly how his thought process came together. Brogan has brought this process together so beautifully in this book. Thank you.

Excellent Biography; 4.5 Stars 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This very enjoyable book is an excellent study of the very interesting French writer and politician Alexis de Tocqueville. Known best for his analysis of contemporary America, de Tocqueville is a notable figure in the history of political thought and a key source for the history of 19th century America. Brogan's Tocqueville is an essentially conservative figure. The descendent of relatively liberal aristocrats under the Ancien Regime, a number of whom were executed during the Terror, Tocqueville grew up in a legitimist household that detested the Bonapartist state and feared the radicalism that led to the Terror. Tocqueville, however, was too intelligent and preceptive to be a dogmatic Throne and Altar conservative. Following his famous trip to the USA in the early 1830s, he published Democracy in America, a case study in how a liberal society dedicated to political equality, property rights, and respect for law could produce lasting stability. Brogan points out well that Democracy in America, while about American democracy, was inspired by concerns about the role of democracy in France. At the same time, while Democracy affirmed a liberal vision, Brogan is careful to point out that it was a somewhat conservative version of liberalism and that Tocqueville did not really understand important aspects of American democracy. He didn't really understand the role of Congress and appears to have been completely clueless about the crucial role of the party system in providing stability.
Tocqueville's failure to understand crucial aspects of the American democratic system would prove to be hindrance in Tocqueville's political career. Brogan devotes much of the book to a thoughtful description of Tocqueville the politician. More than anything else, his political career shows his essential conservatism. At times, his fear of unrest led him to support distinctly illiberal policies. Like many of his contemporaries, Tocqueville doesn't seem to understand the changes being brought about by the industrialization of Europe and to his last days, he had a fear of urban unrest and the nascent working class.
Brogan shows very well that his last great work, the very interesting Ancien Regime and the French Revolution, should be interpreted in good measure as a critique of the Second Empire. Tocqueville's contemporary preoccupations clearly influenced the themes of his last major work.
Tocqueville is often compared with Montesquieu and this is quite apt. Its clear from Brogan's account that Tocqueville's version of liberalism and democracy was one in the tradition of classical 18th century republicanism. He would definitely have preferred a society with democratic elements but also with institutions that allowed a powerful voice for a principled elite. This vision, shared by people like John Adams and even James Madison in his early constitutional proposals, essentially evaporated in the early years of the American democracy. Tocqueville was pursuing something that had really become anachronistic in his own time.
Brogan writes affectionately but objectively about Tocqueville. This book is written very well with a nice combination of the primary narrative and enough background information to be informative but not over power the narrative.

Editorial Review:

Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the greatest political thinkers of all time. Born a French aristocrat, he lost nearly his entire family in the Reign of Terror, and he spent most of his adult life struggling for liberty under the unsuccessful regimes of nineteenth-century France. 

At age twenty-five he travelled to America and encountered democracy for the first time. This firsthand experience contributed to his incisive writing on liberty and democracy. The ancien régime launched the scholarly study of the French Revolution, and Democracy in America remains the best book ever written by a European about the United States. This is a brilliant account of his life.

La Doctora: The Journal of an American Doctor Practicing Medicine on the Amazon River

Linnea Smith

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This doctor still makes house calls. In 1990, Dr. Linnea Smith went on vacation. The result? She abandoned a thriving medical practice in Wisconsin to serve the Yagua Indians in the deepest part of the Amazon rainforest of Peru alone.

Today, Dr. Smith routinely hears the midnight cry of "Doctora!" from patients facing life-and-death emergencies. Accompany her on house calls where the unknown often awaits. Observe how she treats exotic diseases, alligator bites and complicated births almost a day's journey away from the closest hospital.

Taken straight from the pages of Dr. Smith=9's journal, La Doctora offers readers a rare glimpse into the suspense and drama of practicing medicine in a culture far removed from the sophisticated supplies and supports of 20th-century medicine.

Learn how Dr. Smith evolved from a "strange white woman" to an adopted member of the indigenous community. Her story of adventure, self-discovery and service creates an inspirational testimonial to one person's power to make a lasting difference.

Deep Water Passage

Ann Linnea

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Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This book took me out on the water with the author! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I couldn't put this book down! I was there with every storm, every breathless moment of this incredible journey! I was exhausted when I finished this page-turner strictly from the adventure standpoint, but the emotional journey which parallels the physical is equally compelling and I found the author's honesty to be refreshing and comforting. This is a beautiful book to read and re-read when your own life's journey makes you wonder if you're on the right path and it makes a wonderful gift as well!

Depressing 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I admire this woman for the undertaking, kayaking around Lake Superior. But the descriptions of downpours, thick fog and cold water 24/7 was as depressing as her thoughts of her lost friend. Beautifully written, this book is not for the joyful-at-heart as it touches on a subject we all must face with time: the passing of a loved one and mid-life doubts.

The book worked because as the journey moved on around the lake, Ann described the boulders, the lichen, the flora and the immediate surroundings, all which were backdrops to her thoughts.

There was a distinctive difference in the wilderness between the Canadian and American sides of Lake Superior that she detailed along the way. Fewer but more interesting people were found on the Canadian side and some of the shore descriptions were so detailed I could smell the water and trees.

But there were times I fast-forwarded to get away from the depressing parts (when she talked about old times with her dead friend) and read more of the adventure of the trip, as she and her partner amassed miles, met up with friends or strangers along the shore, built a campsite for the night, etc. That she was able to finish the entire circumference is in itself amazing, not because she did it (she is afterall an endurance athlete) but because of the strong demons she had to fight inside.

I recommend this for people who love the seas, lakes, kayaking and pushing oneself to ones physical limits.

Editorial Review:

Chronicles the author's midlife spiritual journey, during which she spent sixty-five days kayaking around Lake Superior--the first woman to perform such a feat--while facing dangerous elements and reassessing her life. Reprint.

The Death of Sigmund Freud: The Legacy of His Last Days

Mark Edmundson

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“The Death of Sigmund Freud offers a compelling redescription of why the founder of psychoanalysis retains his relevance today…a stirring account of Freud's final months in Vienna…This is the disruptive legacy of Freud's last year, and Edmundson has found the words to bring it alive today.”—Los Angeles Times

When Hitler invaded Austria in March of 1938, Sigmund Freud was among the 175,000 Viennese Jews dreading Nazi occupation. Though Freud was near the end of his life—eighty-one years old, battling cancer of the jaw—and Hitler’s rise on the world stage was just beginning, the fates of these two historical giants were nonetheless intertwined. In this gripping and revelatory historical narrative, Mark Edmundson traces Hitler and Freud’s oddly converging lives, then zeroes in on Freud’s escape to London, where he published his last and most provocative book, Moses and Monotheism.

By taking a close look at Freud’s last years—years that coincided with the onset of the Second World War—Edmundson probes Freud’s prescient ideas about the human proclivity to embrace fascism in politics and fundamentalism in religion. At a time when these forces are once again shaping world events, The Death of Sigmund Freud suggests new and vital ways to view Freud’s legacy.

Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision

Louis Breger

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Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Advance Praise for Louis Breger's FREUD
"Louis Breger's rich and readable study of Freud offers a thoughtfully complex account of a great but flawed man. Everyone with an interest in psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic movement will enjoy exploring, grappling with, arguing about, and learning from this absolutely fascinating book."-JUDITH VIORST, AUTHOR,
Necessary Losses and Imperfect Control "Written with brilliance and insight, Freud: Darkness in the Midst of Vision takes us on a daring, at times chilling, journey to the early years of psychoanalysis, revealing both the human weaknesses and the professional triumphs of its founder. . . . Cutting away the accretions of fabrication and romance cloaking Sigmund Freud, Breger has reinstated historical honesty to its rightful, high place, but the figure who emerges at the end of this breathlessly honest biography is quite as extraordinary as the legend concocted by Freud and perpetuated by his followers. Fresh, vigorous, and lucid."-PHILIP M. BROMBERG, Ph.D., CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
"Louis Breger's fine new biography of Freud is a welcome contribution to the existing literature and a corrective to much of it. It is also one of the best intellectual histories of the origin and development of psychoanalysis I have read in recent years. Breger is to be commended for his original research, the objectivity of his views, and the elegance and grace of his writing."-DEIRDRE BAIR, NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER FOR Samuel Beckett AND AUTHOR OF A FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF CARL JUNG
"Finally, the Freud biography we have long been waiting for. With the history of Europe in the background, we follow with fascination Freud's journey from an impoverished childhood filled with losses to worldly fame, ending in exile in England. We come to understand the impact of Freud's difficult personality on the development of his brilliant as well as questionable theoretical ideas. Breger writes with compassion and fairness toward Freud as well as toward the many interesting personalities who cross his life, with their complicated relationships to the great man."-SOPHIE FREUD, FREUD'S GRANDDAUGHTER AND PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF SOCIAL WORK, SIMMONS COLLEGE
"Louis Breger's magnificent book is the definitive work on the personal psychology of Sigmund Freud. it brilliantly illuminates how the darkness in Freud's vision has affected psychoanalytic history. This book will be central for psychoanalytic scholarship for decades to come."-GEORGE E. ATWOOD, Ph.D., PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY