Cover Image: Knowledge in a Nutshell: Carl Jung

Knowledge in a Nutshell: Carl Jung

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

Ongoing Therapy
I was reading other books at the same time but still it took me months to finish Knowledge in a Nutshell: Carl Jung by Gary Bobroff–it’s a slog reading about the life and work of a turn of the nineteenth century Swiss scholar and the father (along with Sigmund Freud) of analytical psychology but much like the therapy with my own Jungian therapist, the work to understand is ongoing. Woody Allen once said about his own psychoanalysis, “On balance, I would say it has been helpful, but not as helpful as I had hoped …,” and “there were no dramatic moments, there were no insights, there were no tears, there was, you know, nothing special.” Yeah, I get it. This book is informative but sorta boring and maybe the Wikipedia page would have held the extent of my interest not a 240-page book.

Wendy Ward
http://wendyrward.tumblr.com/

Was this review helpful?

The parts of this book that are biographical work very well as a portrait of CG Jung. The author has collected lots of great photos. The sections that delve into the teachings and practice fall a bit short though--it sometimes reads like a practitioner's guide but doesn't really have the depth to back that up. But all in all, if you need to have a crash course in Jung, this is a workable guide.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for a digital ARC for the purpose of an unbiased review.

Was this review helpful?

A good overview of Jungian psychology, which is fascinating and which I knew very little about (aside from introvert and extrovert). It was a lot of information to pack into a relatively small book, and it would've been helpful to have more useful graphics (rather than an endless variety of photographs of Jung and Freud).

Was this review helpful?

Carl Jung, famous in his field and this book certainly provides further knowledge about Jung and his finding into psychology. It isn't a book anyone is just going to pick up and read and to be honest as someone who just has an interest it was probably a little too much for me but fascinating none-the-less. Certainly provided the feel of a text book and felt like it would be an addition to someones studies or profession.

Was this review helpful?

Carl Jung was one of the legendary figures in psychiatry alongwith Freud and Alder.
As it is common that geniuses and people who are ahead of their time are difficult to understand.
But thanks to books like this which make things easier to grasp.
This book is a summary of life and works of Carl Jung.
It has wonderful illustrations to make it highly readable work. It covers most important aspects of Jungian Psychology.
It is a book with wide base and covers popular culture and religion also.
After you have read it you sit there feeling that Jung was not that difficult to understand afterall.
There was no one to tell main things useful for as amateure reader.
But when you listen in voice view screen reader, references given at end of each chapter are little irritating. I wish they could be clubbed together at end of the book.
No Normal readr is going to read that deep.
A very good book that should sit in your psychology bookshelf.

Was this review helpful?

My mother was a Jungian psychologist but I honestly didn't know a lot about Jung before reading this. I found it fascinating to realize how much of our modern psychology and culture comes from Jung, from the Breyer-Miggs personality test (INFP anyone?) to the terms extrovert, introvert and shadow self and much more.

The book reads a lot like a textbook and I'm not sure if it's intended to be one or not. It's not much of a light read but it's a great primer on the man who influenced psychology every bit as much as his friend and mentor, Freud (the book also goes into the many things they disagreed on). I appreciated getting to know the man as much as his theories. There was a lot of really interesting material.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

Was this review helpful?

I guess this book delivers what it says it will.. Jungian concepts in watered down highly selectively cheerful and simplistic terms. If it will have effect of people's looking deeper into his ideas, that's no bad thing, but if you read this and stop here, you have distorted view of what his psychology is about .. you might also think to apply some ideas that are erroneously suggested as therapy .. and that would not be cool. There's so much more . !! It can be dangerous in that way ... Jungianism has truly moved on from this ...

Was this review helpful?

Carl Jung was the first psychologist that I read as a young person and he greatly expanded my world view. He studied with Freud but believed in a collective unconscious. Many of the terms he coined are not common language like introvert vs extrovert, having a feminine and masculine side to the personality, and synchronicity. His studies were expanded on by Joseph Campbell to include world anthropology studies. This book is an excellent overview of a fascinating man.

Was this review helpful?

This novel was very insightful into the psyche, unconsciousness, personality, and more topics. This was filled with a lot of great knowledge and was very easy to read and understand. It was written well and developed well. If you are looking for a good non-fiction read, then pre-order this one.

Was this review helpful?