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Book Review of Carl Jung: The Life and Career of One of History?s Most Influential Psychologists

jjares avatar reviewed on + 3299 more book reviews


The most interesting part of this book is the clear explanation of how and when Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung changed from being admirers of each other to be rivals with differing theories. Freud was an Austrian neurologist while Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. They both dedicated their lives to the exploration of the human brain and its neuroses and psychoses.

The beauty of Jung was his ability to help cure mental illness much faster than Freud. Freud believed in psychoanalysis, which required daily sessions -- for years before any headway was made. (No, the book does not mention this specifically, but I know it from my college training.) Jung spent most of his time in the here-and-now and resolved issues faster. Freud, on the other hand, went back to childhood (and further back), which is why it took so long.

This book makes a point of talking about Jung's interest in mysticism, hypnosis, paranormal phenomena, spiritualism, the unconscious, synchronicity, the collective unconscious, and others. Jung was obviously a brilliant man who didn't live long enough to incorporate the ideas mentioned above into a useful scheme of conventional scientific treatment (and maybe it can't be done).

Looking at the gosh-awful photo on the cover of this book, I chuckled whenever the book mentioned how handsome Carl Jung was. Hard to imagine.