Rating: 
Summary: A book that changed my life
Review: "In April-2000, when an exceptional heat wave had gripped the city of Mumbai in India, a young man, aged 27, stepped out of his house in Mehboob Studio and headed toward Lotus Book House". That was me last year. Over the first 3 months of the year 2000, some strange kind of uneasiness had gripped me.I was feeling divorced from most things and I could not pin down this sense of desolation. Completely led by chance, I ended up picking 'The Outsider'in a bookshop that April. I had no clue who Colin Wilson was or what the book was about. Some manifestation of the acausality principle of Carl Jung was at work I guess. My verdict on the book which is heartfelt and directly from experience(which is the only way one can be true to the book) is that 'The Outsider' is one of the most illuminating books that I have read in my life. The book is a scintillating journey that explores the position of the individual in the cosmos. After reading this book, I have read every single book mentioned in it which is an illustrious list that includes, Sartre's - 'Nausea; Hesse's - Sidhhartha, Narcissus & Goldmund, Steppenwolf, The Magister Ludi; Dostoyvesky's - Crime & Punishment, The Brother's Karamazov..the list is endless. I will recommend it to anyone who wants to explore the question of Man - the individual as against Man - the clock-work mechanism/ cog in the wheel . More importantly, the book is an experience; whatever I have written is only a description of that experience. An experience and its description can never be the same. This principle holds true for 'The outsider'. The reader will realise as he reads that the concepts and survival mechanisms of day-to-day banalities sorrounding his consciousness dissolve and that in some way this book gives rise to that 'oceanic feeling' of enlightenment.
Rating: 
Summary: The most profound book that I have yet read. Excellent.
Review: An attempt by the author to get behind the expressions of what he terms outsiders, but in reality are people who attempt to break free from society's constraints and illusions. Rather like the attempt to transform one's life from a catarpillar into a butterfly. Where most people never get beyond the catarpillar stage. Explains the real struggle of those who can no longer accept deception and attempt to seek personal unification, revealing what many great works of art, poetry, and literature attempt to express. The Outsider is the visionary beneficiary when he/she succeeds, but a terrible burden if he/she fails. What the Outsider brings is transcendence from ordinary existence and ultimately is the supreme paragon, and the prophet. Primarily a literative study, with a discussion of such as H.G. Wells, Hemmingway, Dostoevsky, and Tosltoy, it also studies others such as Van Gogh and T.E. Lawrence, and the usual philosophers Nietzsche and Kierkagaard. The message is that prophets, who are those who understand the unpleasant truth for the good of all, are also the most persecuted and misunderstood. It occurred to me that this may have provided philosophical source material for the explosive 60's TV series "The Prisoner". Four stars because it's not for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: All-Time Favorite Book
Review: Changed the way I look at the world. If you have ever been unsatisfied with petty everyday life, then pick up this book!
Rating:
Summary: passionate and amazingly articulate
Review: colin wilson's "the outsider" is a work of massive erudition and obvious personal passion, highlighting perfectly the problems that faced man philosophically in the 20th century and that still face us in the 21st. wilson studies the lives of various 'outsiders' as varied as van gogh and nijinsky, lawrence and nietzsche, and ties together the more recent themes of the existentialists with these creative and intellectual giants. the problem, though, is that wilson doesn't have much in the way of an answer to any of the questions he so poignantly feels and understands. throughout his work (the 'outsider' cycle) he talks constantly about how this general sense of discouragement and purposelessness in literature & the arts is mistaken, but never gets around to the crucial point of actually telling us why. he hints at it, of course--'evolutionary optimism', mystical intuition, but none of it is empirically grounded enough to really convince. we can't disprove wilson's theory that man is developing steadily into a creature of the 'noosphere' or the mind, but we can't prove it either, and nothing in the actual world seems to corroborate his theory. when it comes down to it, (and i'm sure wilson himself would admit this), his answers are religious in nature and are therefore vague and abstract. he admires mystics like boehme and swedenborg because they were in contact with what wilson believes is the 'third level of the mind', and yet a page later he'll admit openly that it is very unlikely that the ordinary individual can gain access to this supposed 'ultimate degree' of concentration even with the utmost effort, which leaves one wondering why he bothers writing about it in the first place. in short, wilson leaves us facing the absurd even as he labors to contrive a solution that may not in fact be there. his work is nonetheless passionate, vivid, and from a man who cares about nothing but these questions.
Rating:
Summary: All-Time Favorite Book
Review: For over 15 years this has been my favorite book. Wilson explicates a thesis - that much of great Western Literature is written by and concerns men who see and feel more deeply than their contemporaries. Perhaps one might regard them as more sensitive. At any rate, such men are alienated-hence outsiders. Such figures include: Hermann Hesse, Van Gogh, Hemmingway, Lawrence of Arabia, H.G. Wells, Albert Camus, Vaslav Nijinsky, Sartre, Tolstoy, and others. This book can be used in many ways: as a primer to existential philosophy, an introduction to religious mysticism, or as an introduction to the work and thoughts some of the greatest artists and writers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Understanding of this book is helped by familiarity with the works and artists Wilson discusses - but it's not necessary. Wilson's discussion of each work/artists is complete enough even without prior exposure. And, indeed, it would be hard to have exposure to all he includes. In a way that, too, is a plus. I used this book as a core curriculum for nearly everything I've studied. I read what Wilson had to say, and if I was interested, I'd then explore those artists myself.
Rating:
Summary: Outsider is too disturbing to put down
Review: I never considered myself being an Outsider.
But now I'm so confused that I don't know
why I'm even existing. 'Outsider' is a definite
life changer. It took me into my own mind and
I'm struggling to get out of it. Colin Wilson
is a underground genius. He has managed what few
authors has done to me. Self torture. I
will never read a Colin Wilson book again.
Isn't there a book available about How to forget 'The Outsider'?
Rating:
Summary: Outsider is too disturbing to put down
Review: I never considered myself being an Outsider.
But now I'm so confused that I don't know
why I'm even existing. 'Outsider' is a definite
life changer. It took me into my own mind and
I'm struggling to get out of it. Colin Wilson
is a underground genius. He has managed what few
authors has done to me. Self torture. I
will never read a Colin Wilson book again.
Isn't there a book available about How to forget 'The Outsider'?
Rating:
Summary: A must read
Review: If you are to read just one book by Colin wilson, this is the one. However, don't be suprised if you end up reading more of Wilson's work. His writing and ideas are uncomparable and it really is dissapointing that most people will never get to learn his life changing words. The Outsider should be read along with all comparative religious literature and is a must have for all free thinkers and "existentialists" or anyone that is interested in expanding their minds and understanding themselves better.
Rating:
Summary: You are not alone
Review: More people have read "Harry Potter" books than Colin Wilson books. So what you might say..True, and that would be qualifying you as an outsider. However, the fact that people seem to not be intereseted in themselves, what they are, and what's their "place" in this world or this reality(ies) is interesting. Isnt't it?
Wilson, in the "Outsider" lays out a study that asks many pivotal questions, questions that most people would label as existentialist. He defines the outsider as a person that "sees too deep but can't help it", a person that instinctively feels he doesnt fit in, becomes troubled by that, and sets out on a personal journey of discovering himself and his position in everything else.
To do this, Wilson studies the message many outsiders have "transmitted" throughout history, may they be philosophers, authors, dancers, painters, artists in general. He looks for parallels amongst them as he tries to interpret and define them, looks for common (but also for uncommon) points, but more importantly looks to detect what it is exactly that disatisfies them about the world they find themselves in.
And he does an extraordinary job at achieving his mission (defining the Outsider is a mission for those familiar with Wilson's works) while inducing provoking thoughts to the reader whether he's an outsider or not.
He also explores the methods of the outsiders he studies. In the end they all emerge as an official club and this is more startling than it might sound. It's the "commonness" among outsiders that's interesting in my opinion.
But, possibly the biggest issue is why does society keep producing Outsiders? Does that mean that as long as Outsiders keep being produced something is "wrong? It more than certainly does.
Any outsiders who will pick up this book to read will not be troubled by the fact that they might be unfamiliar with many artists Wilson studies. In fact, they'll wind up being inspired to study them also. On the other hand, any non-outsiders picking up this book might find themselves frustrated after the first 20-30 pages. And how will you know if you're an outsider or not to begin with? No worries. If you are you more than likely know it already. If you're not sure here's a tremendous and very inspirational book to help you find out. And if you aren't this book might help you understand those that are.
I've read several Colin Wilson books and what keeps amazing is that each and every one i've read is like "progress" for me, a personal progress, he functions like a keymaster handing out keys to those interested, and the fact that his writting style is never inaccessible is an added plus.
The "Outsider" is possibly the best book of its kind and it's no wonder that it brought Wilson some fame and success. It is a paradox though that even though Wilson has written very many illuminating books since then he still remains an "underground author"..Why`Well, i suppose that may have to do with the fact that he's an outsider himself, who, ultimately, will be read by (primarily) outsiders?
Discover that you are not alone.
Rating:
Summary: Buy this book
Review: No, you aren't insane. No, you aren't stupid. No, you aren't a million other despicable things just because your innermost being can't "adjust" or "conform" or "accept." You are an Outsider, and where normal people see order, the Outsider sees chaos, absurdity, childishness...and hope for a clearer vision of what living in an absurd world is all about. Join the non-club!
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