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Rating: 
Summary: Insightful Analytical Psychology
Review: A very insightful and meaningful book, 11 intriguing essays in 244 pages. Jung is a deeper thinker, and I think not reductive like Freud and Adler tended to be. He makes no claim to dogmatism or absolutes. Jung really hits on the psyche and transcends the borders of rational intelligence into areas of the unconscious expressions in symbolism and images.
I am going to argue against another reviewer here that gave this book 4 stars as being outdated. When I look at the present collective societal structure and current cultural pattern apart from the minority of advanced individuals, I can see the postmodern man has regressed far from the modern man of the 1930's in search of a soul. Of course there as been advances individually, but on a collective level; fundamentalism, religious literalism, nationalism, patriotism and one-sided thinking This has grown in major proportions as opposed to the other way around and it is far more serious than most even realize and patterns after historical events of very similiar nature.
The first essay on dream-analysis hits on the idea that dreams are very hard to interpret and suggests that understanding the circumstances and conditions of the conscious life is significant in relation to the dreams of the unconscious life.
On the problems of psychotherapy, Jung relates four stages of analytical psychology, the confessional, explanation, education and transformation
"The great decisions of human life have as a rule far more to do with the instincts and other mysterious unconscious factors than with conscious will and well-meaning reasonableness. The shoe that fits one person pinches another; there is no recipe for living that suits all cases. Each of us carries his own life-form - an indeterminable form which cannot be superseded by any other." p. 61
The essay on the personality types is short, non-exhaustive and briefly relates Jung's ideas of the introvert, the extrovert and the 4 basic types consisting of those persons who are thinkers, feelers, sensory and intuitive.
In his essay on the stages of life, Jung ventures beyond childhood into early adulthood and the expansion of the self into sexual desires and masculine and feminine traits and how after somewhere in the 40's there begins a contraction of the self where men may acquire more feminine traits and women more masculine. In the second half of life less is needed to educate his conscious will but more aim towards the inner being, until old age where one leaves the rational self and retreats into the psyche as children yet in a different sense.
Jung acknowledges the validity of Freud and Adler and their valuable contributions, yet Jung sees Freud's sexual reduction to all neurosis as limiting, as well as Adler's will to power over inferiority as the sole cause. Both views have proven themselves as valid in many cases, yet Jung finds there is far much more levels in what he calls "value intensities," which underlie many complexes.
Jung also briefly goes into the archaic man's interpretation of all chance events having external meanings and causes, or as causal occurrences and the contrast of the modern man's ability to see the majority of chance and unexplainable events as the human imagination, as the perception of the human. Also the same ability of assumptions in the archaic man, can be seen in the modern who uses science as the foundation over the supernatural.
Jung's essay on psychology and literature is my favorite essay. It hits on something I both think of and am affected by almost every day. I found this entirely meaningful and very much profound. In this he writes of two types of writers; those that explain all they write of and those that have visions where their writing is obscure and needs the psychologist to read into. It is those visionaries that are the most inspiring. Here there exists those as in The Shepherd of Hermas, in Dante, in the second part of Faust, in Nietzsche's Dionysian exuberance, in Wagner's Nihelungenriing, in Spitteler's Olympischer Fruhling, in the poetry of William Blake, in the lpnerotomachia of the monk Francesco Colonna, and in Jacob Boehme's philosophic and poetic stammerings.
Jung speaks of the human intuition that points to things that are unknown and hidden, and by our very nature are secret and that throughout human history this unfathomable primordial source of creative experience been expressed in images, as in the sun-wheel, in attempting to point to this. The artist and poet will resort to mythology and images which only appear to occur in dreams, cases of insanity, narcotic states and eclipses of consciousness.
"A great work of art is like a dream; for all its apparent obviousness it does not explain itself and is never unequivocal. A dream never says; "you ought," or "this is the truth." It presents an image in much the same way as nature allows a plant to grow, and we must draw our own conclusions." p. 171
I really can't even begin to touch on all the vital, significant and soul inspiring information that is loaded in the pages of this book and I think as I try I am taking away from what's written far better than what I'll ever write. I recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Modern Man Review
Review: I have always been deeply suspicious of the field of psychology. While I may not go so far as Richard Feynman did when he referred to them as the "modern day counterparts to witchdoctors," the discipline does make me rather nervous (if pushed to extremes).That said, I have always respected Jung as an intellectually honest scientist. I may not agree with all his views, but I appreciate that fact that he is not the usual run-of-the-mill sterotyping pigeon-holer (as most psychologists are). His concept of the collective unconscious (whether it is correct or not) is rather fascinating. I do believe there is something to it, as these common archetypal images incessantly end up in our dreams and mythologies. It is not by chance that Joseph Campbell was so influenced by Jung's ideas as to incorporate many of them into his exegesis of mythology. The present book is my all-time favorite book that is written in the psychology field. The book covers a diverse set of topics which Jung engages with his remarkable acumen. Some of the issues raised are the problems with psychotherapy, the contrasts between his views and those of Freud's (which led to their falling out), psychology and literature, and the spiritual problems of modern man. One of the most interesting chapters of the book is entitled "Archaic Man." Jung details the psyche of tribes in such places as sub-Saharan Africa and New Guinea. Many of these cultures live the same way today that their ancestors lived thousands of years ago. Their psychological state, like their way of life, has been frozen in time. In essence, they are much the same as primitive man; the same as our own forefathers. Jung dicusses how they tend to explain everything via supernatural happenings. Much of the "reasoning" is anti-logic and extremely ad-hoc. However, Jung points out how such a dangerous and volatile envioronment as the jungle may coerce most anyone into thinking in ways which we "civilized" people would interpret as superstitous. One of the underlying themes of the book is how we as a human race have become overly-logical today. It may be that primitive tribes may have something to teach us, after all. Somehow, we have descended into apathy after existing for thousands of years as a race that explained everything via the supernatural. This book is a wonderful dissection of the post-modern current state. It is highly recommend for any modern man in search of a soul.
Rating:
Summary: A rich and filling anthology
Review: The eleven chapters in this work are lectures (except for one) delivered by Jung prior to 1933 (date of publication of this book). For those of you who already own some or most of Jung's Collected Works (CW), it may be unnecessary to purchase this title. I found this out too late since in my haste I failed to check the table of contents graciously provided for by Amazon on this web page. So for the benefit of those who are intending to buy this title I have listed below all the chapters and the corresponding volume of the CW where these same essays can be found (note: translations in this work and those in the CW may differ slightly as exemplified by the change in the title of the first chapter). Table of Contents 1. Dream Analysis in Its Practical Application
["The Practical Use of Dream Analysis", in CW 16] 2. Problems of Modern Psychotherapy
[in CW 16] 3. The Aims of Psychotherapy
[in CW 16] 4. A Psychological Theory of Types
[in CW 6 (one of the four essays in the appendix)] 5. The Stages of Life
[in CW 8] 6. Freud and Jung--Contrasts
[in CW 4] 7. Archaic Man
[in CW 10] 8. Psychology and Literature
[in CW 15] 9. The Basic Postulates of Analytical Psychology
[in CW 8] 10. The Spiritual Problem of Modern Man
[in CW 10] 11. Psychotherapists or the Clergy
[in CW 11] Notwithstanding the fact that all chapters can be found in the CW, this anthology of Jung's essays is a rich and filling smorgasbord of his thoughts, ideas, theories, and opinions about the psyche around the time he was 50. Although I am disappointed that I purchased a title I practically don't need (having a good number of the CW already) I can hardly give this anthology less than five stars. Nearly all of Jung's works deserve nothing less. And whether you're new to Jung or not, a must-read is his _Memories, Dreams, Reflections_, a work that he undertook during the last few years of his life, one which is definitely not to be found in the CW.
Rating:
Summary: meaning in a culture of meaninglessness
Review: This book is Jung's answer to the question of where the soul is to be found in our soulless age--namely, in the depths of the psyche. Technical in places.
Rating:
Summary: Wow....at a loss of words...
Review: This book took me more than 16 straight hours to read...It's not a skim-through book. It covers various aspects of physchoanalysis, etc. Everything from dream interpretation to the differences in his and Freud's views. It was worth every minute of my time, and I look at the world completely differently after reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Jung book for the layperson
Review: This book was written with the layman in mind, the book examines the average person's need to find his soul. All of the ideas in this book are still as valid as they were when the book was first written. But the need for this book is more than ever.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent work, but one problem
Review: This is an excellent introduction to Jungian psychology - it's well presented, clear, concise, and full of information. It proved in my case to be very stimulating, and I found myself pondering the ideas presented for some time. Why then, do I award only four stars? Because the title is no longer appropriate. It is not a book exclusively about modern man, but rather, about man as he was seventy years ago. Some of the concepts seem to describe very accurately the state of mind that mankind was experiencing in Jung's time, but today they won't be observed with any great consistency - they are no longer appropriate. That being said, the book outlines the general principles in such a logical way that one may apply them to the world around them, seeing the similarities and differences between Jung's world and their own for themselves. Worthwhile reading for anyone interested in psychology, or simply expanding their view of life - puts a wide range of life's issues in perspective.
Rating:
Summary: The Unconscious: Friend or Foe?
Review: When I was a kid growing up all I ever heard about was Freud this and Freud that where the Psyche is concerned. Jung on the otherhand was like an all but forgotten dream, vague and nebulous at best. American society was coming out of a long dark night where sexuality was concerned. When I was a kid Lucy and Desi didn't even sleep in the same bed. Heaven only knows how Lucy ever got pregnant. Some say that the sexual revolution of the 60's validated much of what Freud had to say. We are machine like animals, driven by biological functions for biology's sake. While this is certainly true to an extent, is this all we are? Jung didn't think so.
As time goes by Jung is becoming better known. Truth has a will of its own. Besides the above mentioned reason for the popularity of Freudian Pyschology in the early and middle part of the last century there were several other reasons for the slow acceptance of Jung. He was labled anti-semitic and a Nazi sympathizer. Freud was a Jew. Jung was an early supporter of Hitler. There was a feud between Freud and Jung. Jung, the heir-apparent to Freud, found Freud limited in his analytic approach and struck out on his own. Freud was a little too pessimistic where Jung was concerned. A little too anal. Their feud got pretty nasty at times. If you want to know more about the details of Jung's personal and/or professional life you can dig further if you have nothing better to do. Personally, I am not a member of any personality cult. No one is perfect. To make a God of anyone seems a little childish to me. We can respect each other without worshiping each other. I digress. Let me just say that Jung was not anti-semitic. Nor did he support Germany during WWII. By 1937 Jung had officially denounced Nazism in general and Hitler in particular. Jung grew and changed.
To compare Jung to Freud is to compare Einstein to Newton. For some of us this may require a quantum leap of consciousness. Where Freud saw our unconscious as a foe, Jung saw our unconscious as capable of being either foe or friend. As an integral part of our whole selves. Might as well try and make friends with ourselves. Our conscious mind is fragile where our unconscious is concerned. Rational processes are relatively new to the evolutionary history of our species. Even the bravest of us have a bit of misoneism where the unknown is concerned. Jung was a very brave soul. He dared go where few Western minds had gone before. There is much for the searcher to learn from Jung. Where Freud saw in part, Jung saw in whole.
Today Jungian thought is coming to the forefront of our collective consciousness. Freud is becoming passe. "Modern Man in Search of a Soul" is an excellent place to begin one's journey of self discovery. To dream the impossible dream. To know our essential self. To follow our unconscious guide to higher levels of consciousness. To be all that we can be.
Rating:
Summary: The best place to start reading Jung
Review: _Modern Man in Search of a Soul_ is the first book you should read by Jung. That is not to say that it is particularly easy; it is by no means a watered-down layman's version of Jung. This is Jung at full intensity. It is an ideal introduction simply because it deals with his more accessable concepts, such as the actual practice of psychotherapy, the doctor-patient relationship, the types of things a doctor should say to his patients, ect. It also deals with broader sociological issues and does not get bogged down with esoteric concepts such as alchemy and ancient mythology. Overall, I would say this is a perfectly crafted philosophical/psychological work. It is potent, miserly, well-written, well-translated, and never gets bogged down with unreadable, esoteric sections. It is not as far-reaching and revolutionary as some of Jung's works, but it is a magnificent work of art pared down to the absolute essentials. Overall it is one of the top five books ever written, by any author, from any genre or time period. Also, as a side note, I would recomend _Psychotherapy East and West_ by the American author Alan Watts as a companion piece to Jung's _Modern Man in Search of a Soul_.
Rating:
Summary: The best place to start reading Jung
Review: _Modern Man in Search of a Soul_ is the first book you should read by Jung. That is not to say that it is particularly easy; it is by no means a watered-down layman's version of Jung. This is Jung at full intensity. It is an ideal introduction simply because it deals with his more accessable concepts, such as the actual practice of psychotherapy, the doctor-patient relationship, the types of things a doctor should say to his patients, ect. It also deals with broader sociological issues and does not get bogged down with esoteric concepts such as alchemy and ancient mythology. Overall, I would say this is a perfectly crafted philosophical/psychological work. It is potent, miserly, well-written, well-translated, and never gets bogged down with unreadable, esoteric sections. It is not as far-reaching and revolutionary as some of Jung's works, but it is a magnificent work of art pared down to the absolute essentials. Overall it is one of the top five books ever written, by any author, from any genre or time period. Also, as a side note, I would recomend _Psychotherapy East and West_ by the American author Alan Watts as a companion piece to Jung's _Modern Man in Search of a Soul_.
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