No comments about The Making Of A Surgeon: A Midwestern Chronicle.

No comments about All Things Bright and Beutiful (Vet).

No comments about Louis Pasteur.

No comments about Clara Barton.

No comments about Stress Free One Oh Zee.

5 comments about Carl Gustav Jung.

1. Wanting an introductory overview to C. G. Jung and his work, and reading the editorial reviews that Mr. McLynn has presented an objective and clear account of them, I eagerly picked up this biography, but was disappointed to find it a tendentious polemic relentlessly and repetitively attacking Jung (and, by the way, I am not a "Jungian"), dwelling at unnecessary length on the Freud-Jung relationship and insufficiently on Jung's influence as an original thinker of the XXc, and most signally, failing to present any sort of precis of Jung's seminal ideas that would be helpful to the general reader. Don't bother with this one: wait for a better biography, something on the lines of Peter Gay's Freud: a Life for Our Time.



2. Exhibits little, if any, understanding of the immensity of Jung's work. Try Wehr's biography instead.



3. McLynn doesn't like Jung ideas. Not a problem, really, but then why write a book about him? So the book crawls slowly, unhappily amassing all negative gossip about Jung, leaving the reader ( as probably also it did to the writer), miserable, exhausted, untill, at last the book ends, and a sigh of relief is impossible to avoid. Was this really necessary? Was this a paid, imposed job? This is really a pathography, a subgenre of our sick postmodern times, and I hope that these kind of people never go so far as the write a new life of Christ.



4. This book is an in-depth biography of Carl Gustav Jung, encompassing his private life as well as his scholarly work. It begins with the Jung's ancestors on both his father's and mother's sides, and continues through Jung's death in 1961. McLynn describes Jung's elementary school years, high school, university, and post-graduate training at the Burghoeltzli Mental Hospital. His relationships are treated in great detail, including those with his wife and mistresses, as well as with Freud and other colleagues. Each of his scholarly works is also treated to summary and analysis as it falls into the chronological record of Jung's life. Jung and his contacts left much material behind from which to draw details and anecdotes for this biography, everything from Jung's personal dreams to reactions of notables such as Freud to comments made at dinner parties.
   
   I had very little knowledge of Jung (or Freud) before reading this book, but I feel the book has given me a basic familiarity with the man, and with some of his work. McLynn does a decent job of explaining the complex ideas presented in Jung's scholarly works in a manner that is mostly accessible to those with no training in the field. Nevertheless, he does use some terminology (Jung's?) such as "number one" and "number two" when referring to parts of a single person's personality which remain completely unclear to me.
   
   This is certainly the least sympathetic biography of any person I have ever read. From McLynn's descriptions, Jung was a self-centered bully and polygamist, to just begin a list of his character flaws. From McLynn's account, I thought these aspects of his character were well-known, but when I tried discussing them with psychologist friends, they were disturbed by my repeating such terms, found frequently in the book. Is it because McLynn overplays negative aspects of Jung's personality, or because there are certain generations of American psychologists who continue to deny that Jung was not an unpleasant man? With nothing else to go on besides this book, I have no way to judge the veracity of the claims myself. But to the uninformed reader, the book seems extremely well-researched, and will give an in-depth introduction into the life of one of the most important academic figures of the Twentieth Century.



5. On the positive side, this book contains a lot of interesting information about Jung especially from a personal point of view. Contemporary accounts are presented and where there are conflicting stories the author at least mentioned all the possibilities. Almost the entire first half of the book deals with Jung's interaction with Freud. It is clear that the author prefers Freud. This is also the section of the book were the author allows himself to subjectively dismiss Jungian ideas. The rest of the book is more neutral in analysis though the picture painted is not an attractive one. But Jung may not have been the most likable person. To me the greatest flaw of the work was that I still did not have an appreciation of what made Jung as popular as he was and still is? The book is readable with some interesting information and views but it cannot be the only biography of Jung you read.

1 comments about Every Single Good Day.

1. If you have ever experienced Alzeheimers you will relate to this families plight.

No comments about Adventures Of An Army Nurse In Two Wars (1903).

No comments about Wartime Nurse: One Hundred Years from the Crimea to Korea 1854-1954.

1 comments about Don't Look Down : Staying Aloft on Damaged Wings.

1. I very much enjoyed this book about a fellow diabetic and how she handles her life with diabetes. There is much to be gained by reading about others with the same disease as myself, learning from their coping skills. Ironically, Sue Astrum, tells of her research with kidney disease; only years later to become a recipient of this affliction herself. Despite her many diabetes complications, Ms. Astrum's undaunting spirit keeps her active and open to new experiences. Unfortunately, the author left me wishing she would have elaborated more concerning her life with this devastating disease. I was sorry to see the book end.