conflagrationinthenight's review against another edition
3.0
I'm not huge on psychoanalysis, but this was pretty interesting. It made more sense to me than Freud ever did.
girgir81's review against another edition
3.5
A 3.5 from me for this book just because, in all honesty, I believe that I didn’t fully grasp it.
It has been on my TBR list for over a year and when I finally got it, it was not what I expected. It is complicated and complex. It kicked my butt! It probably didn’t help that I was having a few really tough, long days at the office after which my brain was not functioning at full capacity.
In general, I do agree with the main idea behind the book: that the unconscious mind is very powerful and affects our behavior heavily and the way it normally communicates with our consciousness is through dreams. I also agree that dreams cannot be interpreted in just one universal way where one size fits all. They are coded with deeply personal signals and meanings that only the dreamer can fully comprehend. Even then, the dreamer would need the help of a professional to decipher them.
Deciphering the dreams is where Jung lost me though. I am not sure if I misunderstood what he was explaining, but I feel that, to be fair to this book, I would definitely have to let it simmer a bit now and then get another reread perhaps in a year or so. Why, you might ask? Just because it feels unfinished to me and psychology is a field I really like getting into.
I owe this book a second chance and it will get it…
It has been on my TBR list for over a year and when I finally got it, it was not what I expected. It is complicated and complex. It kicked my butt! It probably didn’t help that I was having a few really tough, long days at the office after which my brain was not functioning at full capacity.
In general, I do agree with the main idea behind the book: that the unconscious mind is very powerful and affects our behavior heavily and the way it normally communicates with our consciousness is through dreams. I also agree that dreams cannot be interpreted in just one universal way where one size fits all. They are coded with deeply personal signals and meanings that only the dreamer can fully comprehend. Even then, the dreamer would need the help of a professional to decipher them.
Deciphering the dreams is where Jung lost me though. I am not sure if I misunderstood what he was explaining, but I feel that, to be fair to this book, I would definitely have to let it simmer a bit now and then get another reread perhaps in a year or so. Why, you might ask? Just because it feels unfinished to me and psychology is a field I really like getting into.
I owe this book a second chance and it will get it…
bo0kf4n2's review against another edition
A bit dense for what I was looking for at the time. Will come back to it though!
eyeseyed's review against another edition
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
jocelynw's review against another edition
4.0
Despite being back for a second round decades later with my Jungian Buddhist Favorite Therapist Ever, I had never actually directly read any Jung and I thought I should correct that.
david_rhee's review against another edition
4.0
Some authors produce such a prodigious amount of quality written work, it excites envy or amazement, or both. Bertrand Russell is one who comes to mind. Carl Jung is also in the same class.
Man and his Symbols was the object of Jung's tireless focus and dedication in his final days of illness. He acted as editor for the other chapters penned by his colleagues. Jung's essay which opens the book spans about a third of its total length and is every bit just another example of his clear, concise and well supported presentation. As one who has read several of Jung's works over quite a few years, I enjoyed very much the review of his archetypal theory and the new light shined upon its many aspects by Jung's wealth of examples taken from both antiquity and contemporary life.
I was grateful to the authors of the other essays for their alternate points of view and for their clarification of some of Jung's more unusual ideas, such as synchronicity. Applications to art interpretation, an extensive account of a case subject who was led to self realization by dream analysis, and possible links between psychology and the physical sciences are all put forth as examples of Jung's widely ranging reach. They wrote their essays in concert as if this effort was their tribute to the man whose work has touched so many.
Man and his Symbols was the object of Jung's tireless focus and dedication in his final days of illness. He acted as editor for the other chapters penned by his colleagues. Jung's essay which opens the book spans about a third of its total length and is every bit just another example of his clear, concise and well supported presentation. As one who has read several of Jung's works over quite a few years, I enjoyed very much the review of his archetypal theory and the new light shined upon its many aspects by Jung's wealth of examples taken from both antiquity and contemporary life.
I was grateful to the authors of the other essays for their alternate points of view and for their clarification of some of Jung's more unusual ideas, such as synchronicity. Applications to art interpretation, an extensive account of a case subject who was led to self realization by dream analysis, and possible links between psychology and the physical sciences are all put forth as examples of Jung's widely ranging reach. They wrote their essays in concert as if this effort was their tribute to the man whose work has touched so many.
ajlewis2's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
I found the first part, "Approaching the Unconscious," by Jung very helpful in bringing some of his thinking about the unconscious into a format I could grasp. Both sections by von Franz seemed to embellish what Jung had said. The other two sections went into too much detail, one on art and the other on one man's therapy and dreams. Those two sections are the reason I rated 4 instead of 5 on this book. The big thing I got from the book was that Jung was not a finished product, his thought constantly progressed and those who are in the process of individuation will experience the same sort of feeling of never having all the answers. It makes me happy for my own sense of just not knowing and being comfortable with that. I'd especially recommend the first and last chapters. I'd probably been okay skipping the rest.
tabsfchnr's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I had high hopes, but it never really clicked.
The intro even warned of this: "Jung explains concepts often jumping around in a Irish jig, swirling up and up until you are reborn, high in the intellectual stratosphere where these ideas were conceived and aware of your psychological infancy." (paraphrasing)
But this crystallisation of the idea never happened, and I was left full of doubt. I first started to lose faith in the concepts when these highly subjective interpretations of dreams was made:
- it seemed as though you can attach any meaning to the dream, so long as it is based on some old story
- but not even significant stories
- fairy tales and old children's stories that I'd never even heard of somehow symbolise something fundamental to my existence
It is said again and again how psychology can't be based on empirical evidence like physics. But it seems like they've tried mighty hard.
- incredibly theorised, as if they're trying to take account of every form in which this concept can be applied
I really didn't enjoy how dreaming of a friend can mean literally your friend in one case, but in another it can mean a different version of you... This is before we even get onto how modern art expresses these concepts.
The circle...
- oh how we went round and round evaluating all the different and contradictory things this can mean
- at this point I literally thought we can just make it mean whatever we need it to mean at that point in time
- perhaps I would have not become so hopeless if it was said to mean a certain thing, carried as a constant through generations. but not if it has 20 different meanings, that the modern artists express not knowingly but sometimes knowingly in accordance with our meaning we want it to have and sometimes not have....
- I almost forgot to mention it doesn't even need to be a circle at all... It can be a splodge that you can interpret as a circle and that will also work!
This combination of whirlwind logic applied across a huge time frame, with a frustrating variety of conclusions and interpretations resulted for me in an expectation-flattening sadness.
If you want to be mystical then great but this is not that. This is a highly intellectualised construction of various instruments used to balance the total concept and take account of any blind spots made. Females have an animus, males have an anima, we all have a "shadow" psyche, our process of individuation is done in four stages (trickster etc.) that is seen in one story in one way, in another story 500 years later in a different way but the same way if you want... any sort of resonance with me was quite mild. Most of the time there was none and I just felt like we had scaffolded a life's accumulation of elaborate hypotheses around something very essential but almost entirely missed.
I'm sure it is me that hasn't worked properly, not the book. I will pick it up again in 20 years.
The intro even warned of this: "Jung explains concepts often jumping around in a Irish jig, swirling up and up until you are reborn, high in the intellectual stratosphere where these ideas were conceived and aware of your psychological infancy." (paraphrasing)
But this crystallisation of the idea never happened, and I was left full of doubt. I first started to lose faith in the concepts when these highly subjective interpretations of dreams was made:
- it seemed as though you can attach any meaning to the dream, so long as it is based on some old story
- but not even significant stories
- fairy tales and old children's stories that I'd never even heard of somehow symbolise something fundamental to my existence
It is said again and again how psychology can't be based on empirical evidence like physics. But it seems like they've tried mighty hard.
- incredibly theorised, as if they're trying to take account of every form in which this concept can be applied
I really didn't enjoy how dreaming of a friend can mean literally your friend in one case, but in another it can mean a different version of you... This is before we even get onto how modern art expresses these concepts.
The circle...
- oh how we went round and round evaluating all the different and contradictory things this can mean
- at this point I literally thought we can just make it mean whatever we need it to mean at that point in time
- perhaps I would have not become so hopeless if it was said to mean a certain thing, carried as a constant through generations. but not if it has 20 different meanings, that the modern artists express not knowingly but sometimes knowingly in accordance with our meaning we want it to have and sometimes not have....
- I almost forgot to mention it doesn't even need to be a circle at all... It can be a splodge that you can interpret as a circle and that will also work!
This combination of whirlwind logic applied across a huge time frame, with a frustrating variety of conclusions and interpretations resulted for me in an expectation-flattening sadness.
If you want to be mystical then great but this is not that. This is a highly intellectualised construction of various instruments used to balance the total concept and take account of any blind spots made. Females have an animus, males have an anima, we all have a "shadow" psyche, our process of individuation is done in four stages (trickster etc.) that is seen in one story in one way, in another story 500 years later in a different way but the same way if you want... any sort of resonance with me was quite mild. Most of the time there was none and I just felt like we had scaffolded a life's accumulation of elaborate hypotheses around something very essential but almost entirely missed.
I'm sure it is me that hasn't worked properly, not the book. I will pick it up again in 20 years.
loving's review against another edition
The later concepts take too much energy for me to presently learn for fun. I’ll return to Jung when my ability to understand psychodynamic concepts is something that’s easier and more enjoyable for me to do in my free time.
I’ve also seen some other reviews that point out sexist theory (not even written by Jung), which is questionable. I’ll have to decide whether when I return to him if I’ll re-read this, or another book of his; one fully by him and not written mostly by students of his.