Francis Books

Professor Dojun Cook is one rare bird. Not only is he a translator of great learning, he is also a dyed-in-the-wool Zen practitioner.

His years of study and practice with Taizan Maezumi Roshi at the Zen Center of Los Angeles enable him to bring these texts to beautiful clarity.

Reading Dogen Zenji can be a challenging exercise. Translating him is infinitely more so. Dr. Cook has shown himself equal to the task. This book is a great boon to thoughtful Buddhists everywhere.

These essays, selected by Francis Cook from Master Dogen's 4-volume Shobogenzo, address the core of Dogen's concerns: coming to see our essential nature, recognizing the unity of all life, and, most importantly, how to to live our day-to-day life in accordance with that realization. To those who might not be familiar with Dogen (1200-1253), he is one of the great minds in Zen, indeed in world religon: founder of Soto Zen, a subtle philsopher, but always grounded in rigorous daily practice. Francis Cook's introductory essays are insightful and well-considered, informed by academic expertise and devotion (Cook is a student Maezumi Roshi of Dogen's Soto school). In short,Cook's selections provide an accessible entre' to Dogen's work.... and a wonderful statement on what it is to practice Zen and follow the Buddha way.

This book is a translation and explication of selected essays by Dogen, the 13th-century Zen master who founded the Soto school of Zen in Japan and is regarded as one the world's great religious teachers. Francis Dojun Cook was a professor of Buddhism and a serious Zen practitioner (he was a student of Maezumi Roshi, founder of the Zen Center of Los Angeles), and his primary aim in this book is "to help the reader gain a better understanding of what it means to practice Zen, particularly in the Soto form established by Dogen Zenji."

The first half of the book is Cook's introduction to the Dogen texts, highlighting and clarifying some important themes. The second half is Cook's translations of the "Fukan zazengi" ("General Recommendations for Doing Zazen") and nine chapters from the "Shobogenzo"--texts chosen because they focus on various aspects of practice. At the end of the book is a lineage chart including many of the Zen masters mentioned in the Dogen essays.

Ch. 1 is mainly about how Dogen understands practice. Ch. 2 is about faith as the basis of Dogen's Zen. (Cook defines Buddhist faith as "a very deep certitude in the veracity of a certain doctrine, accepted and used as a touchstone for conduct in the faith that practice will verify its truth.") Ch. 3 is about arousing the thought of enlightenment (bodhichitta)--that is, arousing the determination to work ceaselessly to liberate all other beings from suffering and delusion, even while not being completely liberated oneself. Ch. 4 is about Zen as a means of dealing with karma and its consequences, not by "transcending" conditioned existence but by radically affirming and fully experiencing it. Ch. 5 is about the role of the scriptures in Dogen's Zen. (Cook observes that the verse attributed to Bodhidharma cautions only against "dependence" on words and letters, not against making use of them.) And Ch. 6 is about the continuous practice needed to live each moment fully, with wisdom and compassion.

My own practice can actually get derailed by questions like "Where do I get the motivation to practice, if not from the just the sort of self-centered attachments and aversions that I'm hoping to let go of through Zen practice?" and "How do I practice without making it an exercise in trying to get something I lack, thus denying the inherent buddha-nature I'm hoping to realize?" This book deals with such issues in a way that I found very helpful. (As usual, I found Dogen's interpreter more helpful than Dogen himself. Maybe someday I'll be able to get more inspiration from Dogen directly?) I also appreciated Cook's argument that Dogen's faith-based Zen is much more akin to a religion of "other-power" (tariki) like Pure Land Buddhism than to a religion of "self-power" (jiriki), which is how Zen sometimes gets characterized.

One tiny complaint: Cook slips into some of the caricatures of Christianity that I find tiresome in Zen literature. I wish Zennies would stick with talking about Zen and not try to compare Zen with traditions they don't know as much about.

Another Dogen commentary I highly recommend: "Flowers Fall: A Commentary on Zen Master Dogen's Genjokoan" by Hakuun Yasutani Roshi.

HOW TO RAISE AN OX : Zen Practice as Taught in Zen Master Dogen's Shobogenzo - Including Ten Newly Translated Essays by Francis Dojun Cook. Foreword by Taizan Maezumi Roshi. 216 pp. Los Angeles, California : Center Publications, 1978 and Reprinted.

It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Dogen (1200-1253). As one of the most powerful and brilliant minds Asia has produced - and it has produced many - his many-levelled and multi-faceted works should be viewed, not so much as a purely local and Japanese phenomenon, but as a supreme contribution to world literature. For all of us, he is, as Taizan Maezumi Roshi says, an inexhaustible spring of wisdom.

Dogen's works are profound. They express the point-of-view of an enlightened Master. Such works, especially when written in a sinograph-based language such as Japanese or Chinese, present almost insuperable problems of interpretation, and there are very few scholars who are equal to the task of translating them.

Dr Francis Cook comes to this task well-prepared. His work is highly respected in scholarly circles, he has held faculty posts at Dartmouth College and the University of California at Riverside, where he was an associate professor in the Religious Studies program, and he has a number of impressive publications to his credit.

In addition, he has a masterful command of the Japanese language, a command enhanced by two years spent as a Fulbright Fellow at Kyoto University. He has also devotedly practiced Zen meditation for many years. This last is extremely important as enabling Dr Cook to rise above the intellectualizing and speculation which limits so much contemporary Zen scholarship.

As he himself explains, the translator must be able to "approach the text in the light of his own Zen practice.... because unless the translator has some insight, however small, into what Dogen Zenji is saying, he will miss much in the text and the translation will suffer" (page 89). This is a simple point, but it is often overlooked, not only by translators, but also by a certain type of reader.

The present book falls fairly equally into two parts. The first 99 pages give us Dr Cook's introductory material in seven chapters: Introduction; The Importance of Faith; Arousing the Thought of Enlightenment; The Problem of Karma; The Scriptures; Giving Life to Our Lives; Concerning the Translation.

99 pages of 'introduction' may seem a lot, but Dr Cook has such a clear mind, and such an enviably clear and simple prose style, that anyone who is at all serious about trying to understand Dogen will find these pages extremely interesting. Here is an example, picked out at random, of Dr Cook's style:

"Dogen Zenji himself was not an ordinary man.... He addresses the reader from a level of spiritual insight that is greatly superior to ours, and the reader's challenge is to try to comprehend Dogen's vision of reality from the vantage point of his remarkable achievement. He is very difficult to follow because he sees a reality we do not even vaguely imagine" (page 88).

The remaining half of the book is taken up with Dr Cook's translations of ten chapters on practice from the Shobogenzo:

FUKANZAZENGI "General Recommendations for Doing Zazen;" KEISEI SANSHOKU "The Sounds of the Valley Streams, the Forms of the Mountains;" HOTSU MUJO SHIN "Arousing the Supreme Thought;" SHUKKE "Home Departure;" RAIHAI TOKUZUI "Paying Homage and Acquiring the Essence;" SHUNJU "Spring and Fall;" SHINJIN INGA "Deep Faith in Cause and Effect;" NYORAI ZENSHIN "The Tathagata's Whole Body;" GYOJI "Continuous Practice;" KAJO "Everyday Life."

Each of these chapters has been given brief but helpful Notes, and the book is rounded out with four Genealogy Charts of Chinese Zen Masters to enable the reader to locate in time the various individuals mentioned in the essays.

Here are a few lines from Cook's reading of the FUKANZAZENGI:

"... you must suspend your attempts to understand by means of scrutinizing words, reverse the activity of the mind which seeks externally, and illuminate your own true nature" (page 96).

What we are seeking, in other words, is not 'out there,' and one can only go astray by seeking it 'out there.' Here is the source of the West's fundamental error, an error which has generated the massive confusion around us, a confusion which is not going to go away until we start taking Dogen seriously.

Though it will probably be a long time before the West has humility enough to acknowledge that Zen Master Dogen belongs right up there along with such luminaries as Plato and Augustine, it's heartening to see that many Dogen translations have now begun to appear. These translations range all the way from the sincere and highly competent, through to the probably equally sincere but somewhat less competent.

Since very few, even among Japanese, understand Medieval Japanese, I'm not in a position to say whether Dr Cook's translation is 'excellent,' though it reads very well and I strongly suspect that it is. He's certainly put in the leg work to qualify as a highly competent translator, and anyone who may be looking for a good edition of Dogen could do worse than select his.

"The Perfect Joy of St. Francis" is a novel about the life of St. Francis of Assisi. It is interesting and acquaints the reader with the facts and legends of St. Francis' life. It seems to be tilted toward the idealized view. We look to this book for the Spirit of St. Francis. It makes me want to read a real biography, both because "The Perfect Joy of St. Francis" piqued my interest about this giant of Church History, but also because it leaves my interest unsatisfied. It can do the same for your.

Probably one of the best 10 books I've ever read. You almost feel like you're walking and living with St. Francis, sharing his spiritual quest at every turn. Historical fiction and writing at its best.

Great bio of an amazing Saint. I couldn't put it down. It was very well written unlike many biographys

easy to read and beautifully written in novel form, this story of the life of Francis as a true follower of Jesus is perfect.
a must read for followers of Francis and those interested in his story and ministry

This well-written memoir is an opportunity to get a first-hand peek at a whole different culture, society and way of thinking. The author is not pretenuous at all in the almost matter-of-fact style that she uses to describe a privileged life where money was always available to provide the necessities and the luxuries. Here we see a glimpse of the reaction of the privileged class to the horrors of war when it made its way to the door steps of their salons.

The best part of the book though was the insight into the author's opinions about the philosophy of writing. Here the modern middle-class American is allowed into the thoughts and opinions of one who was raised with all the advantages of tutors, exposure to the best art in the world, and variety of influential and interesting characters who sailed through her life.

The book would have been much better had the author allowed her emotions to shine through when writing about the deaths of her loved ones. This is the only flaw in the book and this failure leaves the reader with a longing to have had more opportunity to learn the complexities of this intelligent lady.

Anyone who enjoys reading about the aristocracy will enjoy this small, spare book.

I read both the Origo books many years ago and found her company delicious. One really feels honored to enjoy the refinement and intelligence of such a writer.

I turn to this memoir whenever I need perspective on what matters in life. Origo, despite her privilege and access to many of the great figures of the 20th century, never lost sight of what mattered: the people that she loved. This is how she introduces her memoir: "It has sometimes been pointed out to me that I have had a very varied and interesting life, have lived in some extremely beautiful places and have met some remarkable people. I suppose it is true, but now that I have reached `the end game', I do not find myself dwelling upon these pieces on the board. The figures that still stand out there now are the people to whom, in different ways and in different degrees, I have been bound by affection. Not only are they the people whom I most vividly remember, but I realise that it is only through them that I have learned anything about life at all. The brilliant talk that I heard at I Tatti in my youth, in Bloomsbury in the thirties, in New York and Rome in later years, has lost some of its glitter. All that is left to me of my past life that has not faded into mist has passed through the filter, not of my mind, but of my affections. What has not warmed by them is now for me as if it had never been."

This a charming and moving account of what on the surface appears to have been a very privileged life; however the author tells her story (which at times is very sad) without 'showing off' at all.

For those who have enjoyed this book, I recommend Kinta Beevor's A Tuscan Childhood and, also, although it is about an English childhood, James Lees-Milne's Another Self. Both manage to evoke the magic of childhood in the early 20th century in settings that are closer to, say the 17th century, than to today's world.

This is one book where you must read the introduction. and then when you read the book you find out thatthe book can be interpreted in at least one other way. i think everybody would take out something different but that would always be refreshing. i could not stop myself from saying 'aha' at many places. still, i think he sometimes is contradicting himself. he thinks that socialism and liberalism can go together. maybe he is right. i dont think so.

Russell became famous as a mathematician and philosopher.

But when he won the Nobel Prize, it was for Literature. When you read this book of essays, you will see why.

It is beautifully written and has all of Russell's virtues: clarity, wit, humor, forcefulness, simplicity.

Even better, it is a brief education in itself. Most of the essays were written just as the Great Depression was beginning, and Russell gets right to the heart of a problem Capitalists and Socialists do not usually address: How much work is needed, and what is the ultimate point? He constantly stresses that we do too much work, and most of it is unneeded, and makes life grim. He never ceases to remind us that we should work to live, not live to work.

He addresses this point in many ways--through economics, through architecture, through the then-raging problems of Fascism and Communism. And though he treats serious problems seriously, he always has time for the breathtaking perspective and the ligtht touch--as with the essay, "Man Versus Insects."

A wonderful, even life-changing book.

Written by a very advanced thinker, this book represents a shattering statement against the Christian petit-burgois morality of work, a true revolution and evolution in man's thinking.

+++++

Controversial philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) has written fifteen scintillating essays on which to whet our intellectual appetites. These short essays were written between 1925 and 1935.

Russell writes in an elegant, readable, and understandable style. His arguments are well thought out.

These essays consider social questions not discussed in politics. The general theme that ties these essays together is that the world suffers from dogmatism and narrowness; what is needed is the willingness to question dogma.

These essays are a blend of philosophy with other disciplines such as psychology, economics, science, and history. All the essays are brutally honest and forthright. Each is packed with loads of wisdom. What's amazing is that these essays are as current today as when they were first written and their messages will probably remain relevant in the future.

My five favorite essays in this collection include the following:

(1) "In Praise of Idleness." Discusses work and the importance of leisure. In order to get an idea of Russell's insight that permeates this book, here's a sample sentence from this essay: "The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery."

(2) "'Useless' Knowledge." Points out that all knowledge is useful not only that which has a practical value.

(3) "The Case for Socialism." Russell gives many arguments in favor of socialism, most notably the need for preventing war.

(4) "Western Civilization." Discusses its characteristics. Sample sentence: "I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent utility."

(5) "Education and Discipline." Sample sentence: "Education...must be something more positive than mere opportunity for growth...it must...also provide a mental and moral equipment [for] children."

In conclusion, this book is Bertrand Russell at his best. Enjoy!

+++++

I first learned about Madam & Eve when taking the African Politics class at my school. When it came time to do term papers, I ended up exploring the issues in Madam & Eve (which meant I read all the books my prof had - and scared my roommates because I kept breaking into laughter). Madam & Eve is a wonderful comic, very smart and VERY funny. I recommend it to anyone who likes political commentary, as well as a good laugh.

The best of the first five years of South Africa's (and a few other places) favourite couple, Madam & Eve. This book provides a history, a deeper look into and of course, their greatest hits. I've got em all, mostly all signed by the authors and i'm told my collection is getting worth a few hundred dollars now! New edition out every year, get em while you can, you won't be disappointed.

All Madam and Eve comic books are great. They are full of comics about things happening in South Africa, toyi toyi, government, hijacking and problems between white and black people. These books are really funny, but you have to know certain things aboutt the country to understand some of the comics.

If you are a South African, former South African, or anyone, this book is a MUST HAVE! These are some of the best comics on Earth. This is the type of book that you pick up and read in one sitting, even though it is a comic book. This book is actually a wonderful collection of most of the comics past, and includes commentary of how the comic has changed and just tid bits of knowledge from the author. This is a must have for any Madam and Eve fans and for anyone who has never heard of Madam and Eve. You will love this book. I gaurantee it.

Certainly one of the best books on Numerical Analysis ever written. Since this subject matter is vast, it has not been covered in its entirety, but what has been covered is simply the best. Moreover, it has been written by one of the best mathematicians. A MUST READ for everyone using numerical analysis.

This is a reprint of the 1974 2nd edition. So what is Numerical Analysis? It's the down-and-dirty methods of approximation and interpolation of equations that don't have closed-formed mathematical solutions. Just about every real-world problem in material engineering from pipe flow, wing design, convection currents to multivariate econometrics have to resort to numerical approximations. You'll find all the familiar names from your undergrad Math and Physics courses here (Newton, Gauss, Largrange, etc.); however, advanced methods in Numerical Analysis has changed tremendously since this book was published. Since NA is dependent on present computing power, what was once too expensive or unthinkable in the 70s can be done today. However, it's still a great introduction and a great bargain from Dover. The writing style is informal and conversationally peer-to-peer, rather than teacher-to-student. There is no historic consciousness placing methods and men in context. You won't find programming algorithms here (not even Fortran or Pascal). There are probably better books out there for what ever your specific speciality is, but at five times the price of this Dover reprint. You'll will find the old favorites here. The book covers the various finite difference approximations (forward, backward and central differences). It uses the operational approach for these. The later chapters cover splines, continued fraction and iterative methods. More importantly it covers the difference between round-off error v. truncation of divergent series in approximations -- something that still confuses practicing professionals. Be warned there have been many improvements in theory and methods in finite element methods of Fluid Dynamics and other 3D modeling (bezier and NURBS); And, the whole world of Complexity and Chaos theory happened well AFTER this book was published. Calculus and Differential EQs are prerequisite, there's no attempt at introduction in the text.

This book is really one of the best books on numerical analysis I've ever seen. It is simple but complete.

Although old, this is still an outstanding introduction to a wide range of topics in numerical analysis. I get impatient with the amount of detail Hildebrand devotes to some topics, but that's because those are topics where I already know the techniques and pitfalls.

However, I have one serious criticism of this book. Hildebrand in very many places drags in the question of inherent errors in input data, but fails to distinguish the different views one must take depending on how one got involved with some topic. In 50+ years of doing numerical analysis and numerical software from time to time, I have come to realize that three quite different issues of inherent error occur.

First, one may be working with scientists or engineers to derive results for a specific problem or set of problems. In this case, one must ask two pertinent questions, and keep asking until one gets clear answers: "How are you getting the input data?" and, "What are you going to do with the results?" Given answers to these two questions, one can do analysis and computation knowing from the start how accurate the input data is likely to be, and how much that matters to the results. Hildebrand pays little attention to the quite complicated problem of how one should do the analysis and programming in those situations.

Second, it may happen that there is no input data from the real world, and hence no inherent error; the input data is conjured up out of whole cloth, as happens in many calculations in "computational physics". In those cases, one wants to produce results that accurately reflect the hypotheses provided by the people with the problem to be solved. Usually, one finds in such cases that the more accurately one can do the computation or analysis, the better one can serve one's users.

Third, and most difficult, is the situation where one is writing a utility routine for use by large numbers of people, most of whom one will never encounter. Everyone who has done much numerical programming faces this issue from time to time. Here the problem is that the users are likely to place absolute faith in the results, even in cases where you, as the implementer of the software or originator of the analysis, may know all too well that the results are unstable with respect to very minor variations in input data. This occurs with monotonous regularity, for example, in routines that manipulate matrices to derive such quantities as eigenvalues and eigenvectors. In my own experience, a high proportion of the actual matrices that users present to "utility packages" are ill-conditioned, and there's a reason for this. If the problem were well-conditioned, it wouldn't be a problem for the scientists or engineers or financial types who need a solution; they would know a priori from experience what the answers are. I have no good answer for how one should think about such "utility software" and neither does Hildebrand. The way I deal with it myself is to ensure that mathematically accurate results are provided even for ill-conditioned problems, and to provide documentation for users that includes the equivalent of: "If you ask this software a stupid question, it will give you a stupid (but correct) answer, so if you are unsure about the stability of your data, please call or visit or email me to discuss your specific problem."

In short, despite the virtues of this book, it doesn't come to grips with the issue of numerical analysis and mathematical computation that I have found causes me more headaches than any other.

Ray Brown is splendid in his explanations of how he developed his understanding of The Fourth Gospel. We will miss him.

Raymond Brown is one of a small handful of Biblical interpreters whose work will be read and reread for ages to come. This is a wonderful introduction for all levels of Bible sudents.

Before his sudden death in 1998 Raymond Brown was working on a revision of his widely acclaimed two-volume commentary on the Gospel of John (AB 29, 29A). What he left behind was a nearly completed new Introduction which, however, needed to be edited before publishing. The job fell to the highly qualified Francis Moloney, himself the author of several well-received publications on John. The result is a very valuable updating supplement to Brown's earlier work. My attempt to give something of the content and flavor of this book is of necessity selective.

The major effort is Brown's, but the contribution of Moloney is substantial. He supplies (1) a helpful editor's introduction, (2) a speculative conclusion, (3) an excursus on narrative-critical approaches to the Gospel of John (adapted, mostly word for word, from a similar excursus in his Sacra Pagina commentary), (4) an excursus on the history of the Johannine community, (5) editor's notes to clarify or add to Brown's text, (6) the outline and major themes of chapters 13-21 that Brown did not get around to writing, and (7) updates of Brown's bibliographies. Not least interesting are those instances where the two scholars differ. Thus in his Introduction Moloney debates the Johannine use of Son of Man, and again in an extended note where Brown first dismisses Moloney's 1976 exegesis of two relevant verses (p. 257, n. 87). He objects to Brown's references to the replacement of Jewish institutions and is much happier when Brown, rather, speaks of their fulfillment. Whereas, had Brown written the outline of chapters 13-21, he would (presumably) have approached what appears to be contradictions and repetitions in 13-17 in terms of the historical development of the Gospel, Moloney looks at the text as we have it and see unified themes and careful structure in a reverse A-B-B'-A' pattern. (He uses the technical term "synchronic" -- as opposed to Brown's presumed "diachronic" -- reading of the text.)

The question inevitably comes up: How does the new Introduction differ from the original one of 1966? The subjects covered are the same and arranged in the same order. Some of the changes, where they occur, are purely stylistic (unnecessary words unloaded, all Brown's "we" references to himself replaced by "I"). Yet the rewriting can be incisive, too. The ending of the section dealing with influences on the religious thought of the Gospel is similar in both editions; but what was almost a casual statement in 1966 has been turned into a most thought-provoking question: "The Fourth Gospel claims to be dependent on the testimony of a disciple who was particularly loved by Jesus ... Is this not also a claim to a certain connaturality of thought between Jesus and those responsible for the development and writing of John?"

Other changes are more far-reaching. In 1966 Brown proposed five stages in the composition of the Gospel. These have been collapsed into three, partly because some critics found the original theory too complex. With less than innocent humor he remarks that "a number of reviewers found counting up to five very difficult..." (!) The modified theory corresponds to what is generally accepted for the composition of the synoptic gospels. Brown's exposition of apologetic motifs covers the same groups as before (adherents of John the Baptist, etc.) but he is now clear in the belief that the apologetics "pertain to the context out of which the Gospel developed [referring to the Johannine community's controversies with other groups] rather than to its purpose." He does not think the purpose of the Gospel was to refute or persuade non-believers but to strengthen the faith of those who already believed. Moloney concurs. The section dealing with apologetics against the Jews has been completely rewritten and expanded. Previously Brown considered that "the Jews" designated the Jewish authorities, but now recognizes that it refers broadly to all Jews whose role in the narrative is to oppose Jesus. He candidly admits, "I did not wrestle with the issue sufficientlty in my first edition, and the flood of writing on the subject since that time has caused me to be more careful" (p.164, n.37). Under Crucial Questions in Johannine Theology a new section on Christology has been added, with Son of Man and Wisdom motifs treated in detail. (Widom Motifs was a sub-section of Theology in the original Introduction.)

Moloney comments on the emphasis Brown gives to studying the Gospel as it now stands, and detects a shift in Brown's position. How much this would have influenced Brown's projected revision of the commentary is a matter of speculation. What seems certain is that Brown would not have given up the historical-critical method at which he excelled, but in addition to it would have benefited from the scholarly work of others in developing new approaches to the Gospel of John.

Anyone who has followed the writings of Raymond Brown, adimired his analytical prowess, and perceived that his lucid prose is as much a tribute to his clear thinking as it is to his writing skill, would not want to miss this final gift from one who has justly been called a great scholar and a master interpreter.

This scholarly yet very readable book, researched by Raymond Brown and after his sudden death completed by Francis Moloney, gives interesting insights into the community for which the gospel was written,the historical setting of the community and the biblical references that would have helped them understand the meaning of the life of Jesus and how it effected their own lives. The symbolism, explored and explained,the divisions of the gospel and the outline from the book of signs to the book of glory help us today to greater understanding of the action of God in the world.

Just what we all need - a dictionary to help us move toward a better understanding of an often misunderstood thinker. I've seen a number of philosopher-specific dictionaries with varying degrees of success. The Deleuze Dictionary is one of the best, the Derrida Dictionary is not so hot, but this title is right up at the top. I would include it with Bruce Fink's "The Lacanian Subject" as the two essential secondary sources available in English on Lacan.

While the Lacanian Subject is more of a book to read cover-to-cover, this Dictionary, as you might expect, is great for dipping. Often times these types of dictionaries are difficult to use because every term is defined by another term and finding a way in isn't easy. Although that is necessarily the case for some terms, Evan's does a good job allowing the reader to jump in in multiple places.

This is a particularly difficult task because Lacan's terms evolved over time. Evans addresses this by briefly explaining the progression and changes of use and meaning before concentrating on the core issue. It tends to favor later 60s and 70s Lacanian usage over the earlier 50s terminology. This is definitely for the best.

The best recommendation I can give is that I sat down and read three entries on topics I was struggling with and after finishing them, I was not only more clear on their "definitions", but I was able to go back to Lacan directly and put them to use.

If you're interested in Lacan, this is a great resource.

Dylan Evans, a Lecturer in Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Brunel and an analysist in private practice in London has written a very helpful dictionary of Lacanian terms and terminology. The Dictionary has both short and more lengthy entries, with the more complicated terms such as the Real, the Symbolic and the Imaginary, the Other, the Mirror Stage, etc., each meriting longer essays of up to two pages. My interest in Lacan is presently primarily in terms of literary theory but the book is perhaps even more suited to someone approaching Lacan from a psychoanalytic angle, as most of the definitions are analyst-oriented. This is not the book from which to "learn Lacan" of course, and there are a number of good introductions available, such as Bruce Fink's and Jean-Michel Rabate's, in addition to the Cambridge Companion to Lacan. Also, beginners would probably be well advised not to start with the Seminars or Ecrits, but with one of these introductions, then moving on to Lacan's writings with this as a good guide through the very ideosyncratic (and shifting over time) vocabulary. I have found this book to be a great help in navigating Lacan!

Well formulated, brief and quite inclusive. A good reference book for any Lacan reader and has no equivalent in the market as such. But one wishes if it could have been more comphrehensive and detailed. But as the name suggest it is just intended to be introductiory.

...for any beginner in the field of psychology and Lacanían studies. The best available Lacan dictionary up to date.

It is a extraordinary book. It Gives you a perfect way to introduce you to Derrida's project (if it is possible to say a "project") of deconstruction and if you have already read something of Derrida it gives you a way of get deeper in Derrida's way of thinking.

Goffrey Bennington worked close to Derrida in order to achieve this book in a very faithful way to Derrida's thought. Derrida himself write the supplement (If you allow me the irony)of this book, it is very interesting see how Derrida think about himself.

I'll admit that it's hard enough to read Derrida, and I won't suggest that this is easier - in fact, reading this as a straightforward work front-to-back will probably lead to more confusion. But I definitely appreciate Derrida's paratextual manipulations and evasions of Bennington, who tries as hard as he can to pin down Derrida's thought at the same time. Bennington's topical arrangement is a great entre into the various subjects Derrida takes up in his philosophy, as long as you don't take it too dogmatically... and Derrida constantly comments in his running footnote to make sure that you don't.

It is clear that Bennington "gets" Derrida in this work. Bennington is easily one of the (maybe) 2 or 3 persons alive that are even nearly qualified to "finish Derrida's sentence." Everything I read of his is almost as if Derrida, himself, were writing.

Though an excellent look at exactly what Derrida is up to in his early days from Grammatology to Glas, this is not for the beginner. "Deconstruction in a Nutshell" by John Caputo and "How to Read Derrida" by Penelope Deutscher are better for introductory purposes.

This work was indispensable for me, as I was introduced to Derrida through his later works and had very little idea how his whole project began in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

If you are fairly experienced in theory, I would recommend laboring through this work, then re-reading it a couple years later after further work with Derrida, Heidegger, etc. It will clear up a lot of question marks while opening up new, more exciting ones.

This is absolutely one of Derrida's most playful, revealing and important works. And one of my favorites. However, if you are just getting into Derrida, this may not be the best one to start with - unless you read it as a post-modernist autobiography.

If you are a student of Derrida, then this one is indispensable.

The Jungians sets out to describe the social and political history of the Jungian communities throughout the world and accomplishes its aims admirably. It will be the gold standard for historical inquiry into the Jungian movement for decades to come with an informative discussion of the development of every institute and of the contributions of each significant figure in nalytic psychology.

From the beginning of the 20th century Jung championed a secular psychology that also viewed the human as essentially sacred and irreducible and by so doing set himself apart from and against the strictly positivistic science that the western world espoused at and since that time. Jung's ideas, far from succumbing to collective bias and oblivion, have disseminated themselves substantively throughout the entire world for the last 100 years in the form of the many psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, and professional and lay groups who presently identify themselves with Jung's ideas. Kirsch's book is a history of exactly how and through whom that dissemination has occurred and in whom and in what organizations it resides. Although Kirsch says his is a social and political history and not an intellectual one, that is not entirely correct, for, as he tracks people over time and about the world, he differentiates what aspect of Jung's spirit each tends most to embody (and defend): the philosophical, the clinical, the religious, the archetypal, the developmental. And in this weaving arise the confrontations, conflicts, and confluences that finally shape the ongoing state and living drama of Jungian psychology. No one other than Kirsch could have written this book. His life, like none other, has been part and parcel of the events and people he describes (see the Preface). Far from having become a passive cipher in the play, he has had a hand in its evolution and yet, in his story, he steps outside of the fray to portray its horizons. For a professional within the field itself, like myself, this gives rise to a dual gift: first, an invaluable aid in locating oneself and one's own ideas within the collective of the movement, and second, the spurring of intimations of what lies beyond the knowns of the present Jungian world. Concerning the book itself, Kirsch is a master of the matter of fact. In sweeping but trenchantly accurate statements (the accuracy is the gift) he avers simply what is and what isn't. In a brief paragraph he explains how the introduction of Jung's continental philosophying into England has given rise to a British traditionally empiricist reaction (and then spells out that reaction in the splits and vicissitudes of the English groups). In addressing Jung's monumentally injudicious gaffes of the mid 1930s, he says, "As we analysts know, timing is critical in analysis, and the same holds true for politics" His summing ups share the same precise and parsimonious qualities: "In my experience, almost all Jungians, in addition to amplifying and interpreting dreams, recognize the primarily symbolic nature of the unconscious, the importance of working with the transference/countertransference relationship, and the necessity for maintaining strict professional boundaries." In the reading, lesser known gems fall from the pages from time to time. I did not know that Jung had met Lacan. Kirsch says where and how. Nor did I know that he had spoken in England before 1925 (he gave a seminar in Cornwall in 1923; I do not think it is published as yet). The chapter on Germany alone is worth the price of the book. Kirsch has ferreted out and redacted material in strict temporal sequence that is more complete than any I have read before. This involves the history of Jungian psychology in Germany but, more importantly in my opinion, Jung's relationship to the Nazis. Kirsch is more even-handed and straightforward in his accounts than in any other I have read, including his father's extensive statements on the same subject. And Kirsch (the son) arrives at what feels to be extremely fair judgments, plainly delivered and patently devoid of polemical covering up. A second chapter of particular worth is the last one, "Observations and Conclusions." Again, it is the precision and the matter of factness that make it valuable for seeing in one place and through plain language the present edges of things Jungian. In the foreword, historian Peter Homans says that Kirsch is "generous" in this history. In my opinion, it is true beyond a doubt. Generous in its plethora of material, its reader-friendly expression, and in its sharing of personal information. In its historical place, its importance for the Jungian world resembles in kind the book Bollingen by William McGuire in which he, like Kirsch, fleshes out an intellectual movement related to the Jungian world in the specific details of the persons and places and modus operandi served by the foundation set up (now defunct) by Mary Mellon. Both books make people whose names and writings are synonymous with Jungiana come to full sentient life. Besides Kirsch and McGuire, we have only histories of Jung and his ideas. I highly recommend Kirsch's book as a very interesting read, a source of new information, and a singular documentation of Jungian ideas and their embodiment in the world. For the lay person, even one not familiar with the Jungian world, the book is a history of how a little known psychology - one that is unique and friendlier than probably any other to the spiritual - becomes a part of the culture of nations and the world.

This is a must for every psychiatrist and psychologist who is interested in the history of psychiatry and psychology, and for every layman who is interested in these fields.

You will enjoy reading this book!

For the first time there is a telling of the tale of the Jungian movement from the

beginnings in Switzerland to every continent through places, persons, events and

publications. This book will leave you with a new and larger understanding of a

story that was previouly known mostly in fragments. Included are colorful nuances

and first hand accounts, even a few never before published photographs, from the

author who grew up in the midst of the Jungians and has been one of its most

prominent contributors.

Whether you read this book for the fun and enjoyment of it or for professional

research, you will find a wealth of facts, insights and useful references to places

and persons you probably know and books you probably have read, and you may find

yourself referring back to specific sections, places and persons many times.

I recommend this book highly!