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In a world where ‘disposable’ is good sales talk, and even books float on their paper backs down the flood of expendable matter, this is an anthology, solidly bound, to stand against the tide.
The book appeared, first, over twenty years ago, and provided a conspectus of Jung's writings; this second edition, revised and containing as it does many selections from the work of his later years (1945-61), is much more than a reappearance.
To call it a ‘digest’ would be gravely to misjudge it; its excellence lies not only in its fine printing (it is a good book to handle) but chiefly in the content, and in the careful editing which gives a depth and a form to the numerous quotations. These are arranged under four main headings: the nature and activity of the psyche; man in his relation to others; the world of values; and ultimate things. They form a coherent statement of his experience of living and show how greatly his outreach into fields other than psychology enriched his thinking and formulation. Indeed, for anyone asking what Jung was like, these selections could serve as a distilled self-portrait more satisfying than biographical data.
For students of Jung the book holds an added value, since the extracts, grouped around each theme, are clearly linked to sources so that they can be quickly identified in the Collected Works, and lead the more specialized reader into a reconsideration of his work.
Perhaps to call it a bedside book for analysts is not uncomplimentary to either book or analyst: for an acceptance of the insoluble nature of all the greatest human problems, expressed as Jung so often did, with a rather special dry humour, might make our nights more restful to us, and our days in consequence less hazardous to our patients.
It is to be hoped that an early printing in England will make the book available. It will commend itself as an admirable gift book, but only the neurotically unselfish will go on to give it away.