This was the first serious modern work on alchemy that I've read, and boy did I luck out! It is a work charged with authenticity and vision. von Franz gives you some historical background on the origins of alchemy, then introduces this 16th century alchemist, Gerhard Dorn, and his inner and outer struggle to illuminate and heal the schism between spiritual alchemy and Western Christianity. Dorn doesn't come to any happy conclusions, but the chapter on Medieval Magic is worth the entire read. It includes a serious attempt to examine the question of evil (oh thank you!)and the historical process of projecting the contents of the psyche onto some aspect of the body. Also an inspiring section on the "cloud" as symbol in alchemy and christian mysticism for the confusing and darkening part of a person's journey inward to her own core. Also, peppered throughout are juicy tidbits about things like necromancy, pyromancy, hydromancy and something Jung himself was into for a while called Geomancy--which she explains in a brief but fascinating aside. The book is developed from transcripts of a 1969 lecture she gave in Zurich at the Jung Institute. It reads like a lecture, with the rythmns and addendums of the spoken word mostly intact, but obviously translated. That's ok--it flows like pure gold and is a great window into this whole Zurich scene and the living body of work that von Franz and Jung together embodied. This little work is bound to inspire and fuel some aspect of your own imagination. Enjoy!

I haven't read this book yet but couldn't find anywhere to request that you change your information. Ms Von Franz is no longer Jung's greatest living disciple; she no longer lives in Kusnacht; she died recently, perhaps in 1998?

....from his finest student. The depth of her self-exploration-informed research shines from every page. If you can't understand why alchemy has so much to tell us about the dynamics of the unconscious and of individuation, buy this book, it's quite wonderful.

I saw this book shop worn in a book store and found it in mint condition on Amazon where I purchased it for my son who is 4 yrs old. He really enjoys this book and wants to know about everything on the page. A really neat book that should be put back in print again. I don't remember such neat pop-out books as a kid and this one takes top prize for me. If you can find it used your child will enjoy it.

My child and I spent many nights and days discovering new and exciting things in this COLORFUL book!

Your child is LOVE this creepy book!

This is an incredibly informative book. My 5 year old son loves it so much that we are ordering it again. Our first one is very dog-eared. The illustrations are superb and the pop-ups really bring the world of insects up close and make it easy to understand. We have spent many wonderful hours reading this book together and, as a result, my son now knows a great deal about bugs and their habits. It is a very hands on book and shows children amazing facts. The cricket noise, scratch and sniff stink bug page, and the huge pop-up moth are our favorites. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a child who is interested in learning about bugs. It is sure to bring them many happy memories.

Andreas Gursky: Photographs From 1984 To The Present offers a grand, hugely diverse collection of larger than life images which taken as a whole conveys a gently ironic commentary of modernity in all its disparate manifestations. Although profoundly concerned with the role (and fate!) of man in the dis-articulated social tableau created by late-stage hyper-capitalism, Gursky is not making judgments about what he observes. To Quote from one of three introductory essays, this one written by Marie Luise Syring, "Gursky's work...reflects both the art forms and the everyday aesthetics of 20th-century society without resorting to open polemics-his images display too much indifference and beauty."

I was initially drawn to this series of photographs by the dust jacket illustration which is a somewhat unusual composition for Gursky, it turns out. I was touched immediately by the sparse, geometrically pleasing landscape running on endlessly in a striated banner of perfectly matched colour. There are several other 'naturalistic' studies included in this portfolio of 76 plates but most of the work examines the controlled chaos of urban settings, often featuring countless humans perambulating pointlessly in endless motion. "Being modern can also involve the danger of losing one's individuality and right to self-determination," Marie Luise Syring reminds us.

Gursky works on the boundary between painting and art photography. He tests and retests the critical distinctions seemingly inherent to these two representational domains. Thus many, but not all, of Gursky's photographs seem to have an explicitly clinical orientation. He is probing a fragile boundary and we know it. The cold truth which emanates from a stark objectification of the subject matter which compels Gursky is however always balanced by the way in which he floods his overrun visual fields with light and riotous colour. That I might personally prefer the warmer emotional tones of his naturalistic work to the harsher elements of the cityscapes is of course hardly the point. All of his work makes you think! And sometimes gasp at the sheer excess of talent and technique which propels the creation of such intensely intelligent, beautiful art.

I saw this exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in NY recently and it was incredible. I'm usually not a fan of giant color photo exhibits, but this one really struck me. The complexity and beauty in his photographs will hit on something that you have most likely never seen. He has a gift of bringing common scenes like the supermarket into view in a way that makes you doubt you have ever shopped at one. If so, you would say, how did I miss that which is shown in this photograph? Looking at his photographs will bring on that same sense of smallness as pondering your little place on this little, common blue/green planet, around this one star that is the norm among billions upon billions.

Although this is a transcription from lectures it deserves the highest grade because M-L von Franz here combines here erudition and interpretative faculty to produce very thought-provoking interpretations of creation myths from all over the world. Von Franz introduces her own theories within the framework of Jungian psychology. C.G. Jung said that M-L von Franz was the one theorist that had accomplished the most congenial development of his own ideas. This book is no exception. It conveys some new ideas, while keeping the reader fascinated from cover to cover. Von Franz subdivides the myths into different categories like: "the first victim", "the two creators", "germs and eggs", etc. and interprets the different categories accordingly. She explains that the incipient of many creation stories seem to be a state of pre-conscious wholeness which is broken in two when "subject" and "object" are created. The book can be read by the layman without foreknowledge of Jungian psychology, but is equally interesting to the professional as creation myths often appear in the individual's unconscious. It also serves as a good mythological reference as particularly interesting creation myths are picked out. This is a fine piece which does not reduce the creation myths into grey two-dimensionality, but holds their mystery in high esteem. /Mats W

Marie-Louise von Franz is the most pre-eminent of Carl Jung's disciples, and one of the most respected expositors of Jungian psychology. This Jungian analysis of creation myths is one of her masterpieces. In the Jungian view, creation deals with the threshold between the conscious and the Unconscious. When we create a new "world" for ourselves (by a change in job, relationship, residence, life-status, etc.), we are at this inner threshold. This book uses images from ancient mythological systems to illustrate how a psychologically healthy person approaches the creative process. Although the theme may initially seem esoteric, the author is discussing issues that strike us all at our core.

This is a wonderful book, written for both men and women to read. It succinctly puts into words ideas that many women continue to struggle with about their identity. It also points out that many men haven't a clue of the fundamental psyche of women.

I believe that in reading this book, many readers will truly realize how powerful women can be, and how much better our relationships with men will be, because this book explodes dependency myths.

My favorite passages in this book are:

"Women help perpetuate the myth of the strong man, for if there is a strong man a woman can imagine that she is safe, that she is being cared for and looked after."

"Because women unconsciously do not expect satisfactory emotional nurturance and understanding from their partners, men's inadequacy in giving this nurturance is to some extent accepted and even anticipate by women."

"When women do express their needs, it often comes out as a criticism. When a woman experiences disappointments as a result of the emotional attention and care she so desperately wants, there is a buildup of emotional upset, because while she may expect that she won't get it, she still feels such great need. The woman may declare that she doesn't feel happy in the relationship, that he doesn't give enough emotionally, and so on. He wants her to be more specific, because he doesn't know what she's talking about. He responds to the criticism with anger, which frightens her. She finds it hard to be more specific. She wonders why he doesn't know what she means."

"The psychological fit is that the woman feels her needs are too great, and so the defenses that the man has constructed against his own feelings of inadequacy in the arena of emotional nurturance, seem necessary because of what appears to be the woman's insatiability."

"Men look to sex as a way to affirm their identity as well as a means to contact. Women often trade sex as though it were a commodity in their search for security, warmth, affection, love, and economic protection."

"She told him he didn't need to have answers or interpretations, but that she would appreciate a hug and some questions. She'd like him to try and get into her shoes just for a minute to see what she was feeling and then step out of them and relate to her with tenderness and understanding."

When you, male or female, really pay close attention to each of the above quotes, and think about your experiences, you are free to get what you are really looking for in your relationship.

This is, by far, the best, most informative book I've read in a very long time. Intelligently and clearly written, WHAT DO WOMEN WANT exposes the way society shapes our roles as women and men. It's categorized as a "women's studies" book, but it could just as easily be in the psychology/self-help section (if Berkeley Books ever reads this--please put it in psychology!). Here, at last, is a book which is able to EXPLAIN why men and women have intimacy problems, sexual hang-ups, control issues, dependency problems. While the focus would seem to be on women and the source of their dependency issues, the book also explores the matter from the man's point of view in a way that is both respectful and enlightening. This isn't a male-bashing book; rather, it is a thorough look at the history and societal forces which shape us as men and women--and which create the misunderstandings and relationship problems that ultimately lead couples to divorce courts or marriage counselers. Throughout the book, we're given examples of couples whom the authors had counseled. We get, firsthand, an entire range of intimacy problems from the points of view of real men and women. Their stories are then illuminated by the authors in terms of gender roles and expectations. What I particularly like is the last section, "New Directions," which offers concrete ways that men and women can begin to face our vulnerabilities and foster the intimacy and connections that we so crave. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding how the dynamics of gender roles play out in their own relationships. Do you want to feel more connected to others? Do you want to learn how to communicate more with your mate? Do you want to know how your own upbringing (the dysfunction in it) affects your approach to yourself, your body, men, sex, relationships, etc.? Then this book is for you. I'm amazed that this book hasn't done better than the Harriet Lerner books (Dance of Deception, etc.), because it's so much more well organized, useful, well written, informative. I'd encourage the authors to get this book over into the psychology section of the book stores! It deserves more notice.

Written by Marie-Louise von Franz (a colleague of Jung who worked closely with him for nearly thirty years), and capably edited by Daryl Sharp for contemporary readers, Animus And Anima In Fairy Tales is a classic Jungian analysis of the contrasexual complexes (animus and anima) as found in fairy tales, and what these say about the human mindset and human behavior. A profound, philosophical, college-level dissection of deep-seated motivational concepts in a powerful form of literature, Animus And Anima In Fairy Tales is a welcome and recommended addition to Jungian Psychology Studies reading list or reference collection.

...think again. Here is one volume of a collection of the papers of Jung's most gifted student, interpreter, and innovator. Highly recommended.

There are not very many fairy tales geared towards the real woman and the real woman's needs and life journey. Most fairy tales with female characters are based around the real man's inner woman - the anima. Von Franz accurately points out some of the fairy tales which point the way to healing for women, and delves into the meaning of their symbols. Even those who only have a rudimentary idea of Jungian concepts would learn a lot from The Feminine in Fairy Tales. I have read the book several times, learning more and more from each reading. I highly recommend it.

Luise Gottsched is perhaps the most famous woman author of the German Enlightenment and the most erudite woman of her time. She is also frequently presented in literary scholarship as the epitome of failed authorship and a representation of the fundamentally unambitious and derivative writer. In Little Detours: The Letters And Plays Of Luise Gottsched, Susanne Kord (Professor of German at Georgetown University) argues for a critical re-examination of Gottsched's dramas and her letters to her mentor and husband, Johann Christoph Gottsched. What emerges is a painstakingly reconstructed and justifiably renewed appreciation for Luise Gottsched's life and work that will serve as a necessary and long overdue correction to prior scholarly neglect and misperception. Little Detours is a highly recommended addition to Germanic Literature reading lists and university reference collections.

This is THE essential book to help men and women understand each other (as well as themselves). Marie-Louise, more than anyone else, has deeply understood Jung and successfully applied his insights and methodology. The archetype of the Feminine is especially misunderstood in our era, with its predominantly rational-istic outlook. This book is a psychological gem of her wisdom and brings Jung's approach down to earth without sacrificing accuracy (I wish this were true of more Jungians). Of her famous lectures on Fairytales, this stands out, along with Shadow and Evil, and Individuation in Fairytales, as core books that not only every Jungian, but any interested "layman", should be intimately familiar with. Having first read it in 1985, I personally benefited immensely from it not only by gaining valuable insight into my own anima, or feminine side, but by better understanding the real psychology of women. This also greatly improved my relationships with women.