A good book that tends to ground much of who we are in our physical brain. He discusses twin study and nature vs. nuture. He uses the computer analogy to describe the brain.

If you would like to understand the most basic elements of individuality in human beings from a light and humorous approach, get down to your bookstore and purchase The Roots of Self, by Robert Ornstein. Through the use of humor, comic illustrations, and yes, a bit of sarcasm, Ornstein takes us away from the textbook and brings "real life reading" to the often dry, scientific, and matter of fact subject of the human brain and the development of the self.

He supports the position that self-development is a result of the combination of nature and nurture; the biological hand we are dealt at birth vs. the environment's influence over our development. He goes on to explain temperament; "the person's predisposition to respond to specific events in a specific way." He says that there are three dimensions of temperament; high and low amplification, deliberate or liberate actions and thoughts, and a positive approach or negative withdrawal from the world around us.

High amplification people have a lot of "stuff" going on in their heads and need to limit stimulation from the outside world. They are happy to sit quietly in a park and enjoy the day. Their low-amplification counterparts, however, need the loud music, the skydiving and cliff climbing challenges to increase their stimulation. Individuals who act deliberately plan their lives and regulate their activities with control and organization. The liberate individual will purchase a plane ticket to Paris on a whim for the long weekend! They are spontaneous and open to new experiences. Finally, a person with a positive approach to the world wants to conquer it, while those who possess negative feelings, want to avoid it.

If you find yourself contemplating which category you fall into and believe it is time for a change, fear not! Ornstein says that most of us possess a little of each. There are however those among us that do tend to be to the extreme in any of these given dimensions. It is these people, Ornstein says, who are at greater risk of psychological disorders; anxiety, panic attacks, and to a greater extent, OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) or schizophrenia, to name a few. Ornstein completes this basic description of self development by discussing the impact of culture and family, and the influence of race and sex.

The Roots of the Self is a great beginner level book for figuring out who we are and how we react to the world. Although at times Ornstein makes gross generalizations about personality types, all in all it is a good resource for understanding the basics of human beings and our nature.

This is a good starting point for people who are beginning to ask why... Why do I feel the way I do, why do I think the way I do, and why do I do the things I do? It isn't all random, and the more we can learn about how we are wired, the more effective we can be in all of our relationships. Reading this book led me to many other simmilar treatises of the same genre (most notably Wilson's Consilience), and I really feel like I'm a better person as a result of the thinking it has forced me to do.

I've always felt psychology has been composed of too much speculation and not enough rigorous analysis. As medical science has advanced, there has been a tendency to specialize into narrower and narrower fields of study. For me, Ornstein's book was satisfying in that it helped me understand, at least a rudimentary level, that there are significant linkages between neurology, physiology, endocrinology,, and psychology. The book reduces many very complex notions borne from the last hundred years of medical learning into some simple theories about why we think, feel and behave the way we do.

I absolutely buy into Ornstein's first notion about the RAS and high gain-low gain characteritics. It makes a lot of sense, there is strong scientific evidence behind it, and it dovetails well with other theories like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for introversion/ extroversion. His other two components of human make-up, I either didn't fully understand, or the chain of evidence seemed less complete. So I enjoyed the first half of the book less than the second half.

I look forward to reading more of Dr. Ornstein's work...

An important, timely & vital point is being made by these authors. I listened intently to their ideas, mostly while jogging. I loved the prehistoric stuff, but after that it all became pretty familiar. I agreed with their thoughts on controlling our technology instead of it controlling us, but there's not much we can do about it when, in so many ways, we *are* our technology. Still, it is good & inspiring & true. Everyone should read it. I just gave it three stars because in the middle sections my running pace slowed considerably, indicating non-involvement.

I love Burke's books, especially Connections and The Day The Universe Changed. Combined with the author's great presentation, they are some of the finest non-fiction audio books in existence.

Unfortunately, this one really loses its way about half way through its course. What starts out as an excellent outline of prehistoric human development devolves into a meandering, unrealistic plea for changing human behavior.

Of course, you could just ditch the second tape in the set and listen to the first cassette several times. It's quite good on its own.

Axemakers Gift is the world's best kept open secret. Very enjoyable sound on only two cassettes is multiply distilled encyclopedic overview of the most significant and interesting things that have happened in the entire history of the world. Each world-changing phenomenon leads naturally to the next and shows their possibly hopeful implications for the future If I had my life to live over I would wish very early to hear Axemakers Gift to become instilled with its attitudes of confidence, cheerfulness, fearlessness, compassion, good will, hopefulness and unpretentious incredible erudition. It would give me a sound foundation for facing life instead of trying to think there was something wrong with me because I couldn't see things the way people told me to. I always knew somehow that when I was dying I would figure out what things had been all about but young people who hear this tape can start out from the first with a grounding that will give them enthusiasm for looking for new ideas and, even if they go down the tubes, I guess at least they'll have a sublime understanding of their real part in the great scheme of things. I listen to it again every few weeks to get my fix of sanity and truth and good will in the seeming hopeless of a "gotcha" world. All my thanks for Axemakers Gift, The Day the Universe Changed, and Connections.

Mind Field is part essay and part exposition of Idries Shah's non-Islamic Sufism. The first half of the book is a overview of psychology as it stood back in 1975 when it was written. It covers subjects like parapsychology and altered states, the effects of meditation. Overall the first half is a good read. The second half is a rather indirect introduction to Idries Shah's version of Sufism via a series of his teaching stories. In fact Ornstein attempts to convey Shah's Sufism almost entirely via these stories rather than explaining what Shah's Sufism is. It comes off in my opinion rather poorly. Unless you are into decipering parables and hidden meanings this part is a waste of time. Not to mention that Shah's Sufism comes across not so much as a spiritual path but like a secular humanist psychology or some derivative of the human potential movement like NLP or EST.

In summary the book is ok but don't look for anything that has not been covered by other authors in the same field. It really needs to be updated to make it relevant today. As those especially in the Transpersonal Psychology field have long passed Ornstein by.

If you are interested in Sufism look elsewhere like those by Kabir Helminski - Living Presence, The Knowing Heart.

For psychology and meditation I'd start with Charles Tart and Daniel Goleman. Both of whom have extensive experience in both areas.

The text is a slap in the face to the devotees of altered-state mysticism and a call to arms for the savvy, competent, contemporary wayfarer.