The Oranur Conspiracy is an incredible page turner. I was sad to see it come to an end when I finished reading it. Joe Befumo's rich prose and sensitive writing style come across with well honed craft and incredible depth. Never once did I feel bogged down while reading this book. I can't wait for his second novel. This is one of the best books I have read in ages. It's nice to see that someone writing books pays attention to the craft of writing and story telling to the degree Joe does. I would recommend this book to anyone.

The Oranur Conspiracy is proof that good fiction requires serious research. In this case, the author invested an enormous amount of work into learning about the "real" Wilhelm Reich. Then, using the storyteller's traditional tools, he set out to illuminate his subject's life, rather than simply recite it. Reich's ideas, personality, and career were not easy subjects to novelize. His bizarre genius was so outlandish and scandalous that the simple facts already sound like fiction. What the author has done well is to personalize Reich's oddities and obsessions without crossing the line into caricature. This novel works because of the elegant restraint exercised by the author, who refrained from using all the writer's bells and whistles and stuck to good, solid storytelling.

As the title suggests, this book is a fictionalization of the life of Wilhelm Reich, a pioneer psychoanalyst-turned-mad scientist. Reich considered the orgasm to be the "golden thread" that tied together all of his work--and that work (according to Reich) included everything from rainmaking, to curing cancer, to powering flying saucers. Fertile material for fictionalization, and Befumo certainly plays it up to the hilt.

One problem I think this book is going to have is that readers (like myself) who have some familiarity with the historical Reich and his work, may be distracted by some of the fictional devices that are necessary to make the story work as a novel. For example, though the main historical characters (Ilse Ollendorf, Theo Wolfe, etc.) are present, the fictional characters attached to those names borrow from many different historical individuals. Some Reich aficionados may also be put off by the often irreverent, sometimes even comical portrayal of Reich. However, although I never met Reich personally, from much of what I've read about him, Befumo's portrayal may be uncomfortably close to truth.

This brings me to a second problem I foresee for this book, namely, that much of Reich's life was so outlandish, that those not familiar with him may think Befumo went a bit overboard in precisely those places where he's closest to the truth!

These observations aside, this is a very enjoyable book, and Befumo does an admirable job with some very difficult material. One difficulty is that Reich, from everything I've been able to gather, was really not a likable man much of the time. Befumo's humorous treatment, while never turning Reich into a clown, maintains sympathy, while never whitewashing.

Overall, this is a VERY readable, very enjoyable book, and I look forward to further works from this author.

A must read for every mental health expert. This book is a concise, clear and objective presentation of the work of W. Reich. Dr. Baker has given an invaluable contribution in presenting, organizing and clarifying a field of knowledge that is neglected by classical medicine. He also has given an unprecedented gift to mankind in its struggle for happiness. In my opinion this is one of the few works that can help psychiatry to extricate itself from the biochemical quagmire in which is drawning.

Elsworth Baker's Man in the Trap is a great book for those who want to learn more about what makes people tick.

What I like best about this book is Baker's special gift for describing scientific topics, with all the detail and accuracy that any expert could desire, but still in a way that any intelligent layperson can enjoy and understand completely and easily.

Baker shows how our emotional functioning is based on the same natural laws that govern all living things (some books on this subject explain humans by starting with the behavior of the higher apes, Baker starts with the ameba). He then goes through the stages of human psychosexual development, describes the different healthy and neurotic character types, and has a very moving chapter on how parents and society can support the emotional health of infants and children.

This book is an exploration of the unique mind-body therapy pioneered by Wilhelm Reich, M.D. The therapy, termed "medical orgone therapy," is practiced today by psychiatrists who have gone on to train in this unique approach to emotional health. Although the book is written with the serious student in mind (medical doctor, psychologist) it is also appropriate for a general audience. Anyone who is interested in improving their emotional health, naturally, should learn about this therapy. Man In the Trap is a good introduction to the treatment.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

This has to be one of the best biographies ever written. It is certainly the best ever written about Reich. You will not be able to put it down or forget it after you've read it. The effort that went into presenting all of the aspects of Reich's life and work is staggering. That extraordinary flame of humanity, Willhelm Reich, is presented here as never before. Bravo!

An extraordinary read, totally compelling as you follow Reich through the traumas of the twentieth century, his own grip on reality fragmenting all the time. And yet he remains a strangely attractive character - sure he is a "crackpot" but the book forces you to re-examine conventional views of society and science. The author, although obviously an enthusiast for Reich's idiosyncratic "Weltanschauung", never flinches from describing Reich's rampant excesses. Ultimately, you're left with a sense of sadness that the world proved too small a space for Reich and the nagging feeling that time will increasingly vindicate his extraordinary ideas.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

American Odyssey is a lush garden filled with the innermost thoughts of Wilhelm Reich during the period he was establishing himself in America in the 1940's. He will have you smiling one moment and welling up with tears the next as you follow him through the maze of his lifework that evidences his being one of humanity's most creative and harrassed thinkers. Reich's concepts are certainly in line with free-thought today. His legacy of leaving his archives to the "children of the future," since they alone would most likely be the ones to understand and accept what he discovered, is falling nicely into place - exactly as Reich knew it would.

There's no question Wilhelm Reich was a paranoid whose disease escalated into a full blown perecution mania. The question is whether the most colorful of Freud's "heir apparents" actually discovered something of vital importance before going nuts.

Colin Wilson argues that he did. Reich followed the 'scientific method' to the letter, starting with experiments involving microbes and working up to UFO's.

Skeptics argue that his cultures must have been contaminated, and that time lapse photography showing stars moving but unknown objects standing still during the night are inconclusive.

But the hidden argument is that one shouldn't trust a madman, no matter what his methodology may be. Which is rather beside the point, especially when Reich was not alone. Others corroborated his results. Were they deluding themselves as well?

Wilhelm Reich had an atypical childhood. As a teenager he caught his mother having an affair and, after a delay which might have involved an attempt to sexually blackmail her, he finally informed his father. His mother committed suicide. Hardly a promising beginning for a psychotherapist.

Yet he rose from the ranks by his genius to become Freud's number one apostle, a post 'vacated' by Jung.

Freud was pained by reductionist charges ('Is there ANY mental illness that doesn't involve repressed sex, herr doctor? ) and documented clinical cases to justify his arguments to his critics. He demanded and expected all of his followers to back him up.

Reich backed him up with a vengeance, he became even more of a reductionist than Freud---in itself no mean feat! But he added a strange spin, which to Reich seemed the next logical step of Freud's sexual theory.

Colin Wilson recounts that Freud was essentially a classical pessimist. He believed human beings were the playthings of the gods and fates ( re-named the 'ID' and the 'Death Wish'). On the other hand, Reich was a romantic optimist who believed that the libido had supreme healing power.

He was a throwback to Bergson's 'Life Force' and Mesmer's 'Animal Magnetism'.
With Reich, orgasms not only cured everything from neurosis to warts, they produced "Orgone Energy" the vital building block of life in the universe!

...P>
An enjoyable and illuminating biography that credits Reich for advances in psychology, especially his discovery of 'Character Armor'

Wilson documents many cases in which half an hour of Reichian therapy produced better result than months of classical psychoanalysis.

Perhaps someone, somewhere should submit his more outlandish claims to crtical study?

Is there a scientist in the house?

As a fan of Colin Wilson and a person with an interest in Wilhelm Reich, I was delighted to find a used paperback of this in a bookstore. Throughout the text Wilson brings forth a picture of a brilliant, but increasingly egocentric man. He finds fault in Reich's personality without letting this color his opinion on the work itself. A definite must-have for Reich researchers and enthusiasts.

This is an excellent book. It steers clear of simplistic solutions to human problems. It presents a succinct, tightly-argued analysis of many difficulties (e.g., stress, anxiety, narcissism, alienation, guilt) common in today's world. It makes reference to various schools of thought (e.g., Rolf, Feldenkrais, F.M. Alexander), but it always brings the discussion back to the functional principles of Wilhelm Reich, rooted in biological pulsation and energy dynamics. It follows Alexander Lowen in taking into account ego psychology.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

Reich believed that nothing require our dedication more than an understanding of the impact of the environment on the infant child. In Children of the Future, he shows how disastrous the exclusion of genitality is to the young and how important its influence is on their development. Included here is "The Sexual Rights of Youth" published in a revised form.

In this book, Wilhelm Reich goes to great lengths explaining his theory of a dynamic ether that permeates the whole universe and that is vital to keep up life functions in virtual all life forms. Reich "accidentally" discovered this energy under the microscope when some supposed to be sterile substances (e.g. sand burned at 1200 C) started to pulsate and kept pulsating for years. Reich found out that metals tend to radiate this energy, but organic substances tend to absorb it. Stick several layers of metal and organic substances together, and you have an "Orgone Accumulator". Further experiments revealed this device to help to heal cancer patients that have been given up by orthodox medicine. All of Reichs experiments and conclusions from his experiments are described in full length, with hairy implications for orthodox science if Reich is correct. Which he should be, once you read this book, you're convinced he is. Some chapters seem to be missing tho: Reich describes that he figured how to develop a motor that is driven by "Orgone Energy", but details are missing. Other subjects mentioned are weather control, Dead Orgone Energy derived from radioactive material, impacts of Orgone energy on psychic functions, et al. A must read for unorthodox scientists, free energy device developers, spiritual people, physics freaks. Note: All experiments, including these for weather control (!) were done with astonishing cheap and simple equipment, most of all microscopes, orgone accumulators, and a few miligram of radium. If you want to repeat his experiments, you definitely won't need expensive equipment. Something for you to check out!!!

Harness sexual energy to power the world? Of course, the man was mad. Anyone in that time who would proclaim such a thing would be the Victorian equivilant of a Salem witch! Of course, the port-o-potty booth he made to help, um...harness that power, was a little too weird for the time, but he was on to something. He had notes and everything! He was a free thinker! A psychologist! A student of the greatest minds of the time!

But even these days, it would mean a trip to the psyche ward for you to proclaim such a thing. However, I doubt the FBI would burn down his house and destroy all his notes these days...right?

Wilhelm Reich in Hell is an interesting collection of thoughts and ideas regarding the "truth" about Orgone enery, the man behind the ideas and his ultimate downfall. It's a weird read, but sharp, funny and exciting a read as anything Robert A. Wilson puts out. Good stuff.

Wilhelm Reich was many things in his lifetime- a student of Freud, a political activist, a research scientist, and an inventor. His work was decades ahead of its time and is finally being rediscovered and reevaluated by the public. If, like me, you are interested in Reich and his work, you might want to check out a novel called We All Fall Down, by Brian Caldwell. it draws heavily on Reich's theories, particularly Listen Little Man and The Mass Psychology Of Facism. It's a great introduction to Reich's work and the entire novel draws heavily on his theory. It's very interesting watching an author explore his theories in a fictional setting. Well worth reading.

I noticed this book on a roommate's bookshelf at 2:30 AM one night, grabbed it (intending to flip through the preface to find out what it was about) ... and ended up reading the whole thing through before dawn. Wilson's like that.

This play is absolutely vintage RAW. From the lengthy introductions, where I finally found out where most of his tirades against organizations like CSICOP came from (he reveals that they were one of the major forces behind the book-burnings that played a central role in Reich's disintegration), to the play itself, new ideas are thrown out at a dizzying pace. Social commentary (such as the persistent beeping within the play of a computer tracking nuclear arms buildup), philosophy and a detailed and even-handed examination of Reich's later life (and eventual degradation into insanity) meld seamlessly.

The play itself is full of shocks -- both the prurient (some instances of actor nudity and simulated sex) and the brilliant. To avoid spoiling the surprises, I won't go too deeply into the latter, except to say that the boundaries between performance and reality at times disappear. This little gem is definitely worth a read.