Customer Reviews

Dr. Freud: A Life

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This is the first biography that I have read (of any one) that has kept me interested to the last page. That says alot for the content and flow of the book. As a psychology student, I have studied Freud's theories. This book helped put it all in perspective, along side theries of Jung and Adler. It showed me how 'way out' his theories were for the time but how they had a certain logic given the type of patients he had and the attitiude towards sex at the time. It's a fascinating read - and strikes me as very frank and honest. There's no glamourising of the man himself - but why should there be.. It's a story of a man's life and an interesting one at that.

Paul Ferris has undoubtly written a highly readable biography of one of the icons of the XX century. The book may be broken down into three main parts: the first one shows Freud until his mid-life or so and focuses on Freud's obsessive drive for recognition; the second part, is a very superficial account of Freud's threories intertwinded with some irrelevant details of his life, and the third one is an account of the internal and external struggle of the psychoanalytic movement.

Ferris' writing style is polished and entertaining. However, after 100 pages or so, Ferris (who acknowledges to have no psychology or psychiatry background) loses his objectivity and starts to criticize and put down Freud's theories. This is not necessarily bad, but the criticism is on very superficial grounds while failing to place Freud and his thought in the proper context of the late XIX and early XX. Freud thought is only presented in its outline (which is something expected of a biography) but for the sake of simplicity and brevity the outline lacks a meaningful presentation of the issues behind Freud's theories. The oversimplification of the essence of Freud's thought makes it appear somewhat grotesque and irrational.

There has been much dispute on Freud as a "scientist" and psychoanalisis as a "science" and Ferris has a go at both. Unfortunately, Ferris forgets that both Freud and his thought fall within the concept of "social science" not "physical science", thus many of the theories and implications are based on case studies, which obviously carry highly individualised connotations some of which can or cannot be generalised to the entire population.

In summary, this book joins sides against Freudian thought and therefore hardly provides a truthful insight into the man and his theories. A reader looking for an introduction to Freudian thought is advised to look elsewhere. A reader looking for some some insight into the man will find plenty of biased, irrelevant and selectively chosen details that do not paint the entire character of Freud.

Factual and at times irreverent, the chief value of this excellent biography is its objective examination of Freud's work, his accomplishments and his failings, his genius and his humanity. If you're a slavish worshiper of the Freud myth, don't read it. But if you want the truth, it will open your eyes while it amuses and entertains with a prose style that is in itself a delight.

This is a great biography. Though, the reader can find themselves lost at some times, the overall book is a wonderful peak into the mind of Dr. Freud. We glimpse Freud in new ways- through his own letters, his own shortcomings, his fears, his hopes, his dreams. The picture that history paints of an overlly egotistical man is blown away as we begin to see the human Freud, not the illustration of a sex-obsessed psychoanaylsis. We walk through Freud's pioneering days & can truly understand his outlook on life and the amazing gifts he has given to those who succeed him.