Customer Reviews

Mature Mind

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While written in 1947, this potent book is timeless and wise beyond measure; a book that would do well as important reading in all schools and in all nations, perhaps a universal class called: "Maturity 101".

At the time of publication, this book was a national and international best seller. After reading it, one will see why. It stayed in the #1 slot until the publication of the "Kinsey Report" one year later- Prof. Alfred Kinsey's, et al., block-buster science report on human sexual habits.

Overstreet gives us such gems as: ["All children, Diderot once observed, are essentially criminal. It is merely our good luck that their physical powers are still too limited to permit them to carry out their destructiveness." Had he lived today, Diderot might have expanded his remark. He might have said that all childish minds are dangerous, but particularly when those minds are housed in adult bodies; for then they have the power to put their immaturities fully and disastrously into effect."]- i.e., war mongering, wanton destruction of our shared environment, destructive relationships, selfishness in politics and business, etc. Here, begins the message of the critical need for children to be taught socialization (including sex education), care and awe of nature, love of self, family, community, etc.

"The Mature Mind" brings up many of the more contemporary ideas of universal maturing of consciousness put forth in Duane Elgin's books: "Awakening Earth", "Voluntary Simplicity", et al.

I rate "The Mature Mind" as one of the most important books in history and in these times of contentious unrest, environmental destruction, socio-economic-religious-political predation, the message about the importance of human maturation cannot be overstated.

My dad bought this book years ago, in a mass-market paperback

edition, but somehow, I myself never

got around to reading it. The book got lost, of course, and so, when I wanted to buy my own copy, I opted for not just the hard-

cover edition, but also the large-type, hard-cover edition,

as, though my eyes can still read the smallest of paper-back

print books, why not get an edition that IS easier on the eyes?

Well, the book I received, in this edition, was really BIG, and

very, very HEAVY! (I mean in WEIGHT -- the principles in this

book are important...but easy to understand, so I don't know if

that qualifies it to be "heavy" reading, in the colloquial

sense of the word.) The publishers here, obviously with the

very best of intensions, skimp no-where: the print is large, and so are the spaces between the lines, and margins are full and

wide. The resulting book, however, is as heavy as many hard-cover

Bibles -- perhaps even heavier. The buying of this book, in

this edition, almost put me off buying ANY more large-print

books, of ANY kind. So, I'd buy this particular edition of "THE

MATURE MIND" O N L Y if a large-print edition is the only one

that can be read. This edition is, sadly, NOT recommended for

for anyone without a large table or stand, on which to rest it, whilst rading, and not for anyone who has trouble holding a

book.

The wisdom in this book is truly priceless -- but this edition,

I believe, requires the caveats I have listed above.