A Question of Time [Paperback]

Michael H. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 6, 2006

A Question of Time describes the journey through hypnosis into the unconscious mind, where the protagonist, a lawyer, faces the light and shadows of consciousness, and discover his true identity.

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing (July 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412008026
• ISBN-13: 978-1412008020
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,776,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Badly written and boring, August 4, 2011

By 

Dausubel - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Question of Time (Paperback)

Normally when I read a well written novel I find myself becoming engrossed in the story and lose track of time whilst tuning out from my surroundings.I can do this because the author has taken the trouble to be very clear about the who,what,when where,how and why.It's as if the author has given my conscious mind something secure to hang on to that will allow me to be able to let go and imagine,to develop a reading trance. The famous hypnotherapist Milton Erickson led his patients into deep trance by using ambiguity,paradox and indirect communication.He was so artfully vague that his patients were forced to 'go inside themselves' in order to find meaning to deal with his confusing and ambigous communications.Erickson was able to communicate with his patients unconscious mind on its own terms using metaphorical and paradoxical communication.He paid exquisite attention to the nonverbal feedback his patients gave him in response to his communications and was able to modify suggestions accordingly. The hypnotic situation is the exact opposite of that required for reading.In reading you have to consciously pay attention to what's been written,you can't just passively let go.Unfortunately Cohen dosn't make this distinction and has created what I regard as an unreadable book.Reading it I have experienced confusion, frustration boredom and resignation. I can honestly say this has to be one of the worst written novels I have come across in 40years of novel reading. The reason for this is that Erickson's style of communication is totally unsuitable for a novel.Cohen dosn't seem to appreciate this.In writing this novel he uses ambigouity,indirection and lack of clarity,presumably in order to confuse his readers conscious mind and to communicate with the readers unconscious.The result is badly written trash. I can only put his inability to see this down to an attenuated self critical faculty.If he wanted to teach people Ericksonian hypnotherapy he should have written a text book, one that hopefully could be consciously mastered before becoming automatic and unconscious.If he wanted to write a novel he should have done so taking care to be clear and unambigous so that his reader could fully and securely engage with his narrative.Instead he's produced this badly written pap that does nothing but disengage me from any desire to continue reading.It's plain that no one bothered to edit this book.It's an aawfully written book and not worth the paper it's written on.I can only think that it reflects the modern mediocraty of writing in the USA.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the greatest writers to equal the greatest of writers, August 20, 2010

By 

A Roman (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Question of Time (Paperback)

If you want great writing, purely great writing, read this book with a pencil; mark in the margins the words "Excellent!" or "Good" or "Yes" whenever you read one of the lines (or, in this case, entire paragraphs)that remind you of classics you once read in school. The writer is that good. The narrator, who writes in first person, is a brilliant-upon-brilliant yet sensitive soul. He makes a walk on the beach a complicated quest for self-truth or universal truth. What it must be like to walk in his shoes! Sleep must be the only refuge for this constant thought process. Some writers are good at writing action, others stories, others dialogue. This one is a master at description. He also is tremendous about revealing incredible insights along the way, as you read. The description is hard to beat, in any book. Pick any writer from the dusty library books in any high school and you will see how good this writer is. His descriptions use beautiful and effective poetry; I find instances everywhere that again make me write with my pencil in the margins, "Great" or "Wonderful." It is wonderful stuff. Readers who are used to more action in their books may resist the thinking that goes on in this book. There's an awful lot of thinking, but if you have a mind like this writer, why hide it? Shakespeare didn't -- except he veiled it more in his characters' dialogue rather than first person like this writer.

Try using third-person characters, I would say to this writer if he could hear my words. Go watch Julius Caesar (BBC/Time-Life version, accurate English production by Ambrose DVD at [...] with British actors Charles Gray, Richard Pasco, David Collins, etc.) before you write your next book. See how Brutus expresses the complexities of his soul and inner life with depth of thought that this writer can equal. Even if you know Julius Caesar, try it again. You will see what you are capable of. Yes, that is what I am saying to this writer. See Cassius' first conversation with Brutus and then Brutus' thoughts at night in his courtyard where he engages in his own mental reasoning to kill Caesar. Think of the world. Then write your next book.
--A Roman