Customer Reviews

Shadow, Self, Spirit

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

 

 

If you have been waiting for an updated, balanced, and conceptually sophisticated textbook of transpersonal psychology, wait no more and run to purchase Daniel's Shadow, Self, Spirit. The author maps the contemporary transpersonal terrain through a helpful comparative analysis of the major transpersonal theorists and frameworks, ultimately advocating for embodied, integrative, and pluralistic approaches. Teachers and university professors have been using for years Walsh and Vaughan's edited Paths Beyond Ego as the standard introductory textbook for transpersonal courses. Whereas Paths Beyond Ego will continue to be a wonderful introduction to the field, it is very likely that Daniels' work--because its comparative approach and updated nature--will become the preferred textbook in years to come. To be sure, one could raise questions about Daniels' modernist skepticism regarding any transcendental referent for transpersonal knowledge. He claims that transpersonal researchers should approach the study of transpersonal experiences without metaphysical assumptions, but his Kantian metaphysical agnosticism is not free from both metaphysical and epistemological assumptions regarding what human beings and mystics can or cannot know. In any event, the book is full of remarkable insights and provides a clear, cogent, and engaging roadmap of classical and contemporary transpersonal scholarship. A must-read for anyone interested in transpersonal studies, mysticism, or the study of human consciousness.

If you want a good overview of what's what & who's who in the field of transpersonal psychology, as well as a good idea of where this field is going, then this would be the book. The author is quite frank--for example, he states clearly at the beginning that there is not much empirical work going on in this field, yet (and I believe this to be true). Later on he classifies himself as an academic, which seems true on according to the content & feel of his book. He also stresses the importance of developing a solid framework from which to start empirical studies. I believe the framework he presents near the end of his book is reasonable and comprehensive. Now I hope he does some research to hang on his framework, because he seems to be a bright fellow. I don't bother to rate books that fail to rate five stars for me. I guess it's my enthusiasm to share something worhtwhile with others.

An excellent summary of transpersonal psychology--the major figures in the field, the ideas, the terminology, and a very good list of sources. I'm simply not aware of any other book that offers such a complete and thoughtful review of the topic. The author is also an excellent synthesizer of ideas, and offers a number of many informative tabulations of key ideas.

I do not know the author, but was motivated to write this review in part because of the one-star ("Terrible!") review that inexplicably trashed the book. I just don't understand why anyone would be motivated to give such a review. The writing is excellent (I'm an author and also taught writing for many years). Yes, it's a theory book--one of the best I've read. Every researcher knows that a "find" it is to locate a really good review article or review in monograph form. And that is what we have here. Highly, highly recommended!

This book is truely essential to anyone interested in Transpersonal Psychology and thinkers in the field of consciousness studies. Excellent overview of major contributors to the field in a clear and well presented set of articles. Daniels overview of the major figures in the field, the ideas, the terminology, includes a very good list of source material that academics appreciate. It is the first book I've seen that offers such a complete review of this complex topic. Highly recommend this book.

Typical British upper lip stuck up book. Nothing to do with the great American writers. He even criticizes the content of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology and confesses that e is nota transpersonal practitioner and that the Master degree he teaches at Liverpool University is not experientially based. Waist of time and money.