Customer Reviews

Trance Zero: The Psychology of Maximum Experience

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

 

 

As a full time student, part-time worker, and volunteer, I usually never write online reviews due to extreme time constraints, but I was so disturbed by the two bad reviews for this book that I felt that I must write at least a short review to counter them.

I read this book several months ago so it is not fresh in my mind and thus I will be unable to offer specific points about it. But I do remember that I was hugely impressed by this book. The ideas in it gave me a much better understanding of social groups, culture, and human nature in general. These new understandings spilled over into my understanding and views on history and contemporary issues and even my own life and the people who populate my life. Also, the author writes in a clear and straight forward manner which keeps the pages turning quickly.

I bought this book wanting to find out how to do hypnosis, and figuring it would give me the right theoretical+practical basis. The information was so good I felt no need to go on to practice "hypnosis". For the first time I saw someone dissect and analyze "group minds", how we human beings act together as cells of separate "organisms", and what the properties of these organisms are and how they evolve and act, as well as how we influence each other. It changed my whole perspective on how I deal with others. You don't need hypnosis when, by understanding humans, you can just act normally and get the same benefits.

This book is a must read. I think it should be required reading for everyone before they leave high school. Did you know that some "group mind" organisms have "lived" for more than a thousand years? And many of these group minds live out their lifespans undetected, unrecognized as such by their component "cells" (us humans)?

This book is nothing but hundreds of pages of self-serving tripe. There were hundreds of in-depth descriptions of "trances", but nothing the average person doesn't already understand. Further, though the book proposes the "trance zero" state, it's only hypothetical, offering no means to obtain or experiment with this state of consciousness.
I admit the author's complete lack of moral character did not help this book any- as when he rather casually describes a woman being victimized by another psychologist over a period of YEARS while she is seeing the author professionally for help. By his own words, he never helped her at all or stoppped this monster from destroying a woman's life. So much for the effectiveness of his methods.
I learned nothing of practical value. Period. If you must read it, try the library first.

I paid attention to the other review and got this from my library first. It is really mind blowing how mich space the author takes up to say nothing of practical value. If there is a description of attaining this "trance zero", I missed it. I'm glad I didn't waste the money.