This is a large format book, but quite thin, both on pages and on content. Most of the pages are with reproductions of the Great Arcana of the Waite Tarot Deck. Ouspensky was a student of Gurdjieff, a complicated and not always sincere man, who passed himself for a spiritual master most of his life, besides using methods that border on sadism and breaking his own principles countless of times. Ouspensky was his best student, though excommunicated and humiliated by his teacher number of times, and he published the most cohesive accounts of Gurdjieff's teachings, and molded them into something that might resemble a 'system'.
Ouspensky dabbles in other occult fields, as was the custom at that time, mostly in Theosophy, which in itself was a conglomeration of just about anything you wanted to put in, and wrote and lectured extensively on occult subjects, mostly in the United States, where there were enough people who were willing to pay for it.
This particular book falls short of the standards even of the time when it was writtent. It consists of a generic 'new age' essay on the many, many facets of tarot, followed by 22 musings on the meanings of the symbols of the 22 Great Arcana cards. To put it simply - you could have written this book yourself. There is nothing insightful or terribly original inside of it, pretty much consists of random thoughts on tarot in general and then on each card in particular without giving any new points of view for their use or interpretations.
I would label this book a waste of time. There are plenty of better Tarot books, and if you really want to delve into the symbolism of each card then get Crowley's 'Liber Thoth'.
Monday, September 17, 2007
"How to Be a Canadian" by Will and Ian Ferguson
Well, since Canada is my new adopted homeland (2 years and going strong now :) this is a very appropriate book for me. Actually I got it as a present (thanks!) while I was ailing at home with my broken wrist and pretty stuffed up with painkillers, so it might have added to the already ingrained funniness of the book itself.
The authors say they got the idea for writing the book from Margaret Atwood at a cocktail party. They executed it splendidly, creating one of the funniest tongue-in-cheek books in Canadian literature. To be sure, this is not a manual for new immigrants, though they will find some good pointers here about the 'real' Canada, but old timers and 'born' Canadians will find the things they laughed about all of their lives gathered in one place.
The first chapter 'How to Find Canada on the Map' is one of the most hilarious ones, and is geared mostly towards non-Canadians (ahem, read: Americans). The next chapters takes a swing at each province and makes (good-humored) fun of their provincial and regional stereotypes. Then you will learn about how Canadians dress, eat, communicate, and the most important thing of all: what Canadians are not - Americans!
As the book progresses it feels a little like the authors are losing their steam, as if they spent all their best ideas in the first few chapters, but the last one, which is the 'Canadianness' quiz, saves the day being hilarious. The chapter about the government of Canada and political parties also stands out as being very funny, so at least we can laugh at them, even though we can't do much about them, really (think about the oxymorons: "Progressive Conservatives" and "Responsible Government").
Overall, a light and entertaining book that you can finish in one or at most two reads. It will not burden you with the problems of the world, nor will it enlighten you in some insightful way, but will give you plenty of fun with no strings attached.
The authors say they got the idea for writing the book from Margaret Atwood at a cocktail party. They executed it splendidly, creating one of the funniest tongue-in-cheek books in Canadian literature. To be sure, this is not a manual for new immigrants, though they will find some good pointers here about the 'real' Canada, but old timers and 'born' Canadians will find the things they laughed about all of their lives gathered in one place.
The first chapter 'How to Find Canada on the Map' is one of the most hilarious ones, and is geared mostly towards non-Canadians (ahem, read: Americans). The next chapters takes a swing at each province and makes (good-humored) fun of their provincial and regional stereotypes. Then you will learn about how Canadians dress, eat, communicate, and the most important thing of all: what Canadians are not - Americans!
As the book progresses it feels a little like the authors are losing their steam, as if they spent all their best ideas in the first few chapters, but the last one, which is the 'Canadianness' quiz, saves the day being hilarious. The chapter about the government of Canada and political parties also stands out as being very funny, so at least we can laugh at them, even though we can't do much about them, really (think about the oxymorons: "Progressive Conservatives" and "Responsible Government").
Overall, a light and entertaining book that you can finish in one or at most two reads. It will not burden you with the problems of the world, nor will it enlighten you in some insightful way, but will give you plenty of fun with no strings attached.
"Jungian Dream Interpretation: A Handbook of Theory and Practice" by James A. Hall
This book might seem small (only 120 pages), but it is written in a very condensed and specialized style, so that it can mostly be useful only to a dedicated professional who delves into such specialized writings on a daily basis. To be fair, the author does give an introductory chapter outlining the major Jungian concepts, and there is a glossary of Jungian terms at the end, but I've found this insufficient to internalize the book.
To progress further than the couple of initial chapters, the reader needs thorough understanding of Jungian concepts and terminology, and Jung being himself a notoriously convoluted and condensed writer, this narrows down the audience even further. It has been said that hte best way to dive into Jungian psychology is through neo-Jungian writings, as the founder's are so difficult even in their English translations, but Prof.Hall in this book definitely lives up to the density level, if not to the impenetrability of the originals.
To progress further than the couple of initial chapters, the reader needs thorough understanding of Jungian concepts and terminology, and Jung being himself a notoriously convoluted and condensed writer, this narrows down the audience even further. It has been said that hte best way to dive into Jungian psychology is through neo-Jungian writings, as the founder's are so difficult even in their English translations, but Prof.Hall in this book definitely lives up to the density level, if not to the impenetrability of the originals.
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