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The Red Book | 
| Author: C. G. Jung
Creators: Sonu Shamdasani, Mark Kyburz, John Peck
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $195.00
Buy New: $122.84
as of 7/29/2010 22:33 EDT details
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New (41) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $122.84
Seller: pbshop
Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 1830
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 416
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 9.4
Dimensions (in): 18.2 x 12.4 x 2.3
ISBN: 0393065677
Dewey Decimal Number: 150.1954
EAN: 9780393065671
ASIN: 0393065677
Publication Date: October 19, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Gift quality. Unable to ship to APO and FPO at this time.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
 Extraordinary November 3, 2009
B. Hill (Pasaden, California USA)
233 out of 239 found this review helpful
In 1913, a 40 year old world renowned psychologist suffers recurring dreams and visions of world catastrophe. His expertise as a psychiatrist working with incurable psychotics forces him to conclude that he is on a course to madness. His training as a scientist compels him to meticulously document what he imagines will be his unavoidable decline into insanity. With the outbreak of World War I, he experiences relief in the realization that the images that have haunted him over the prior ten months pictured not his own undoing, but that of the world. As the outer conflict unfolds, he continues to record the process unfolding within his own psyche, which is reflective of the events in the larger collective. He continues the process until near the War's end, and then spends more than a decade devotedly elaborating, amplifying and illustrating the material that burst upon him during that time in order to render it comprehensible.
The Red Book is not "personal" as we use that word now. It is "personal" in the sense that it details one individual's very unique experience of coming into relationship with what Jung termed the Self, and in prior times was referred to as God, but it is at the same time very impersonal, and actually universal, in cataloguing the drama inherent in any person's formation of that relationship. The book is at home with The Odyssey, The Divine Comedy, Goethe's Faust, and, as much as anything, The Red Book is Jung's response to Thus Spoke Zarathustra and to Nietzsche's proposition that for modern man, God is dead. The response is that God is neither dead nor to be found in outer religious, national or political containers, but is to be discovered and struggled with in the living of each individual life.
A not uncommon dream is of stumbling upon a previously unknown addition or wing of one's dwelling, which addition is found to be many, many times the size of the existing structure, and to contain objects and treasures of previously unimaginable value, interest and numinousity. One is filled with awe and wonder at the new found wealth and possibilities. The experience of encountering The Red Book after spending 30 years in Jung's existing body of work is equally stupefying. That there could be so much more that Jung had to share and communicate about the human soul seems not just improbable, but impossible. Yet The Red Book is that much, much larger, more nuanced and tremendously numinous structure that is behind, under, around and the foundation for all of Jung's subsequent ideas, theories, publications and works. Extraordinary.
Truly incredible! October 16, 2009
N. Furlotti (Los Angeles)
172 out of 183 found this review helpful
I HAVE the Red Book and am in the process of reading it. It is beyond description! This truly unique book represents the personal journal one courageous man took into the dangerous realm of the unconscious in search of an understanding of himself and the structure of the human personality in general. In the process, Jung regained his soul which was lost in the contemporary malaise of spiritual alienation. Liber Novus, as the book is called, represents a prototype of the individuation process, which is seen as the universal form of individual development. Jung was a psychiatrist who worked with schizophrenics. He intuited that their fantasies held meaning important for their healing and saw that some of the fantasies corresponded to mythological motifs. This curiosity lead Jung to his own decision to drop beneath consciousness to explore the realm of these fantasies, the realm of the "dead". He did this without chemicals or inducers but through a process he called active imagination. An inner world opened up to him to explore, which he documented in his writings and paintings. The book itself is like a medieval manuscript created with great care. He worked on the book for 16 years, giving it to others to read and edit with the intention of it one day being published. Liber Novus is a book of wisdom and deserves to be studied. It invites the reader into the world of imagination--like the dream world. I have studied my dreams for years and the language is similar. It shows what we have to learn when we slow down and listen to the inner voices. I thank Jung for giving me a guide to the soul, or human personality--which ever language one prefers.
Believe the Hype October 21, 2009
The Tao of Netflix (Washington, DC)
78 out of 84 found this review helpful
This book is glorious. I hardly need to comment on the content, as Jung's magnum opus is clearly of mythical proportions. And reality certainly matches the myth. Aside from the content, the presentation is outstanding. High quality color copies of his journal entries are provided in original form throughout the first half of the book, and translations and editor commentary are provided in the second half. The binding, printing and color quality are all museum grade, and I consider this an investment-quality purchase. This is by far one of the most important pieces of psychological thought, and offers a rare glimpse into a brilliant man's thinking on a highly abstruse concept.
An Encounter with Mana October 29, 2009
Chaz Gormley (Santa Fe, NM)
46 out of 49 found this review helpful
I finished the Red Book last night. It is a magnificent book of power. Here, you will find a side of the chameleon Jung that cannot be found in any of his Collected Works, his published Seminars, or his published Letters (all of which I have read). The only book that sometimes points, tonally, in this direction is Memories, Dreams, Reflections. The Red Book unleashes Jung the Poet, Jung the Painter, Jung the Prophet, and Jung the Shamanic Explorer and Revealer of the depths. Combined with his previously published oeuvre, the Liber Novus demonstrates the remarkably large personality that Jung was, and his cultural importance for our time.
My first impression in browsing the book, examining the vividly detailed art work and calligraphy was that the Red Book is reminiscent of the Book of Kells, or medieval Islamic or Christian Illuminated Manuscripts. As a previous reviewer mentioned, this book has a Presence. It generates a circle of energy, a power that can't be missed. It renews a respect for the printed book, so long second nature to educated humans, which can be forgotten in this age of digital media. The dust jacket has a sort of cheap look and feel, so I immediately was a bit put off; however, the quality of the pages, the color and vividness of the art work and the printing left me amazed that the Philemon Foundation could sell the book at the price they do and hope to make a profit.
Jung's words answer many questions about the development of his personality, his psychology and Active Imagination. Shamdasani's Introduction is outstanding in places, answering other questions and providing very helpful background; in other places it is superficial and some of his statements about Jung's psychology are dubious. It is more effective as an Epilogue than an Introduction, as it sets the wrong tone for this remarkable exploration of the Unconscious. The included Notes (translator and editorial) are interesting but written in high Academese; they feel a bit out of place. Still, Shamdasani, and all those involved, have achieved a tremendous opus, themselves, in releasing this buried treasure.
The Red Book demonstrates, in magnificent, poetic words, and breathtaking, unforgettable imagery, nothing less than the Process of Self-transformation, of Individuation. As Jung says, "the supreme meaning is the path, the way and the bridge to what is to come." In this Book of Mana, Jung reveals that process of creating/finding/building the New Path/Way/Bridge.
Amazing - But why is shipping delayed, you ask? November 28, 2009
Lance Owens (USA)
46 out of 50 found this review helpful
During over two decades reading Jung, this is the book I dreamed of some day seeing. Yes, it is incredible.
But instead of adding to the many praises of the Red Book, let me comment on the editorial work that accompanies Jung's text.
Sonu Shamdasani's Introduction is undoubtedly the best available biography of Jung, though focused in context on the critical central years of Jung's life. Shamdasani is a remarkable scholar, and he has spent over 13 years with the primary documents -- material never before made available to a scholar, documents including Jung's seven Black Book journals, the various draft manuscripts of the Red Book, Jung's own dream books and letters from the period, the amazing contemporary diary of Cary F. Baynes, and innumerable other previously unpublished (and largely unknown) primary sources. After Shamdasani's work, all previous biographical evaluations of this period are irrelevant. No researcher previously had access to the basic and extensive source material upon which a biography must be founded, and thus much of what was written in past decades was either pure speculation or blatant perfidy.
BUT, you ask, why is it not in stock for shipment??
Because the publisher, Norton, was uncertain if this huge and expensive book would sell. The first printing was for only 5,000 copies! To the publisher's surprise, these sold out in pre-publication orders two months before the official release date of Oct 7, 2009. This is not an easy book to print, or reprint. Printing is done in Italy on over-sized museum quality papers, with superb binding. Unlike the average hard-cover book, ordering up another ten thousand copies of a book like this is not a simple matter. Once you hold the book, you will understand the issues involved in creating such a beautiful volume. Even the larger second printing sold out in pre-order, and was just becoming available for shipping at the end of November. The next printing will be available in December or later. Eventually the printers will catch up with demand, but it may take several more months.
If you have not seen a copy in a bookstore, it is because they CANNOT GET A COPY from the publisher! So if you want it, order now...
(May 2010 update -- We now have around 50,000 copies printed, and still lots of backorders, but production is catching up with demand. With the seventh printing the book should be in stock at most sellers. Sales have been amazing for a volume of this size and cost. For those looking for a helpful guide to a reading of the book, search for the thirteen lecture audio series on "Jung and the Red Book" by Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller, available online. This lecture series has received great reviews from many students of Jung.)
(December 2009 update -- Norton is now in the fifth printing, and still back-ordered a couple of months. The Red Book seems to have touched a soulful place in modern culture.)
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
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