Jung for Beginners

Writers & Readers Documentary Comic Book

by Joe Platania, Joe Lee

Discusses the life and work of Carl Jung, in a comic book format

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Biography, Graphic Novels, Science, History

153 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is on a difficulty level somewhere lower than a "Complete Idiot's Guide" and yet I still feel like I only understood about half of what Jung was talking about. I think that's more of a failing on my end than anything the book failed at, though.

So the first half is a short biography of Jung, and the second half gives us snippets of some of his most important ideas. I always knew Jung was pretty kooky, but now that some of his material has been explained in a way that I can grasp, I find that he's very, very kooky. Still, alchemy and gods are a lot more fun to read about than many other psychologist's work.

A main fault of the book, however, was that it didn't talk about Jung's near death experience at all. In a book that wasn't afraid to discuss some of his pretty wild ideas, a discussion of his nde and out of body experience would have went a long way toward making sense of some of his supernatural beliefs.

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun comic book style introduction to Carl Jung and his philosophy. He is complex! So…it’s still hard to fully comprehend his ideas. However, this book will give you a heads up and allow you to move to his actual works with a foundation.

[Misty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I forgot about this series of books, but I happened to be in an ACTUAL BOOKSTORE. I saw this book and decided to support my local bookseller. Freud for Beginners is one of my all time favorite books (for the hilarious drawings and fascinating, gripping content), and my interest in Jung was peaked by the movie A Dangerous Method. There is no hot Jung sex scenes like in the movie, but there is a funny drawing of Freud and Jung as gay lovers in a leather club. And I did learn a lot about Jung, although it wasn't written as clearly -- unlike the superior Freud book.

What I did learn is that I like Jung's ideas. Freud was brilliant but a bit of a nutjob, which is part of the reason why he is so fascinating. People today still talk about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which is based on Jung's ideas. We regularly talk about other ideas Jung authored, like having a "complex," taking on a "persona," and "projecting" on to other people. I learned that his psychology is ultimately optimistic, whereas Freud's is more pessimistic.

I like these books a lot, and I want to read more of them. However the Freud book is published by a different publisher, and I don't know if there is another For Beginners book as good. This book and the other ones I've flipped through are more text heavy -- not sure if that's a function of the different publisher or the material. Freud's story is probably more inherently visual.

[Arun · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book provides detailed account of the renowned psychologist Jung. It incorporates cartoons and illustrations throughout the book for easier comprehension.
Had it focussed much on Jung's theories, it would have been better. I just found it lacking in that aspect, though it does give an overview of Jung's theories; just need a deeper understanding of his theories.

[Tracy Blanchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are many things about this book that are not good — I considered giving it 2 stars. Firstly, I don’t believe any editor was employed in any capacity — either proof-reading (so many typos) or shaping (there seemed to be no coherent flow, just information and thoughts jammed together and sometimes just bad writing. I learned more from the Glossary at the end than from the rest of the book. I read this on a Kindle — not a good choice — since there are a lot of comics throughout, which I suppose is supposed to make it more fun to read. I think the comics are often meant to jam in a bit of side info that isn’t part of the main text. Suffice it to say Kindle does not make reading comics easy. The type is to small, etc. But also, these comics often made no sense whatsoever in the context of the book.

Having said all that, I feel like I got some learning on some things I didn’t know about Jung — I mean we all know some Jung, right? Archetypes. Collective unconscious. Personality types (i.e. Myers Briggs), synchronicity — enough to make me want to dive deeper. Not being a scholar, trying to jump into something written by Jung himself would have put me right off as it’s clear to me I wouldn’t have understood it. So this helped me get going. I’ve ordered another Jung 101 book that I’m guessing will be much better written and I’ll post about that after reading.

[Manuel Ortega · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me it was the perfect book, as I had a lot of confusion in my head abut Jung's ideas. This book clarified soooo many things...

I think the book works best if you know a little about Jung and you want his ideas laid out for you in clear, non pretentious terms.

[Michaela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not going to read Jung's complete works anytime soon, and this book did an okay job of introducing his basic ideas, context, and associates. The illustrations were often confusing, however. It was sometimes unclear when text was commentary vs. a direct quote.

[Mahmoud Itani · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction that makes you curious about an interesting genious

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly edited...many grammatical mistakes and typos. Also, the material is not well organized.

[Michael Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the funny pictures fool you--there's a lot of information in this book. Enjoyable for pros, as well as beginners.

[Rob Saunders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent beginner's guide and excellent illustrations.

[Lay La · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am lost.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

An accessible intro to Jung’s work. I admire that it goes deeper into his darker side (like his connections to the Third Reich) than any other piece I’ve seen.

[Ciara Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and left me with a lot to consider. I expected a book for beginners to make Jung’s analysis slightly easier to comprehend, but it is still very heady and difficult.

[Kunjila Mascillamani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked some concepts. The greatest thing Jung did, in my opinion, was to disagree with Freud on the libido theory. From my literature days i liked his concept of collective unconscious. But this book had a new treasure for me. The concept of 'synchronicity'. After so many years i realized what my relationship with her is. It is a good thing that the book gives importance to the women who worked on the same topics at the same time. Most history tend to make it invisible by not mentioning it.

Dr. June Singer, in her definitive exposition Androgyny: The Opposites Within, presents a comparative analysis of Freud's and Jung's theories of human sexuality...

Each of these men were spokesmen for the times and cultures in which they lived. Both Freudian psychoanalysts and Jungian analytic psychologists have often served to promote the ideas of the culture in power at the moment

June Singer also says

Although modern biologists are now aware that we were all female at the beginning, it will probably be a long time before the influence of these discoveries filters down to the level where theologians will be ready to consider an 'Adam-out-of-Eve' version of Genesis

Brought a smile to my lips
Adler's disagreement with Freud needs mention.

One of Jung's first tests as the head of the psychoanalytic movement involved a brilliant young analyst named Alfred Adler. Adler couldn't go along with Freud's notion that the psychosexual libido was the All-Powerful Force that Freud said it was. In Adler's view, man's most basic force was the drive for power

Jung's concept of Synchronicity

A term coined by Jung to designate the "meaningful coincidence" of events that have no cause-and-effect relationship to each other. Synchronistic phenomena occur, for instance, when a mental event (dream, vision, premonition, etc.) corresponds to external reality (the premonition or dream "comes true") or when similar thoughts or identical dreams occur at the same time in different places or to different people. These "coincidences" cannot be explained by causality; they seem instead to be connected primarily with activated archetypal processes in the unconscious

[boredroom · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book presents itself in two sections: Jung The Life; and Jung the Work.

It has all the details but I find the presentation a little too disorganized and was not able to enjoy reading it as much as Introducing Jung series. However it does provide something new that I was not able to find in other publisher series of books on Jung - the part on the dynamic of the archetype (A further development by Gareth Hill, PhD.)

Otherwise, if i had not read Introducing Jung first before I read this, this book would gives me the ideas that I need to know about Jung's analytical psychology.

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jung for Beginners is a fine book discussing the life of Carl Gustav Jung and how he influenced modern psychology. With graphic assistance and fun facts thrown at you page by page you will be able to learn about the man who dared challenge Sigmund Freud's ideas. So if you are looking for an easier way to learn about Jung (with a bibliography at the end of the book if you want to look up sources) or are just interested in the past then be sure to pick up this book and jump in with both feet. :)

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Jung is fascinating to say the least. After reading this I'm definitely going to press forward and try some of Jung's own works. This book gave a great overview of Jung's life and beliefs, and I'd recommend it to anyone who is interest in Jung, but overwhelmed by the thought of plunging into something written by him. Read this and then you'll know if that is worth your time.

[CF · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangely, a graphic novel about Carl Jung kept my attention until the last page. I'm doing research for a final paper and this book served absolutely nothing in practical research but it did provide a drama filled adventure on Jung and Freud. There is adultery, Judaism, Nazism and a ton of chavonistic men creating theory...entertaining indeed.

[Carolyne Borel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction for the dilettante, although the complexity of certain Jungians theories are extremely simplified, it actually is a breeze of fresh air away from the thick books filled with pompous words.

[Ilze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank goodness for cartoons! They help to make a rather complicated thing so much easier to understand ...

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting series - the "for Beginners." This is my second one after Postmodernism. It definitely cuts through most of the B.S. surrounding intellectual disciplines.