Sigmund Freud

by Matt Ffytche

However much his work has been reviled or contested, Sigmund Freud remains one of the most significant thinkers of the last 150 years. He founded psychoanalysis, and his vision of human behaviour and the unconscious mind has provided a compelling paradigm for understanding society for much of the twentieth century.
In this gripping new account, Matt ffytche draws on the latest research into Freud’s impact and historical context, making the case for his continuing relevance in analysing the vagaries, resistances and desires of the human mind. Engaging and accessible, Sigmund Freud will appeal to both students and the general reader, as well as anyone engaged with mental health, dreams and the hidden depths of human experience.

Genres: Psychoanalysis

260 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 16, 2022

Reviews

[Paul Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It is well written and does a great job in capturing the disruptive nature of Freud's work. There is a wonderful account of Freud's Count Thun dream and in general Ffytche is very good at conveying the "otherness" of the unconscious, how it undermines cosy rationalistic views of the mind and the similarly cosy ways we like to think about ourselves. The only weakness from my point of view is that Ffyche (like Freud and lots of other people) sees the unconscious as a substratum of consciousness, a quasi-physical location where our thoughts and feelings start their life in darkness before finally making it through to consciousness. This is sort of OK if one recognises that it is just a picture or metaphor, but it can easily generate lots of confusions as Freud himself illustrated.

[Jeremy Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great (chronological) overview of Freud's major writings, alongside their cultural and biographical contexts.