The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series, 3)

Average customer rating:

My two cents (and stars)...

a brilliant & comprehensive mapping of mind, body and soul

Probably the most spiritually advanced book ever

... making the Unconscious Conscious.

Therapeutic Insights in the Process of Self-Realization

The Point of Existence: Transformations of Narcissism in Self-Realization (Diamond Mind Series, 3)
A. H. Almaas
Manufacturer: Shambhala
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Personality | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Buddhism | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Mental & Spiritual Healing | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Mysticism | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Almaas, A.H. | ( A ) | Authors, A-Z | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Pearl Beyond Price: Integration of Personality into Being, an Object Relations Approach (Diamond Mind)

The Void: Inner Spaciousness and Ego Structure

Diamond Heart, Book One: Elements of the Real in Man (The Diamond Heart Series , No 1)

Diamond Heart, Book Four: Indestructible Innocence (Diamond Heart, Book 4)

Diamond Heart, Book Two: The Freedom to Be (The Diamond Heart Series , No 2)

ASIN: 0936713097
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Amazon.com

The third and final book in Almaas's Diamond Mind series, this 602-page tome reformulates the traditionally accepted definition of narcissism, positing it as the major barrier to self-realization--we are staring at reflections of ourselves thinking we are looking at the real self until we fall through the surface of the pond. Dissecting the nature of self to expose ego's mimicry, Almaas illuminates the relationship between the different approaches of various psychological and religious traditions, leaving no stone unturned in his search for "essence." Since the process involves transformation of the experience of identity, it exerts pressure on all levels of self-image, bringing up classically narcissistic issues. While the work appears therapeutic and, in fact, may have therapeutic value, its primary purpose is opening to deeper levels of self knowledge, which eventually becomes a participation in the dynamic unfolding of being human. A pivotal distinction expounded upon in The Point is that Almaas is not directing the reader toward some realization of immaterial spirit or psychological state but is engendering the emergence of a material soul, a palpable essence of being. --Randall Cohan

Book Description

In this book, the author explores the underlying spiritual understanding of narcissism. He presents a detailed map of the steps involved in working through barriers that prevent us from recognizing the most essential nature of our true identity.

Customer Reviews:

My two cents (and stars)..........2007-07-27

The excerpts of this book that can be viewed online at Amazon can be misleading. There is talk of making "permanent self-realization" "more accessible" etc. But this should not be taken to mean that it will be an easy read. It is anything but. It should be treated as a somewhat advanced text in the field of formal psychology (where in the author does a comparative study of various conventional theories about narcissism proposed by the likes of Kohut, Kernberg etc. and proposes his own theory as a nuanced amalgamation of these theories with the addition of the perspective that "Being"/"Essence"/"True Nature" and personality are two sides of the same coin). As such, one needs to have a fair bit of knowledge of formal psychology (and of course spirituality/theology etc). If one does not have such a background, one should acquire it before attempting this book (by reading books such as "Ego Psychology" by Blanck etc). Otherwise, one will run smack into the language barrier and the alien terminology can make it almost impossible to progress, for all but the most persistent. And the language barrier is further thickened to no small extent by the author's attempt at developing a new language for talking about the "spiritual" aspects (see pg.306 "In the language we have been developing...").
Even with a fairly decent exposure to psychology, the book can take a fair bit of time and effort to get through. As such, it should be attempted only under conducive circumstances.
One wonders if the author really could not have simplified things so as to make the material truly more accessible.
Those who have neither a background in psychology, nor an inclination to acquire it, can have a look at "Homecoming" by John Bradshaw.
Also this book ("Point of Existence") is a bit outdated. Some of the concerns raised about conventional psychology are no longer valid, what with the advent of positive psychology etc.
In the final analysis, from a practitioner's point of view, the book basically points out various issues on the path from the perspective of psychology (which is claimed to be more precise). But it is by no means comprehensive in this and also limits itself to addressing only "healthy" people. As for the approach to actually resolving these various issues, it is fundamentally indistinguishable from traditional approaches like zen etc.
p.s. Those who have been practicing for a while might want to have a look at the later parts (book 3/part 2 etc.) of the book first.
p.p.s. And beware the bathos and the "diamond shell".

a brilliant & comprehensive mapping of mind, body and soul.......2006-08-15

The author considers narcissicism in its various folds to be the central impediment to self realization. He looks at it as a natural human defense against what he sees as the almost inevitable annihilation of our soul and the "essence", that we encounter early on in our family upbringing. Not only is it the root of most psychological problems, but we will encounter it constantly while seeking a life of the spirit.

The best book on self realization that I've ever read, because of its compassion for and understanding of the difficulties a Western mind encounters on the path. It does not stop at the Freudian model for psychological health, but rather sees recovery of lost
essence as the key to the self.

Probably the most spiritually advanced book ever.......2005-04-19

The Point is probably the best high-tech & how to instruction manual for self-realization written to-date. Now let's ask Ali to write one for self-actualization.

... making the Unconscious Conscious........2002-08-27

So much of psychology is superficial and so much of what spiritual traditions teach is misleading and impractical to incorporate into our daily lives...

The self-realized Almaas puts into words what others before him could not. This book cuts right through ignorance/narcissism and slowly brings to surface realizations that change forever, what one believes to be reality.

Almaas cross correlates metaphysics with psychology in a mind numbing fashion, throwing deep unconscious process at the rational mind for contemplation, dredging up our childhood experiences, and our relationships with the enviornment. He cuts open the shell that has hereto hidden what is real and jangles the core of our identities.

His approach is to clarify that which is misunderstood, avoiding nothing in the process. The Diamond Approach, as taught by Almaas, is a very sophisticated path toward self-realization that seeks to understand the essential qualities that are behind our everyday lives and determine our reactions to experience. By understanding these essential qualities, which have hereto been unconscious, as they arrise within our daily lives by disidentifying with there representations, we can come to realize our true nature, our essence. This book describes these essential qualities and the representations that obscure them bringing a lucid clarity to the personality, making it receptive.

"The point of existence" gradually inserts important insights into the mind in a very heart warming fashion, making it a book that not only brings understanding with its clarity, but also touches the heart.

This book has helped me in ineffable ways. I ended up buying the whole seires. It is highly recommended.

(Some very insightful and interesting excerts from the Diamond Heart series, by Almaas, is available free through a search on the net - if you are not already convinced.)

Therapeutic Insights in the Process of Self-Realization.......2001-12-08

Much like a major symphonic work, A. H. Almaas' work slowly develops several theme that ultimately converge to reveal incredible beauty and meaning. The initial chapters of the work are somewhat difficult in the extremely fine discriminations that the author makes in setting the ground work for his main arguments. In brief, for Almaas, narcissism is the identification with anything other than one's Essential Identity, whether it be one's body, looks, fame, thoughts, or emotions. Essential Identity is that aspect of our own true nature that give us a sense of who we are at the deepest Being- level of existence. Self-realization involves the movement from the former to the latter--moving from identifying with the ordinary experience of our personality to identifying and becoming one with Being and its essential qualities such as love, compassion, strength, clarity and identity.
For the first time ever, Almaas, presents a rich and psychologically informed phenomenology of the dissolution of the egoic self in the process of self-realization. If the first movement of the work is slow and methodical in setting up the major themes, the second movement, is a detailed, experience near description of how during the course of spiritual development we move from ordinary experience to the depths of Being. Almaas suggests that our idealizations of others, institutions, and ideas has to do with our search for internal support which can only ultimately found in the security of Being. Our need for mirroring, is explored as stemming from Being's need for mirroring, for its uniqueness, specialness and exquisiteness. Most moving in this all, is the exploration of how the very hurts that result from lapses in idealization and mirroring, can be doorways to much deeper understanding. Through a very detailed, and careful assessment of the way in which hurt opens to love and depth, Almaas makes clear how the support of a loving teacher and community make it possible to slowly penetrate our defensive posture, to tolerate pain. He sensitively describes how practitioners gradually move into experiences of deficient emptiness that very naturally can open up to the spaciousness of Being and the realization of our most profound inner identity.
There is so much in this work that is suitable for repetitive consideration and contemplation. It clearly presents in a concise way the modern psychotherapeutic insights on the development of narcissism and then carefully identifies similarities and differences between the therapeutic and spiritual work with narcissism. Almaas identifies and makes psychological sense of those cases of teachers whose behavior does not seem to match their realization. Using the predominant psychological metaphor of our time, Almaas has sympathetically illuminated as no one before, the ways in which every pitfall on the path is also a potential movement closer to our true nature. If the reader will take the patience to move through the slow, sometime painstaking development of the theoretical frame of Book One, they will in Book Two be privileged to experience a most meaningful descriptive and explanatory map of spiritual development that takes account of both the reality and depth of our psychological needs and experiences, and the delicacy, profundity and riches of spiritual reality.

Harvey Aronson, LMSW, Ph.D., is currently directory of Dawn Mountain Buddhist Temple, and a psychotherapist in private practice in Houston, Texas. He is author of Love and Sympathy in Theravada Buddhism, and Couch or Cushion: Buddhisst Practice on Western Groun (forthcoming).

Book Description

The Smithsonian's new National Museum of the American Indian will be the last museum to be built on the National Mall and its opening will be a major, national media event. To commemorate the opening, the National Geographic Society has collaborated with the museum's curators and advisers to produce a lavishly illustrated, comprehensive volume based on major themes relevant to American Indian peoples. Written by a distinguished group of Native American scholars, poets, activists, and tribal leaders, the book will offer its non-Indian readers a closer understanding of Native perspectives, beliefs, and histories. The real power of this volume rests with its power to communicate firsthand the experiences, observations, and intellectual concepts of the hemisphere's indigenous peoples, who demonstrate that their ancient philosophies and folkways are integral, valuable, and still apply in modern times. This unprecedented book consists of three major sections --Our Universes explores Native spiritual beliefs; Our Peoples presents historical and contemporary events from a Native American point of view; and Our Lives illustrates the diversity of Native peoples today--each with a lead essay, supporting pieces, and sidebars on selected topics. There are more than 300 illustrations (250 in color), some of them archival, but most show rare and beautiful Indian artifacts seldom seen which when organized together in one volume showcase the rich tradition of Native American artistic achievement.

Customer Reviews:

the new American Indian reality .......2004-10-28

In 2002, when Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to orbit the earth, he carried aboard the shuttle a Hopi ceramic pot with a traditional corn motif. It was made by a contemporary Hopi artist and mechanical engineer, Al Qoyawayma, who has also patented internal guidance systems.

This is the new American Indian reality that this book portrays. It's the inaugural volume celebrating the opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington this fall, and its themes corresponds to the those of the first exhibition: "Our Universes," "Our Peoples," "Our Lives." Essays and poems by John Mohawk, N. Scott Momaday, Louise Erdrich, Wilma Mankiller, Linda Hogan, Victor Montejo, Sherman Alexie and others, plus historical photos and documents, provide context for lavish and evocative photographs of ancient and contemporary art and artifacts.

The presence of the past and the power of the timeless in the world of time that characterize Indian America are illustrated here in many ways. So essays on the political and cultural importance of the Alcatraz occupation coexist with a description of the Navajo First Laugh Ceremony. Yet this volume reminds us that the oldest cultures on the continent are still the least understood. Perhaps the new National Museum, largely designed and administered by American Indians, will play a leading role in changing that. Then perhaps Allan Houser, for example, will finally be considered a great American sculptor, instead of solely a prominent Indian sculptor. And the important American tribal stories, so different in important ways from European myth, may be absorbed into our common cultural cornucopia, equal to the tales of Greece and Iceland. If so, this volume may also contribute, by attracting attention to the Museum, and enlarging upon the experience of travelers when they return home. It is also ably edited to perform that role on its own.

Native Universe: Voices of Indian America

Average customer rating:

Native Universe: Voices of Indian America
Gerald Mcmaster
Manufacturer: National Geographic Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N66M3K

Book Description

Richard Cytowic's dinner host apologized, "There aren't enough points on the chicken!" He felt flavor also as a physical shape in his hands, and the chicken had come out "too round." This offbeat comment in 1980 launched Cytowic's exploration into the oddity called synesthesia. He is one of the few world authorities on the subject.

Sharing a root with anesthesia ("no sensation"), synesthesia means "joined sensation," whereby a voice, for example, is not only heard but also seen, felt, or tasted. The trait is involuntary, hereditary, and fairly common. It stayed a scientific mystery for two centuries until Cytowic's original experiments led to a neurological explanation--and to a new concept of brain organization that accentuates emotion over reason.

That chicken dinner two decades ago led Cytowic to explore a deeper reality that, he argues, exists in everyone but is often just below the surface of awareness (which is why finding meaning in our lives can be elusive). In this medical detective adventure, Cytowic shows how synesthesia, far from being a mere curiosity, illuminates a wide swath of mental life and leads to a new view of what is means to be human--a view that turns upside down conventional ideas about reason, emotional knowledge, and self-understanding.

This 2003 edition features a new afterword.

Customer Reviews:

Not recommended.......2004-04-18

Originally published in 1993, this book is a popularization of Dr. Cytowic's more detailed 1989 book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses. At the time it was published, it was of some value in bringing the topic of synesthesia to greater attention among both scholars and the general public. Dr. Cytowic thus gets an A for public education efforts, but a failing grade for accomplishment.

The book suffers from an unwarrantedly grandiose and revelatory style, and an amateurish presentation of the psychological side of the topic. Now, ten years later, many articles and books on synesthesia have come out. None of them corroborate the limbic theory of synesthesia Dr. Cytowic presents, nor do they echo his interpretation of synesthesia as an example of emotion taking precedence over reason. For the most part, this new literature offers a much better place to start understanding synesthesia than this book.

In the revised (2002) edition of Cytowic's other book Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses, he goes some way towards taking account of these new developments; this new edition is worthwhile, but should definitely be balanced with other books on synesthesia. The Man Who Tasted Shapes, however, is no longer worth much attention.

A wonderful read.......2002-06-18

This is a truly great book. I enjoyed ever word on the page. Not only is it a story of a life but it teaches you about a very interesting abnormality. It goes into depth and describes at a simple enough level what is going on to cause it. It is funny and informative all in one. Not only that but it criticizes the medical community who tried to hold him back. It puts some insight into the dependents of technology in todays society.

Great tale, Good theory, Stilted prose.......2001-09-23

One thing is clear upon reading this book: Richard Cytowic, M.D., is no Oliver Sacks. Though, as will be seen, there is much in here to recommend itself, his stilted reproduction of conversations which or may not have taken place and his `Creative Fiction 100' characterizations (i.e., Dr. Wood's continual inhalation of smoke or food) strike the experienced reader as painfully contrived, as though Cytowic were doing his level best to imitate Sacks and reach that always-elusive `wider audience'.

On the other hand, as Cytowic describes his quest to make sense of his friend's synesthesia (the man for whom gustatory sensations were experienced as the contours, edges, textures, and surface temperatures of external objects), the reader is also drawn into the mystery. One sense experienced as another simply does not compute in our Newtonian each-thing-in-its-place universe. Along with Cytowic, the reader is made to wonder, `How can this be?' Cytowic picks up clues along the way until he is led to `seeing the primacy of emotion over reason; the impossibility of a purely "objective" point of view; the force of intuitive knowledge; and why affirming personal experience yields a more satisfying understanding than analyzing what something "means" ' (7).

Cytowic moves through the years inexorably but somewhat leisurely after these answers. At last, with the help of a thick caseload of personal testimonies and controlled tests, he narrows down the subjective nature of the experience enough to declare his conclusion that `synesthesia is actually a normal brain function in every one of us, but that its workings reach conscious awareness in only a handful' (166, italics in original text). Cytowic `sees' (and perhaps smells, tastes, and hears!) synesthetes as `cognitive fossils' (167) who still experience the senses united as did our mammalian forebears. For the rest of us, this continuing brain process has become unconscious. The key, for Cytowic is emotion which `seems to reside at the interface between that part of our self which is accessible to awareness and that part which is not' (167).

It is when he examines the neurological evidence that his hypotheses are borne out. The climax of the detective work is reached when he gets his friend inside a regional cerebral blood flow scanner (CBF) where, with the help of a technical expert and doses of amyl nitrate (to accentuate his friend's synesthesia), he is shocked to discover that as his friend experienced the deep pleasure of synesthesia in the machine his cerebral cortex appeared to shut down almost entirely. Simultaneously, his limbic system and hippocampal areas became riotously active. Against the linear `standard view' of the brain, Cytowic announces that the limbic system has evolved in humans alongside the cortical system and has integrated itself into every area of the nervous system. In short, `the limbic system forms an emotional core of the human nervous system' (157). Thus, emotion `was no longer localized in a discrete control center but was spread out over pathways' (158). With this evidence, Cytowic concludes that even the nature of perceptions is largely determined by emotional valences and that such emotional elision of value is precisely what occurs in synesthesia. The emotional mind (as opposed to the logical, cognitive one) is the basis of human action and experience, according to Cytowic.

This is an important conclusion, if not all that original. What this means to consciousness studies and to the understanding of human life in general, Cytowic is not the slightest bit hesitant to tell us. In fact, such speculation appears to be the raison d'être of this user-friendly text and is the content of Part Two, `Essays on the Primacy of Emotion'. Unlike another, more `scientific', review of this book which I previously encountered, I quite disagree that these essays are `irrelevant' to his research. Anyone who has worked so prodigiously in one area of study and comes to such startling conclusions has earned the right to ruminate on what it all implies. Cytowic reveals himself as a stimulating essayist, but, in the end, he proves to be not much better a philosopher than a literary artist.

Cytowic usually seems to consider our `emotional mind' as non-conscious and this is a pivotal, if controversial, point. This implies our emotions are not subject to conscious volition and may explain why he feels the source of emotions to be somewhat mystical. He indicates that emotional valuation is necessary for any sort of mental consciousness to develop. He also shows that as learned adaptations become habit, both emotional charge and self-awareness decline or even disappear so behavior continues mechanically along. Cytowic calls upon the experimental literature on divided brains, the `readiness potential', and neurological conditions such prosopagnosia (wherein patients cannot recognize familiar faces but their galvanic skin resistance reveals definite physiological responses to those same faces) to demonstrate the primacy of the emotional mind - usually the right cerebral hemisphere. These examples clearly reveal a mode of experiencing which is not conscious, if we are to trust the first-person reports of the subjects. `Our conscious self is the tip of an iceberg' (170), Cytowic asserts. He adds that `recognition can be dissociated from conscious awareness of it' (212). The basis of our knowing is `unconscious knowledge' and the basis of our perception is `subception' (214). Here, Cytowic's case for the primacy of emotions sounds more like it supports the Freudian, the Jungian, or even the Darwinian unconscious rather than indicating any sort of transcendent spirituality.

The major problem of his essays is this: He makes an unwarranted leap from the primacy of the emotions into the strong anthropic principle and panpsychism, clearly revealing his bias for `spiritual' explanations of human existence. He claims that terms like `faith', `God', and `spirituality' are non-concepts which refer to ineffable experience. How emotional primacy indicates anything more than our ongoing connection with evolutionary processes escapes me entirely, as does the suggestion of concepts which are non-concepts. The terms he uses clearly are concepts, as rife with assumption and allusion as ever. Apparently by revealing the inefficaciousness of conscious intentionality, he feels he has simultaneously revealed our intuitive spiritual connection with all that is. This spiritual source is not self-evident.

Still, one may quibble too much. Cytowic goes to bat for emotions most effectively and his conclusions ring true that `consciousness, language, and higher mental functions [are] the consequences of our ability to express emotion. Emotion is fundamental to mind and what we call consciousness' (196). Our emotional core is understood by most of us to be basically part of our organic heritage which can be altered by continued conscious experience. His `faith', however, seems to pre-empt his seeing that our `consciousness, language, and higher mental functions' almost certainly return the favour and affect our emotions in their turn. The brain works in cycles of mutual effect and affect. Indeed, many persons as they age and learn may well succeed in uniting the two `minds' and creating conscious emotionality, i.e., they `get in touch with their feelings'. This understanding of the potential of higher mental functions to change emotions (as well as being changed by them) may well help to explain why non-rational believers like Cytowic feel their emotions indicate a doorway to the infinite and eternal. It is worth considering that their cultural belief-system has predisposed them to values which generate, in turn, appropriate emotional resonance.

Buy This Book.......2000-12-16

The Man Who Tasted Shapes is an extraordinary work of research into the human mind that was, to me, only superficially about synesthesia. The information and perspective shared are much bigger than the title would imply. I believe that you'll find it to be fabulously interesting, even if you have zero interest in synesthesia.

Most doctors are afraid to write what they truly believe in their hearts lest it be challenged and scorned by their peers. Rarely do scientists allow you to "see the man behind the curtain," preferring to hide instead behind that mysterious veil we called "objective data." In this, Dr. Cytowic is far braver than most, and certainly more honest.

Here is just such an example from the book: "My innate analytic personality had been reinforced by twenty years of training in science and medicine. I reflexively analyzed whatever passed my way and firmly believed that the intellect could conquer everything through reason. 'You need an antidote to your incessant intellectualizing,' Clark suggested, 'something to put you in touch with the irrational side of your mind.'... I had never considered that there might be more to the human mind than the rational part that I was familiar with. It had never once occurred to me that a force to balance rationality existed, let alone that it might be a normal part of the human psyche."

In another chapter, Cytowic asserts, "Not everything we are capable of knowing and doing is accessible to or expressible in language. This means that some of our personal knowledge is off limits even to our own inner thoughts. Perhaps this is why humans are so often at odds with themselves, because there is more going on in our minds than we can ever consciously know."

If you read a lot of medical texts, as I do, you will find Dr. Cytowic to be far more broadminded and much less linear in his thinking than his peers. This makes Cytowic interesting, instead of boring like the others.

One final quote: "Neuroscientists have just lately come to realize how important emotion is. Placing reason and the (intellectual) cortex first and foremost is like the Wizard of Oz shouting, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." Reason, and an accomplice called self-awareness have deluded us into believing that they have been pulling the strings, but emotion and mentation not normally accessible to self-awareness have been in charge all along."

The Man Who Tasted Shapes is a delightful bridge between the hard science of neurology and the mystery that is man.

Buy the book. You won't regret it.

Not for the "Close-minded"!.......2000-02-02

While Dr. Cytowic's book mainly deals with his investigation of the rare neurological phenomena called "synesthesia", his resulting insights on emotions, reasoning and consciousness are really what make this book worth reading. He presents "The New View of How the Brain Works". A view that helps us understand the critical interaction of emotions and reasoning. If you are open-minded and ready to give an alternate point of view a chance, you will find this book to be truly enlightening, absorbing, thought provoking and enjoyable. If you are close-minded and think that science already has all the right answers - don't waste your time - try science fiction instead!

Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Med. Mystery Offers Rev. Insight Into Emotions &

Average customer rating:

I Tasted a Hint of Soap Box...

Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Med. Mystery Offers Rev. Insight Into Emotions &
Richard Cytowic
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Physiological Aspects | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The world's scientific expert on cross-sensory perception givesa layman's account of an incredible neurological situation--hearingcolors, tasting shapes, and seeing sounds. Welcome to the world ofsynesthesia.

Customer Reviews:

I Tasted a Hint of Soap Box..........1997-04-09

I eagerly snatched this book off the shelf when I learned of it -- synesthesia is a fascinating subject with too few works devoted to it -- but Dr. Cytowic's tendency to climb onto his soap box took much of the potential pleasure out of "The Man Who Tasted Shapes". We are given details about only two people with the condition, and one of those only glancingly. The rest of the book is either written in coy dialogue form (taking scores of pages to relate an incident easily expressed in a paragraph -- padding, anyone?) or else denouncing other scientists' viewpoints. This is no "Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat" [by Oliver Sacks], as the title seems to imply. I was left hungering to know more about the actual subject: synesthesia. I did not necessarily disagree with Dr. Cytowic's views, but they seemed to have pre-empted another book already in progress.

Janet Coleman Sides

Average customer rating:
The Man Who Tasted Shapes
Richard E. Cytowic
Manufacturer: Imprint Academic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Neuropsychology | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0907845436

Average customer rating:
The Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Medical Mystery Offers Revolutionary Insights into Emotions, Reasoning, and Consciousness.
Richard E. Cytowic
Manufacturer: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NI1AIU

Average customer rating:
The Man Who Tasted Shapes
Richard E. Cytowic
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OR8Y16

Average customer rating:
The Man Who Tasted Shapes: A Bizarre Medical Mystery Offers Revolutionary INsighs Into Emotions, Reasoning, and Consciousness
Richard E. Cytowic
Manufacturer: Tarcher / Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NZSQ9O

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books