A Primer of Jungian Psychology

As a student of Jungian psychology, I found this little book to be most helpful. While the book was first published in 1973, it is all the more relevant due to the resurgence of an interest in the writings of Jung. Hall and Nordby obviously have a deep understanding of the works of Jung as they have chosen the key concepts and distilled them from a very large corpus of original texts (The 19 volumes of the “Collected Works”). Their objective is to outline and explain these concepts for the general reader. However, even the specialist reader will find something in this slim volume particularly in their summaries where complex theories and concepts are neatly packaged without losing any of the essential meanings. For example, I found their summary of the collective unconscious (pages 38-41) to be particularly useful. One point worth noting is that the authors have deliberately excluded consideration of Jung’s views on abnormal behaviour. Presumably this was done by the need to be selective which is always the challenge when writing a Primer.

very informative read

I always keep my reviews short so here it goes. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This is not even close to being a book that will let you understand the totality of Jung and his works, but it clearly isn't meant to be that. This book, instead, is a wonderful introduction to Jungian Psychology. If you are wanting to utilize or understand some of his basic tenets, while not wanting to delve deeply into this subject, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in Jungian Psychology but unsure where to start.

Book came early, very happy.

I expect to start reading this book in about a week. I read his book, A Primer of Freudian Psychology and I thought it was very informative. I expect Hall to be as informative about Jung as he was of Freud. I therefore wil rate this book with at least four stars.