John Grinder

This is the funniest book on psychology I've ever read, but it's also provided food for thought for many years. A great investigation into the way the mind works, a practical user's manual that is also creative & open-ended.

This is a little gem of a book which, perhaps more so than any other, helped me understand how our minds work on a linguistic basis (a topic of, no doubt, interest to avid readers).

The downside is that it's basically a textbook writing for pyschologists. But, if you can stomach the dryness, the rewards of insight are well worth the effort.

As many know, this series of books along with Frogs into Princes helped to establish the field of Nero Linguistic Programming or NLP.

I chose to read this book because of my interest in NLP. Somehow I thought I might learn something about the fascinating subject. The book was a real disappointment but I slogged on through the end. The book consists of articles compiled by John Grinder one of the principle originators of NLP. The book evolves into nothing I found interesting or informative as the articles are like a reminiscence and battles between those that had different takes and agendas. The conditions under which NLP show more got it start at UC-Santa Cruz was kind of a throw back to a time of wild happenings on campus in that era but really nothing I found that gave me anything to take from the book about insights to NLP and what it became. show less

Hmm....I'm not an expert in the development of psychotherapy history, but this book seems to have developed the techniques so familiar to us such as....'what do you mean by that......how do you feel about that....etc. Many authors cite the authors Bandler and Grinder as authorities especially in the fields of NLP and hypnosis, and these books would seem to be important in several psychological areas. Whatever the background and uses of this book, it is incredibly boring and its clinical show more approach makes it as much fun as a kick in the jewels. But, it is organized as a learning text rather than a fun read, and it seems to be a detailed, comprehensive tool to teach one the techinque of asking "how do you feel about that"....lol.....it is also much more. Bandler and Grinder, developed (?) the idea that a persons conception of the world (thier own personal reality), or model as the authors call it can be analyzed by a therapist, who discovers and unveils deletions, generalizations,and other mental distortions. All this is structurally apparant in the persons grammer, and language patterns. Interesting. I didn't enjoy reading it, but it was a valuable read. show less