This was a fascinating work to thumb through and look for ideas that resonated.
I read a small paperback version, so the figures were not high quality. ( )

Jung examines the full world of the unconscious, whose language he believed to be the symbols constantly revealed in dreams. Convinced that dreams offer practical advice, sent from the unconscious to the conscious self, Jung felt that self understanding would lead to a full and productive life.

Interesting for writers and artists but how these ideas are supposed to help anyone in pain is beyond me.

This is a popular account of Jung’s psychological theories, centred on symbolism. This includes chapters on the Unconscious and Collective Unconscious, its links to mythology, the process of Individuation, and psychological symbols in the arts, and in psychoanalysis. This was written and edited by him when he was near the end of his career, together with four of his disciples who have contributed full chapters.
Unlike his academic works, this is written more for a wide audience, with each chapter here condensing the work of one or more his separate full-length books. For this reason it cannot but help leaving out a lot of the painstaking research that he has done to back up his theories, and presents the findings more on trust. Though there are illustrations throughout from both case histories and research findings, I do not think that these on their own would be sufficient to convince the reader of the credibility of Jung’s theories, were they not already familiar with his longer more detailed works. For a summary however, this book covers a huge breadth of Jung’s work, and does a pretty good job of conveying its importance.
As Jung’s theories touch on so many aspects of life, from art, to dreams, to mythology, mental illness, personal development, and the events of everyday life, this can’t help but being an interesting book. One problem with Jung is that he can sometime come-across as a being a bit mystic, and this reading is not helped in this book where the work is condensed and there is less scope for qualifying terms with scientific precision. I would however still recommend it to those interested in psychology, art, or mythology. ( )

Very accessible read for those unfamiliar with Jung however long and fine print. ( )