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Stories from daily psychoanalysis by Dr. Stephen Grosz.
I managed to find a glimpse of me in most of the tales.
I believe we all will.
Don't you agree?
“Closure is just as delusive-it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.”
“Being present, whether with children, with friends, or even with oneself, is hard work. But isn't this attentiveness -- the feeling that someone is trying to think about us -- something we want more than praise?”
“It is less painful, it turns out, to feel betraye..more
Directed by Astra Taylor. With Kwame Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, Michael Hardt, Martha Nussbaum. Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets.
Nov 10, 2017 In this Wireless Philosophy video, Mitch Green (University of Connecticut) introduces a few interpretations of Socrates famous statement, and considers what it means to live an examined life. Rz dvd creator free. Examined Life What Stanley H. Kaplan taught us about the S.A.T. By Malcolm Gladwell. December 9, 2001. Once, in fourth grade, Stanley Kaplan got a B-plus on his report card and was so stunned that. His 'examination' of life in this way spilled out into the lives of others, such that they began their own 'examination' of life, but he knew they would all die one day, as saying that a life without philosophy - an 'unexamined' life - was not worth living. Brickhouse, Thomas C.; Smith, Nicholas D.
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Summaries
- Examined Life pulls philosophy out of academic journals and classrooms, and puts it back on the streets. In Examined Life, filmmaker Astra Taylor accompanies some of today's most influential thinkers on a series of unique excursions through places and spaces that hold particular resonance for them and their ideas. Peter Singer's thoughts on the ethics of consumption are amplified against the backdrop of Fifth Avenue's posh boutiques. Michael Hardt ponders the nature of revolution while surrounded by symbols of wealth and leisure. Judith Butler and a friend stroll through San Francisco's Mission District questioning our culture's fixation on individualism. And while driving through Manhattan, Cornel West - perhaps America's best-known public intellectual - compares philosophy to jazz and blues, reminding us how intense and invigorating a life of the mind can be. Offering privileged moments with great thinkers from fields ranging from moral philosophy to cultural theory, Examined Life reveals philosophy's power to transform the way we see the world around us and imagine our place in it.
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Preview — The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz
Echoing Socrates' time-honoured statement that the unexamined life is not worth living, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz draws short, vivid stories from his 25-five-year practice in order to track the collaborative journey of therapist and patient as they uncover the hidden feelings behind ordinary behaviour.
These beautifully rendered tales illuminate the fundamental pathways..more
These beautifully rendered tales illuminate the fundamental pathways..more
Published May 12th 2014 by W. W. Norton Company (first published December 20th 2012)
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Jan 12, 2013P-eggy rated it really liked it · review of another edition Shelves: 2013-reviews, reviewed, 2014-reviews, psycho-neurology-crime
It's very Freudian. If you a fan of the psychoanalytic process and the insights it draws - hopefully leading to that 'ah ha' moment - followed by a change to hopefully less-distressing behaviour, then you are going to enjoy these stories.
Being the rather non-spiritual pragmatist that I am, I'm more into existential psychology and prefer the books (and writing, the beautiful, soaring, hopeful writing) of Irvin D. Yalom. Nevertheless there are some interesting tales of people's maladaptions and ho..more
Jul 09, 2015William2 rated it it was amazing · review of another editionBeing the rather non-spiritual pragmatist that I am, I'm more into existential psychology and prefer the books (and writing, the beautiful, soaring, hopeful writing) of Irvin D. Yalom. Nevertheless there are some interesting tales of people's maladaptions and ho..more
Shelves: psychology, 21-ce, nonfiction, us, case-studies
These subtle, fascinating case studies are psychoanalysis condensed. They run about 6 or so pages each. Everything inessential has been stripped away. We get the problem, the diagnosis, and the resolution or its semblance very quickly. There's the nine year old with autism whose hyper-acting out includes spitting in his analyst's [the author's] face five times a week for a year and a half. How far can one's compassion go? Or the HIV-positive patient who can do little more than sleep during his s..more
Jul 22, 2013Miles rated it really liked it · review of another edition
It has been a while since I felt so conflicted about a book, so torn in two radically different directions. Fittingly, I found that I 'lost and found' myself over and over in these pages; I'd be nodding with appreciative agreement one moment, then furrowing my eyebrows in frustration the next. The bottom line is that Grosz's slim collection of stories from his years as a psychoanalyst is engrossing and rich, even if it often lacks the additional details that would bring these cursory glimpses in..more
Sep 21, 2018BlackOxford rated it really liked it
Cultural Compensation
The Examined Life strikes me as a re-incarnation of Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled which was published 40 years ago - before Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher decreed the non-existence of society. Both books are written with the same structure of patient case studies. They contain the same histories of development of the writers into therapeutic maturity; the same essential message of human psychic complexity and mystery; and even some almost identical patient accoun..more
Jul 19, 2013Kris rated it it was ok · review of another editionThe Examined Life strikes me as a re-incarnation of Scott Peck’s The Road Less Travelled which was published 40 years ago - before Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher decreed the non-existence of society. Both books are written with the same structure of patient case studies. They contain the same histories of development of the writers into therapeutic maturity; the same essential message of human psychic complexity and mystery; and even some almost identical patient accoun..more
Shelves: non-fiction, 2013-releases, psychology, psychoanalysis
I just had to take off a star from the ranking I gave this book yesterday. Grosz knows how to tell a story, but I wanted more depth in the case studies and analyses. Everything seemed too simple, too easily resolved, too basic.
Sep 05, 2013Charlotte rated it it was ok · review of another edition
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jan 05, 2014Yomna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Review after the third read:
I never read a book more than once, but this is the third time for me to read this one. *sigh* Still, it's one of my favorite psychotherapy books. Even though I'm not a psychoanalyst, and I'm more of a humanistic and cognitive-behavioral therapist, I find this book to be a treasure on a personal and professional level. You will find yourself somewhere in this book. You will come face-to-face with some of your fears; you might continue to ignore your insecurities, or m..more
I never read a book more than once, but this is the third time for me to read this one. *sigh* Still, it's one of my favorite psychotherapy books. Even though I'm not a psychoanalyst, and I'm more of a humanistic and cognitive-behavioral therapist, I find this book to be a treasure on a personal and professional level. You will find yourself somewhere in this book. You will come face-to-face with some of your fears; you might continue to ignore your insecurities, or m..more
Jan 21, 2013Andy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This is a terrific little book; very affecting and powerful, and it came at just the right time for me.
It's essentially a series of vignettes from the case histories of a Freudian psychoanalyst - short chapters on themes of loss, love, lies, sadness, death and so on. I confess that I am rabidly sceptical about the basis of Freudian analysis, but these stories are so touching and thought-provoking that my ideological preferences were rendered unimportant. What's so powerful about this book is the..more
It's essentially a series of vignettes from the case histories of a Freudian psychoanalyst - short chapters on themes of loss, love, lies, sadness, death and so on. I confess that I am rabidly sceptical about the basis of Freudian analysis, but these stories are so touching and thought-provoking that my ideological preferences were rendered unimportant. What's so powerful about this book is the..more
The reviews of 'The Examined Life' on gr are pretty mixed, and I can understand why. These pieces are short, intriguing, frustrating. Sometimes they go too deep in the sense of reading too much into behavior and constructing far-fetched overly-worn psychoanalytic metaphors and insinuating them into a situation where they might not be all that helpful. And some of the essays are barely constructed, the material relatively unexamined.
All of this said, I enjoyed the book. It reminds me how meaning..more
All of this said, I enjoyed the book. It reminds me how meaning..more
Mar 17, 2014Robert Day rated it really liked it · review of another edition
In the bumpf on the back it says that these are 'aphoristic and elegant stories'.
Here then are the aphorisms I have derived from each chapter; in order; with none missing:
• Trauma that is experienced in pre-speech years can lead to silence (inability to express) and/or destructive behaviour (acting out?) in later life.
• Making jokes about problems can bring temporary relief but can block a better understanding of the situation.
• Praising specific positive behaviour (rather than just praising in..more
Here then are the aphorisms I have derived from each chapter; in order; with none missing:
• Trauma that is experienced in pre-speech years can lead to silence (inability to express) and/or destructive behaviour (acting out?) in later life.
• Making jokes about problems can bring temporary relief but can block a better understanding of the situation.
• Praising specific positive behaviour (rather than just praising in..more
Aug 25, 2018Nadin Adel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Stories from daily psychoanalysis by Dr. Stephen Grosz.
I managed to find a glimpse of me in most of the tales.
I believe we all will.
Don't you agree?
“Closure is just as delusive-it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.”
“Being present, whether with children, with friends, or even with oneself, is hard work. But isn't this attentiveness -- the feeling that someone is trying to think about us -- something we want more than praise?”
“It is less painful, it turns out, to feel betraye..more
Feb 14, 2013Sarah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Distilling decades of therapeutic work into a slim volume that reads like a collection of short stories, Grosz offers an intriguing insight into contemporary psychoanalysis. A married father-of-four announces that he is thinking of coming out, aged 71, while a woman who has just celebrated her 50th birthday realises a sexy dream that bothered her was about her son.
Anger, boredom, self-delusion, lying, being stuck, Grosz even shows how boredom is worth thinking about. He draws not just on his pa..more
Anger, boredom, self-delusion, lying, being stuck, Grosz even shows how boredom is worth thinking about. He draws not just on his pa..more
Feb 14, 2014Jennifer rated it it was ok · review of another edition
I found the stories in this book a bit frustrating to read - they were too short to be anything more than slightly interesting anecdotes.They suffered from a lack of detail which robs them of their ability to evoke compassion, and leaves the reader lacking enough detail or understanding to gain a sense of the wisdom or appropriateness of the judgements made by Grosz in his cases.
Grosz's observation rings true that we make sense of our lives and experiences by story telling and creating narrative..more
Grosz's observation rings true that we make sense of our lives and experiences by story telling and creating narrative..more
Nov 04, 2013Meg rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I really enjoyed this - it reminded me of Oliver Sacks condensed, as well as The Unsayable: The Hidden Language of Trauma, which was also written by a psychologist who relies heavily on psychoanalytic theories.
Unfortunately the author occasionally finds explanations and reasons for his patients’ behaviors where they don’t exist, which I suppose is the main drawback of psychoanalysis - sometimes losing a wallet is just losing a wallet - but still, many of his explanations made sense in the stran..more
Unfortunately the author occasionally finds explanations and reasons for his patients’ behaviors where they don’t exist, which I suppose is the main drawback of psychoanalysis - sometimes losing a wallet is just losing a wallet - but still, many of his explanations made sense in the stran..more
Once in a while I come across a book so filled with useful thoughts and insight that it comes up in conversation time and again. I found that with Graham Robb's The Discovery of France. It was so full of extraordinary facts and his depth of understand was so profound that I kept hearing myself talking about it and recommending it to people.
I think The Examined Life might be another such, albeit for quite different reasons.
Stephen Grosz is a psychoanalyst, an American practicing in London. He off..more
I think The Examined Life might be another such, albeit for quite different reasons.
Stephen Grosz is a psychoanalyst, an American practicing in London. He off..more
Feb 02, 2013Dawn rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
I really enjoyed reading this book. It very cleverly covers common issues which affect a lot of people and it details how strange behaviours can stem from denial, or inner pain caused by simple childhood sadnesses - to major trauma - in the most intelligent of people: I did tend to get the impression that Mr Grosz's patients were mainly well-educated very middle-class professional people who could afford private analysis, and were not your average NHS patient who was on the dole or something, bu..more
May 27, 2013Serena Liu rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
A book that I didn't want it to end too quickly. A book that made me tearful almost throughout each page. My memories of childhood events were so vivid that it seemed like it just happened yesterday. I always say 'Every behaviour has a hidden story. Our personal history is the only trace of our current behaviour.'
I appreciate Dr Grosz describing patients' behaviours, thoughts and dreams without using clinical terms, which somehow stigmatise patients' vulnerability. Not everyone can comprehend me..more
I appreciate Dr Grosz describing patients' behaviours, thoughts and dreams without using clinical terms, which somehow stigmatise patients' vulnerability. Not everyone can comprehend me..more
Jun 06, 2013Dylan rated it it was ok · review of another edition
I did like reading this book, so I'm not certain about giving it two stars.
In terms of providing the reader with some genuine psychoanalytic insights in the lives of others, I think to the non-acquainted reader it will prove interesting. However, the case histories were far too short and each seemed to have one momentous (and expected) description of how the person changed for the better. Hardly a reflection of the process of analysis.
For some reason or another, the cases presented seemed text b..more
In terms of providing the reader with some genuine psychoanalytic insights in the lives of others, I think to the non-acquainted reader it will prove interesting. However, the case histories were far too short and each seemed to have one momentous (and expected) description of how the person changed for the better. Hardly a reflection of the process of analysis.
For some reason or another, the cases presented seemed text b..more
Jul 23, 2013M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Such a great book. Who knew that case studies could be made into short stories that all contain a new psychological insight. For instance; people who are boring are doing it as a form of aggression to get attention and annoy people. & People who are paranoid are using that feeling that 'someone is watching them' because they need to feel that someone cares enough to watch them, in other words they are lonely for a deeper connection. There are many more insights..interesting book
Mar 13, 2014Larraine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
The Examined Life Dvd
This books is so different from books that I normally read that I wonder how I even decided to read it. I generally get my books from the library so if I see a book that I want to read, I request it from the library. This book was only available through inter library loan. So by the time I had requested the book, received it and actually sat down to read it, I had pretty much forgotten why I wanted to read it in the first place. It didn't take me long, though, to get totally caught up in these c..more
Jul 10, 2014Duncan McLaren rated it it was ok
This slim volume does not deserve the critical praise it has received. While very easy to read, and in some ways enjoyable, it has - in my view - several serious flaws.
First Grosz makes no effort to put each personal story into any sort of theoretical context. Just at the point that the reader asks 'so what does that mean or imply for us more generally', Grosz moves on to the next story. Not only does this leave us often simply unclear why he has included that example, and not another, but indee..more
First Grosz makes no effort to put each personal story into any sort of theoretical context. Just at the point that the reader asks 'so what does that mean or imply for us more generally', Grosz moves on to the next story. Not only does this leave us often simply unclear why he has included that example, and not another, but indee..more
Apr 02, 2014Nikki rated it liked it · review of another edition
This was.. intriguing. It had something of the voyeuristic sense about it, too: you're getting a glimpse into anonymous people's lives that only they and their psychoanalyst have ever seen. The stories are simply written and well structured, and I don't doubt that the book was written with good intentions and a genuine passion and interest.
I still find myself torn by it, though. I'm not sure I like that sense of complicitness in being a voyeur, the fact that I didn't know if he'd even asked the..more
I still find myself torn by it, though. I'm not sure I like that sense of complicitness in being a voyeur, the fact that I didn't know if he'd even asked the..more
Jul 09, 2013Jafar rated it liked it · review of another edition
While I was reading this book, I also read an article that claimed to provide evolutionary reasoning for why it's parents' fault if their young daughter has a loser boyfriend. So now evolutionary psychology is in competition with psychoanalysis in giving the most outlandish and just-so explanations for human behavior.
Grosz writes with feeling and understanding for his patients. These are stories of people trying to make sense of themselves and their condition. Of course, you can always argue ab..more
Grosz writes with feeling and understanding for his patients. These are stories of people trying to make sense of themselves and their condition. Of course, you can always argue ab..more
Mar 04, 2013Tariq Mahmood rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
A psychoanalytic who clearly loves his job. I listened to the audio version of this great little gem of a book which is filled with a great many insights into the inner working of the human being, its most basic fears and the many strategies devised to deal with a very complex life surrounding each and every one of us. I loved the Freudian method of discerning behaviours and conclusions based on dreams. There is something for every reader to take away from this gemstone, although in real life we..more
I've got to admit that I used to think of psychologists as money sucking temporary friends that can be replaced by anyone who would just sit, listen and ask 'how do you feel about that?'. boy was i wrong!
This amazing book not only gives you a glimpse of what people around you might be experiencing but it also shows you a little bit of yourself in every story. you will find yourself relating to the patients and their ordeals and will find comfort in what Grosz tells them.
I now not only respect pe..more
This amazing book not only gives you a glimpse of what people around you might be experiencing but it also shows you a little bit of yourself in every story. you will find yourself relating to the patients and their ordeals and will find comfort in what Grosz tells them.
I now not only respect pe..more
Feb 20, 2013Sam Drew rated it it was ok · review of another edition
The Examined Life Book Pdf
As a layman, I enjoyed this insight into the psychoanalytic process, and was impressed at some of the chapters as Grosz lays out the reasoning behind his clients' behaviour, in an obviously knowledgeable and not at all arrogant fashion. However, I became a little bored by the short chapters and their pithy conclusions: Grosz rarely goes into a client's long-term treatment in any great detail, and when he does he seems to cut things short just when they were getting interesting. Perhaps this is d..more
May 05, 2013Erol Yeşilyurt rated it liked it · review of another edition
The writer is articulate and is raising many good points about the problems of the life, but, nonetheless, he is never developing his ideas into something more meaningful: he is just making some good comments and stops there. It is unfortunately not good enough. He is not strictly Freudian in his approach and that enables him to ask many different questions while discussing some of his cases. He is though, gives the impression of a caring practitioner, who is keen to help his patients to help th..more
Jun 13, 2013Emma Sea rated it it was ok · review of another edition Shelves: auckland-library, psychoanalysis, non-fiction
I agree with this review in that Grosz never seems to make anything substantial of the stories in here. However I also wept through the entire second haf of the book. The lightness and sparseness with which the cases are told really communicate the commonalities of loneliness, self-doubt, and our frequent inability to escape the scars of our childhood.
A tissue-holding 2.5-stars.
A tissue-holding 2.5-stars.
Jan 10, 2014Holly rated it it was ok · review of another edition
I thought the vignettes were far too short to explore anything worthwhile. More of a survey of psychoanalytic patients and analyst-subject relationships. Just when a 'breakthrough' was to occur, or had just occurred, the essay would end, leaving me frustrated and annoyed.
Feb 04, 2014Dierregi rated it it was ok · review of another edition
I was intrigued by the TV series In Treatment, so I decided to buy this book to get more insight into the work of an analyst. The book is relatively short and divided into loosely related chapters dedicated to specific themes, such as “Telling lies”, “Loving”, “Leaving”, etc..
The language is plain and I managed to read the whole 215 pages in two days. I did found some cases interesting, but I was also disappointed because I found the content more superficial than I expected and some cases “ove..more
The language is plain and I managed to read the whole 215 pages in two days. I did found some cases interesting, but I was also disappointed because I found the content more superficial than I expected and some cases “ove..more
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Stephen Grosz is a practicing psychoanalyst—he has worked with patients for more than twenty-five years. Born in America, educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Oxford University, he lives in London. A Sunday Times bestseller, The Examined Life is his first book.
“Closure is just as delusive-it is the false hope that we can deaden our living grief.” — 43 likes
“Being present, whether with children, with friends, or even with oneself, is hard work. But isn't this attentiveness -- the feeling that someone is trying to think about us -- something we want more than praise?” — 26 likes
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