I was hoping, based on the title, that this would be a nice starter into the work and philosophies of Jung. I was particularly interested in knowing more about his thoughts on the collective conscious. I chose the audiobook option.

The book itself was more substantive and heavy than I anticipated. I wasn't quite ready for that. However, had I chosen to read the book, that likely would not have been an issue. The narrator made it nearly impossible for me to digest the material. The narrator spoke at a very fast pace, barely pausing in between sentences. The narration style was the reason I gave the book 3 stars. This is probably much better in written form. ( )

This book is a pretty good introduction to the depth psychology of Carl Jung. This is not a dry psychology textbook, but a pretty interesting read. Stein takes into the psyche thorugh talking about the ego and then leading us through complexes and psychic energy into the collective unconscious. Instincts and archetypes, which are shared among humans, are revealed, and then we go into some more individual concerns of the persona (the mask we show to the world) and the shadow (the dark side?). Then to the animus and anima, the flip of our gender, and not always easyt to discern. Then we come back up from our transcendent center to wholeness, individuation, and synchronicity.

I finally bought the book at a dream week in May 2013 at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina. There was a live audio feed from Murray Wright in Switzerland. ( )