--- From a review on Amazon.com
"Memories, Dreams, Reflections" helped me to establish a contextual framework for understanding the life of this truly seminal thinker and his work. It is an excellent place to start before diving into some of Jung's often esoteric and abstract essays, transcribed lectures, and books.

One of Jung's greatest achievements has been his ability to produce a new vocabulary for modern man to deal with the processes that occur where the personal psyche meets objective reality.

His genius lies in his blend of deep intuitive thinking and strict scientific empiricism. Jung's contributions are still slowly trickling down into the collective understanding of modern culture.

Arguably the greatest autobiography of the century, Memories, Dreams, Reflections is a man's attempt to reconcile his own inner life with the inadequate rubrics of his time: intellectual, philosophical, and psychological.

Jung had the courage to disown Freud's idea that the unconscious was merely a cause of mayhem for the ego. Rather the self, the archetype of wholeness, both guides the ego to its highest fulfillment and presents it with demons in the form of dreams and fantasies.

Ideas we take for granted today originate here: The idea that there is a symbolic language that connects all minds which he dubbed the collective unconscious. That men have an inner feminine life and vice versa. The valuation of all religions and philosophies, east and west, as food for the soul.

Yet Jung is no dreamer. He was able to draw on Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, as well as non traditional sources, to make his points. His intellectual achievement is gargantuan, being that he is a 19th century character trained by traditional medicine, and bred by Swiss Christianity.

I urge anyone who is unsatisfied with popular psychology, religion, and culture to read this book. It is a common inclusion in philosophy of religion classes and is still read in psychology schools. It is especially good for young people just coming to grips with their spirituality, and for the elderly searching for a sense of meaning in their lives. For those attempting to reconcile their intellectual and spiritual lives, Jung provides a way of looking at things, not a dogma or philosophy, that adds luster to both.

--- a review by:
djsthilaire@peoplepc.com
December 7, 1999

These writings come straight from Jung's own inner experience and it is his last book before his death in 1961. I have read and re-read this work because at different times in my life I needed to re-evaluate where I was and where I was going. Other books by Jung are more intellectual and scientific, whereas, this autobiography has the wisdom of a person in the later part of life and it was written not so much to teach but to leave with us his legacy.

Having myself had a near death experience, I was especially re-affirmed by Jung's own near death experience and his dealings with this phenomenon. His acceptance of his own humanity and his returning from this state to share with us his knowledge and vision is a gift to all of us. It is not easy to return to our humanity and deal with the sufferings we encounter but growth is the only evidence of life. We have to come down from the mountain top and work in the valley.