Product Description

Freud revolutionized the way we think about ourselves. His psychoanalytic terms such as Id, Ego, libido, neurosis and Oedipus Complex have become a part of our everyday vocabulary. But do we know what they really mean? "Introducing Freud" successfully demystifies the facts of Freud's discovery of psychoanalysis. Irreverent and witty but never trivial, the book tells the story of Freud's life and ideas from his upbringing in 19th-century Vienna, his early medical career and his encounter with cocaine, to the gradual evolution of his theories on the unconscious, dreams and sexuality. With its combination of brilliantly clever artwork and incisive text, this book has achieved international success as one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to the father of psychoanalysis.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10572 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Review
"'Zarate's artwork is outstanding and Appignanesi's texts are solidly researched and clearly presented.' Washington Post"

About the Author
Richard Appignanesi is a novelist, editor and publisher. He is the originating editor of the Introducing series and also wrote the Postmodernism and Existentialism titles. Oscar Zarate is a highly acclaimed graphic artist who has illustrated many Introducing titles. His prize-winning graphic novel A Small Killing is known throughout the world.

Customer Reviews

A Good Revision Tool
Although I would not recommend reading this book without having read a little about Freud's theories elsewhere, this is an excellent revision tool for any counselling/psychotherapy student. As with all the books in Icon's "Introducing" series, the book is concise and really brings the subject alive with lots of well-drawn (and often humorous) illustrations which lodge in the memory much better than an overwhelming mass of text. The amount of information contained in this little book is surprisingly large and you will find yourself whipping through the whole in a matter of hours. A quick flip through takes minutes and will give a useful recap.

Some of the theories are not terribly well explained, but overall this is a very good introduction. If you just have a casual interest in Freud, there is no resource more enjoyable.

Good introduction for the new student
Having drifted onto psychology through philosophy and semiotics, I found Introducing Freud to be a mercifully easy read, whilst still providing a good basic understanding of the man's basic theories. Although I found the mainly comic book style a slight distraction at first, it was an effective way of illustrating the points featured, and Oscar Zarate's art fitted the subject matter very well, and the "script" by Richard Appignanesi was spot on. This style was broken up by overviews and bulleted points detailing and clarifying the ideas, which always fitted naturally together. The book also provided a good springboard for research into other related people and subjects. An effective introduction that I would recommend this book to anyone who is casually studying, or beginning to study, Freud and related concepts.

I bought it because I wanted a quick and easy summary
I bought this whilst I was working in Psychiatry. In fact I recall seeing it in high school probably labelled as the Beginners guide to... . I bought it because I was too lazy to wade through the original texts and found it gave a pretty good "quick and dirty" guide to both Freud's work through looking at its evolution over his working life. The illustrations are interesting and frequently disturbing enough to provoke thought. The best thing about this book is that it is not an uncritical paen of praise to Freud. I points out flaws in his theories and alternative perspectives to him. Overall whether you want to be pretensious/impressive at dinner parties or are timepoor and want to get into the subject quickly this should solve your dilemma fast.