A sex therapist invites readers to improve their own sex lives by learning from the turn-ons of others. San Francisco therapist Morin developed his Sexual Excitement Survey in the mid-1980s and since then has obtained from some 351 anonymous men and women, both straight and gay, descriptions of their peak erotic encounters and fantasies. Through analysis of their accounts and through his work as a therapist, Morin has come to some conclusions about eroticism, the most important being that it is paradoxical in nature: both joyful and dangerous, life-giving and troublesome. One day while contemplating the elegance of the equation Attraction + Obstacles = Excitement, he had a sudden insight: that eroticism has four cornerstoneslonging and anticipation, violating prohibitions, searching for power, and overcoming ambivalence. Morin also finds that six emotionsexuberance, satisfaction, closeness, anxiety, guilt, and angerare associated with peak erotic experiences and that a unifying scenario, or core erotic theme, shapes each individual's turn-ons. These ideas are explored and illustrated at some length with excerpts from survey responses, passages that some readers may find more of a turn-off than a turn-on, for their language is often crude, colorful, and explicit. Readers are urged to keep private sex journals and to explore their own core erotic themes. For those with what Morin terms ``troublesome turn-ons,'' he proposes a 7- step program for positive erotic change, which he takes care to distinguish from any existing 12-step self-help programs. For those who wish to participate in Morin's ongoing study of eroticism, a copy of his Sex Excitement Survey is provided in an appendix. Interesting for its paradoxical perspective on eroticism, but too abstract to be a truly effective self-help program. ($35,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-016975-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1995
An absorbing narrative revealing a woman of extraordinary energy, drive and confidence.
New Age writing guru Cameron (The Dark Room, 1998, etc.) tells of her frenetic, peripatetic life as screenwriter, playwright, novelist, columnist and poet.
The author breezily describes her Catholic education, her early addiction to alcohol and her promising start as a magazine writer before a brief marriage to Martin Scorsese took her to Hollywood. There she discovered cocaine, and her life spiraled downward. On the advice of “sober alcoholics” (a term she uses to describe herself), the desperate Cameron quit drinking, gave up drugs and began writing under a new regimen, which called for a quota of just three pages a day. In time, she began teaching her writing technique to others, putting together a course on unblocking creativity and connecting it with spirituality. Spiritual guidance has evidently played a major role in Cameron’s life decisions since then. She repeatedly moved—back and forth across the United States, to and from England—often at the impetus of guiding voices. She ricocheted from New York to Los Angeles, Chicago, Taos, London, Dublin, never finding a comfortable home or compatible working environment. All the while, she sought out astrologers, psychics and other guiding spirits. In a career that combined prolific writing with running a program designed to teach others how to tap into their own creativity, she bounced back from near disasters again and again, even recovering from a nervous breakdown that landed her in the hospital with a diagnosis of manic depression. Throughout, the author never stopped exploring new genres, tackling big projects and discovering new talent in unexpected areas. She is a “floor sample of my own tool kit,” and devotees of her creativity classes may well be inspired by this enthusiastic outpouring.
An absorbing narrative revealing a woman of extraordinary energy, drive and confidence.Pub Date: May 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-58542-494-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: TarcherPerigee
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Soul-searching has never been more comprehensive.
An exploration of the lengths we will go to heal.
There are countless books on New Age subjects, from studies on chakras and dream incubation to manifestos on psychometry. Griswold’s debut is in that vein, as she provides an exhaustive look at alternative treatments, but wrapped up in that narrative is a personal tale about her own quest to find comfort and healing from the scars of her youth and the tragedy of her divorce after her husband was caught soliciting a prostitute. Somehow, the author managed to find some humor in her situation, and she positions her sarcasm well with the book’s format. Each chapter begins with a breakdown of the remedy she’s seeking. For instance, in Chapter 10, Griswold documents her attendance of an “About Sex Seminar” at age 15. Under subheads, she summarizes the concept before diving into the actual treatment: “Equipment Needed: The seminar leader has a manual in front of the room. This is one manual I’d like to get my hands on. Employment: My job making Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls on Balboa Island doesn’t cover the tuition. Cost: $225. Humiliation Factor: Warming up.” But how did a 15-year-old become a regular at self-help talks, sex seminars, and personal growth workshops? The answer lies in her Christian Scientist family’s fascination with New Age theologies—Griswold asked for her own mantra at age 7—and her parents’ efforts to mend their own marriage with various therapies. Of course, both marriages—Griswold’s and her parents’—fell apart, and those losses are at the heart of the author’s quest to find some sense of recovery with everything from Vipassana meditation retreats to stick therapy to an ayahuasca tea treatment, which made her vomit for hours. As remedies, the results were decidedly mixed, but vicariously living them through her telling makes for a fascinating book.
Soul-searching has never been more comprehensive.Pub Date: Jan. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63565-220-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Rodale
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
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