EXPLORERS OF HUMANKIND

by Thomas--Ed. Hanna ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 29, 1979

I cannot imagine how there could be more power and fascination than that which is packed into this small volume,"" the editor modestly says at the outset. We read on to discover that he has assembled a east of ten to speak for themselves on the nature of human nature. What, you wonder, can Margaret Mead and Ida Roll, Karl Pribram and Ashley Montagu, Carl Rogers and Alexander Lowen have in common--not to mention Moshe Feldenkrais, Charlotte Selver and Charles Brooks (a wife-husband team), and Barbara Brown? The answer, aside from a heavy concentration on the West Coast, is that all are true optimists, believers in the essentially benign disposition of man and the human capacity for improvement through greater understanding of the ""soma."" They are ""somatic scientists,"" editor Hanna explains, seeing the possibility of human potential fulfilled through a continual process of growth. No more upbeat view of humankind is likely to be found this season. So read on, all of you keyed to the hyphenated schools: Be client-centered with Rogers, made sensory-aware with Selver and Brooks, learn-to-learn through functional integration with Feldenkrais or structural integration … la Rolf. Practice bioenergetics with Lowen and biofeedback with Brown; experience love with Montague, or infinities and no-thingness with Pribram; acknowledge the transforming power of culture with Mead. We liked Montagu and Mead, found Pribram impenetrable, Rogers off the paranormal deep end, and the others, idiosyncratic blends of hope, homilies, and hokum.

Pub Date: Aug. 29, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION