Why does music have such a powerful effect on our minds and bodies? It is the most mysterious and most intangible of all forms of art.Yet, Anthony Storr believes, music today is a deeply significant experience for a greater number of people than ever before. In this challenging book, he explores why this should be so. Drawing on a wide variety of opinions, Storr argues that the patterns of music make sense of our inner experience, giving both structure and coherence to our feelings and emotions....
There are many reports of strange cults which enthral their followers and cut themselves off from the world. Invariably led by gurus, or «spiritual leaders», the fruit of these cults are mass suicides in the South American jungle or the self-immolation of hundreds in besieged fortresses.There are said to be at least six hundred New Religious Movements in Britain, and many more in other parts of the world. They range from benign, charitable organisations to corrupt, dangerous cults which may end...
‘Jung was on a giant scale…he was a master physician of the soul in his insights, a profound sage in his conclusions. He is also one of Western Man’s great liberators.’ J. B. Priestly, Sunday Telegraph‘Jung can sometimes rise to the heights of a Blake or a Nietzsche or a Kierkegaard…like any true prophet or artist, he extended the range of the human imagination…to be able to share Jungian emotions is surely an almost necessary capacity of the free mind.’ Philip Toynbee, ObserverThis compact...
In this brilliant and acclaimed book, the eminent psychiatrist Dr Anthony Storr challenges the widely held view that success in personal relationships is the only key to happiness.He argues persuasively that we pay far too little attention to some of the other great satisfactions of life – work and creativity. In a series of skilful biographical sketches, among them Beethoven, Henry James, Goya, Wittgenstein, Kipling and Beatrix Potter, he demonstrates how many of the creative geniuses of our...
