He: Understanding Masculine Psychology (Perennial Library),   ISBN:9780060963965

Customer Rating: 

The Arthurian legend, the quest for the Holy Grail, and particularly that of the Knight Parsifal, illustrate the patterns of male psychology, the journey we go through, the twists and turns we must experience before we get where we are going.

As you read this book, you learn through understanding its implications for you, and how it resonates with your journey. Parsifal makes errors along the way which makes some of his twists and turns unnecessary. Wisdom comes dropping slow. The opportunity of this book for you of this book for you, is that the sooner you understand who the grail serves, and other important insights, the sooner you will accelerate through the different levels on your personal journey.

Then you can finally heal the wound of the Fisher King.

Now, does this book tell you everything about male psychology? Of course not. You need to read several.

After reading this book, I bought several of Johnson's other books. It's an interesting way to learn Jungian ideas through well written interpretations of classic stories. The one I like mostInner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth, about using dream interpretation for personal growth, absolutely excellent.

I commend for you consideration IRON JOHN [A BOOK ABOUT MEN] BY ROBERT BLY relating the myth ofthe Hairy Man aka Iron John to illustrated how we obtain Mature Masculine Power, a beautifully written book, with many important insights.

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculineshows how we can develop through accessing the energy of these archetypes.

I hope this review was helpful to you.

Customer Rating: 

I have studied this book with a group, and have found it a very tedious study. I cannot correlate Johnsons's description of the life journey which he feels each male must traverse with the journey of my experience. I am 89. Having lost my copy, I am buying another because a few people whom I respect have found it meaningful. (Others, also respectable, have been as confused as I.)

Customer Rating: 

of course, you can't be Jung...but this is a nice 'pop' version that WILL help many people (and has).

i prefer all the ineffable alchemical referencing in Jung, but i love the way this book simply speaks and relays its message.

not all people care to dig through depth psych texts...some need Insight.

this book is a great guide.

Customer Rating: 

Precisely because this book is written in a "read between the lines" fashion, one is forced to look within one's self; thus the reader is lead to seek and find his/her own understanding.

Customer Rating: 

I found this book to be very interesting. It goes into great detail about the symbolism of the story of the Grail, and Johnson shows you how you can use mythology to relate to your own inner experience. That being said, I thought that there were not enough example of how certain things play out in everyday life. I was hoping that he would say how a man shows his mother complex, or how the father archetype shows itself in man's development. (Ironically, there is no mention of the father archetype at all!) The analysis basically boils down to a man needing to understand his feminine side, which I have frankly heard enough of in my psychoanalytic studies. I do believe it is important, and I would dread life without being in touch with the feminine, but why can't Jungian psychology move on? Why is there so little talk about the father? Why is it that every book I pick up tells me that I need to be in touch with my anima? I get the picture.

In addition, Johnson mentions that the masculine search within ends with a higher understanding of the self, but he ends rather abruptly. I wish that there was more about the mysteries of the self, and how the masculine enhances the self, but there is no such discussion.

If you think about this book enough, you will see that it is lacking very much, and it is better as a primer about the story of the Grail than it is about masculinity and the struggles of men today. It still has strong interpretive value, and it teaches us things to look for in mythology. So I would still recomend it for anyone.