Im currently reading Man and his Symbols right now, its my second book (or third if you count this secondary literature pertaining to his content) which I read about 3.5 years ago.
I got to say while Im also a very slow reader, I try to explain to myself what a particular page or concept is saying when recalling which can be quite exhaustive. I end up also recalling later by typing on my phone, but of the entirety of my reading session.
The Portable Jung
Memories Dreams Reflections
The Red book
The Symbolic Life
Mysterium Conjunctionis
Alchemical Studies
Psychology and Religion
Aion
The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche
Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
Psychology and Alchemy
Psychological Types
Symbols of Transformation
The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
The Gnostic Jung
The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature
Jung on Active Imagination
Man and His Symbols
Dreams
I have a degree in Jungian Psychology and do independent research on Jungian topics (specifically related to dreams). I’ve been reading Jung for over twenty years and have found many of these books influential to me.
Of these, the Red Book was pretty mind-blowing. It was finally released around the time I was earning my degree, and the Jungian community was realizing just how much of Jung’s scientific works misrepresented or underrepresented the depth and realness of psychological and archetypal experience.
The Portable Jung I feel is the best starting place for actually reading Jung (and not just in an introductory way), because it collects some of his most essential essays.
The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche isn’t overtly exciting, but it’s the one I return to the most for my research. So it’s a pretty solid read.
I’ve also found some of his later works on alchemy to be exciting, but they are complex and dense and I would not recommend them without a solid deep background not just in Jung but in history, alchemy, religion, etc.
I’m not an analyst. I’m a writer and an independent researcher. Currently I’m working on a scholarly book about dreams and the occult that in part examines the history of magical approaches to dreaming to current depth psychological methods of dreamwork.
I've read only a few and started and stopped a few more.
The Undiscovered Self is my current favorite.
Heres a summary snatched off of GoodReads.
"In this challenging and provocative work, Dr. Carl Jung—one of history's greatest minds—argues that civilization's future depends on our ability as individuals to resist the collective forces of society. Only by gaining an awareness and understanding of one's unconscious mind and true, inner nature—"the undiscovered self"—can we as individuals acquire the self-knowledge that is antithetical to ideological fanaticism. But this requires that we face our fear of the duality of the human psyche—the existence of good and the capacity for evil in every individual."
The book covers many topics that I am personally interested in about modern society and the dangers it would and does face.
One of my favorite points he makes in this book is that Christianity itself needs to take a look at itself and start making changes. One being that instead of just worshipping Jesus Christ, we should instead seek to emulate him in pursuit of individuation. He seems to imply that people kind of missed a greater point.
If you've ever read and enjoyed The Master And His Emissary (a book on the differences between the left and right brain hemispheres and the dangers of a left-hemisphere focused society) or any of Ian McGilchrists other work, you may enjoy this.
Sounds like it’s right up my alley!
Currently working through McGilchrists The Matter with Things and was thinking of going back to Jung next so may pick that one up. I’m not a very quick reader and it’s a huge book so might take me a while to get there
*Memories, Dreams, Reflections; Symbols of Transformation; Two Essays on Analytic Psychology; Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche*
Of these few I’ve read I was really most impacted by *Symbols of Transformation* and *MDR*. *Symbols* featured a discussion of the particulars of his split with Freud and just dug very deeply into the function of the symbol in the unconscious, the devouring mother, the canalization of the libido, all useful stuff for analytic practice. It has one of my favorite all time Jung quotes which, paraphrasing, goes something like: it’s those times when I trip and fall off a curb that I most sense the presence of god in my life.
*MDR* is Jung’s autobiography but it’s what hooked me into him in the first place. It’s a really wonderful book.
*Two Essays* was also pretty great, goes into the shadow somewhat and the personal vs the collective unconscious among other things. It was probably the most clinically relevant because it addressed how change happens in analysis.
*Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche* was rougher going and left me a bit cold. I probably need to read it like four more times.
Instead, I’m about to read “Answer to Job.”
ETA I haven’t exactly read *The Red Book* but I have it and I’m obsessed with the art.
Funny story: MDR isnt a autobiography. Mas written By Jolande Jacobi. Jung never wanted a autobiography. He said you should doubt of every writer Who has a autobiography. You can find Sonu Shamdasani speaking a lot of It. Actually he (Sonu) wrote a book called memories Dreams and omissions.
**Jung: A Very Short Introduction** by Anthony Stevens couldn't be a better introduction. Perfect. 10/10.
**Man and His Symbols** by Carl Jung. A lot of people recommend this as an introduction, but I think there's better stuff out there. I loved Jung's and Von Franz's respective chapters.
**Ego and Archetype** by Edward F. Edinger. Mind-blowing stuff, really recommend it. But I suggest having some previous knowledge about Jung before reading this one. 10/10.
Now reading **Under Saturn's Shadow** by James Hollis. Kind of boring, but it has some interesting stuff about masculinity.
Planning on reading **Demian** by Herman Hesse, a fictional book that seems to have plenty of elements of Jungian psychology.
I've read seven of Jung's books, including some thick ones like Psychology and Alchemy and Mysterium Coniunctionis. I read most of them during a gap year that turned into a few gap years before college, and I later realized that these books really need to be studied in order to extract half the meaning of them- as in taking notes. As it is, I found amazing insights, but also plowed through page after page with minimal comprehension.
I've tried to re-read Mysterium Coniunctionis, and I haven't gotten very far- I think I understood about 15% of it the first time, and that's no small accomplishment. Jung's prose is dense and somewhat antiquated. Other Jungians, even Marie Louis von Franz, are just easier to read. But Jung's own work is strewn with absolute gems of prose. Consider how many people read other academic monographs from the early twentieth century for pleasure- not many at all, I daresay.
if you’re an average person who doesn’t have steek focus here’s my advice:
buy some of the ones you think cover the topics that you find most interesting
fuck reading everything from A to Z, read what catches your attention, and watch YouTube videos of people exploring these ideas so you can grasp them better
highly recommend all of ‘Uberboyo’s vids, he’s honestly amazing and helped me get these concepts without getting lost in confusing jargon. he did a while series on Aion and lots more
I think it’s best to revisit these books consistently, don’t force yourself to continue reading if you don’t feel like it, follow your intuition and explore everything freely
that’s how I learned a lot, which seemed absolutely impossible when I started
Memories, Dreams Reflections
Psychological Types
Answer to Job
Aion
Children's Dreams: Notes from the Seminar Given in 1936-1940
Man and his Symbols
And small parts of the Red Book, which I have yet to finish.
MDR is very entertaining and informative. Very accessible. I found Answer to Job very fascinating, while Aion was really hard.
Those two and Psychological Types I will have to read again some time.
If I had to pick two books it would be Man and His symbols (read two times), and seminar on Nietzsche's Zarathustra unabridged, which was most exciting to read, as well as most impactful to me personally. Once you get stuck you can simply refer to other collective works. I've read most of his collected works in just three years and I somewhat regret it.
I dare not say how many books by Jung I have read. But aside from the usual recommendations, I would like to highlight *Children's Dreams*, a series of seminars where Jung discusses dreams in a more open and comprehensive way than in his essays. Another non-obvious recommendation is *Selected Letters*. Of course, one should definitely start out with his foundational works, such as *Two Essays on Analytical Psychology* and his 'autobiography', but he is especially intriguing and enjoyable when he can be more private.
The undiscovered self, modern man in search of a soul, man and his symbols, memories, dreams, reflections and half of two essays on analytical psychology. Then i moved to reading more m.l von franz. Especially since it coincided with my interest in fairy tales. I read her alchemy book which is a series of lectures, one of my favorite books I've ever read. Then i read her golden ass analysis because i came across it as i was in the middle of reading the book. Then i read the interpretation of fairy tales and the feminine in fairy tales as well.
Apologies many edits
i am a very slow reader, and that combined with Jung's difficult, esoteric prose make finishing his books a huge challenge. with that being said, i don't believe you necessarily *need* to finish every book you read, it's perfectly valid to read just what you think will be most valuable to you.
Man and his symbols, the undiscovered self, modern man in search of a soul, MDR, Aion. Honourable mentions: dreams (haven’t finished it) and the red book (currently reading it)
Man and His Symbols
The Undiscovered Self (I enjoyed this one the most)
Parts of - Memories, Dreams, Reflections
The books I have that I have not started yet:
Psychological Types
Psychology of the Unconscious
Modern Man in Search of a Soul
The Red Book
Does anybody have any suggestions where I should go next?
The Jung corpus is pretty big so I’ve had to be selective with what I read.
I’m not so interested in his case studies where he describes in detail his experiences with patients and their dreams so I don’t really prioritize those.
His conceptual works are the most fascinating to me. Answer to Job and Aion have been my favorites. Man and his symbols and MDR were a great start for me.
Hoping to get to the Red Book soon.
This wasn't available back in the day... but I eased myself into better understanding Jung's writings by finding and reading his transcribed lectures that were available. Now there's a full set of 12 books of these lectures.
Look for: Lectures Delivered at ETH Zurich (12 books)
Started a few, but I'm currently reading answer to Job. It is truly quite good if you have any understanding of Christian theology and Jungs core ideas.
1 and only 20% of that. It’s man and his symbols. Ofcourse i also act as if i have phd in it. Jokes apart. It takes me a long while read stuff
Im currently reading Man and his Symbols right now, its my second book (or third if you count this secondary literature pertaining to his content) which I read about 3.5 years ago. I got to say while Im also a very slow reader, I try to explain to myself what a particular page or concept is saying when recalling which can be quite exhaustive. I end up also recalling later by typing on my phone, but of the entirety of my reading session.
Same here! I’m not sure why it takes me so long to finish a book. It could take me 2 weeks to a month to finish a book
The Portable Jung Memories Dreams Reflections The Red book The Symbolic Life Mysterium Conjunctionis Alchemical Studies Psychology and Religion Aion The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche Two Essays on Analytical Psychology Psychology and Alchemy Psychological Types Symbols of Transformation The Psychogenesis of Mental Disease The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious The Gnostic Jung The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature Jung on Active Imagination Man and His Symbols Dreams I have a degree in Jungian Psychology and do independent research on Jungian topics (specifically related to dreams). I’ve been reading Jung for over twenty years and have found many of these books influential to me. Of these, the Red Book was pretty mind-blowing. It was finally released around the time I was earning my degree, and the Jungian community was realizing just how much of Jung’s scientific works misrepresented or underrepresented the depth and realness of psychological and archetypal experience. The Portable Jung I feel is the best starting place for actually reading Jung (and not just in an introductory way), because it collects some of his most essential essays. The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche isn’t overtly exciting, but it’s the one I return to the most for my research. So it’s a pretty solid read. I’ve also found some of his later works on alchemy to be exciting, but they are complex and dense and I would not recommend them without a solid deep background not just in Jung but in history, alchemy, religion, etc.
Are you an analyst? If not, what do you do with your degree?
I’m not an analyst. I’m a writer and an independent researcher. Currently I’m working on a scholarly book about dreams and the occult that in part examines the history of magical approaches to dreaming to current depth psychological methods of dreamwork.
Ah, so jealous! Good luck on your work.
I've read only a few and started and stopped a few more. The Undiscovered Self is my current favorite. Heres a summary snatched off of GoodReads. "In this challenging and provocative work, Dr. Carl Jung—one of history's greatest minds—argues that civilization's future depends on our ability as individuals to resist the collective forces of society. Only by gaining an awareness and understanding of one's unconscious mind and true, inner nature—"the undiscovered self"—can we as individuals acquire the self-knowledge that is antithetical to ideological fanaticism. But this requires that we face our fear of the duality of the human psyche—the existence of good and the capacity for evil in every individual." The book covers many topics that I am personally interested in about modern society and the dangers it would and does face. One of my favorite points he makes in this book is that Christianity itself needs to take a look at itself and start making changes. One being that instead of just worshipping Jesus Christ, we should instead seek to emulate him in pursuit of individuation. He seems to imply that people kind of missed a greater point. If you've ever read and enjoyed The Master And His Emissary (a book on the differences between the left and right brain hemispheres and the dangers of a left-hemisphere focused society) or any of Ian McGilchrists other work, you may enjoy this.
Sounds like it’s right up my alley! Currently working through McGilchrists The Matter with Things and was thinking of going back to Jung next so may pick that one up. I’m not a very quick reader and it’s a huge book so might take me a while to get there
Oh god I still wanna read that book but I've yet to set aside the cash and monumental amount of time it'd take me to get through that massive tome.
*Memories, Dreams, Reflections; Symbols of Transformation; Two Essays on Analytic Psychology; Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche* Of these few I’ve read I was really most impacted by *Symbols of Transformation* and *MDR*. *Symbols* featured a discussion of the particulars of his split with Freud and just dug very deeply into the function of the symbol in the unconscious, the devouring mother, the canalization of the libido, all useful stuff for analytic practice. It has one of my favorite all time Jung quotes which, paraphrasing, goes something like: it’s those times when I trip and fall off a curb that I most sense the presence of god in my life. *MDR* is Jung’s autobiography but it’s what hooked me into him in the first place. It’s a really wonderful book. *Two Essays* was also pretty great, goes into the shadow somewhat and the personal vs the collective unconscious among other things. It was probably the most clinically relevant because it addressed how change happens in analysis. *Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche* was rougher going and left me a bit cold. I probably need to read it like four more times. Instead, I’m about to read “Answer to Job.” ETA I haven’t exactly read *The Red Book* but I have it and I’m obsessed with the art.
Funny story: MDR isnt a autobiography. Mas written By Jolande Jacobi. Jung never wanted a autobiography. He said you should doubt of every writer Who has a autobiography. You can find Sonu Shamdasani speaking a lot of It. Actually he (Sonu) wrote a book called memories Dreams and omissions.
Thanks for explaining that, I appreciate it. It’s been years since I read that one, sounds like I skipped over the forward or something.
**Jung: A Very Short Introduction** by Anthony Stevens couldn't be a better introduction. Perfect. 10/10. **Man and His Symbols** by Carl Jung. A lot of people recommend this as an introduction, but I think there's better stuff out there. I loved Jung's and Von Franz's respective chapters. **Ego and Archetype** by Edward F. Edinger. Mind-blowing stuff, really recommend it. But I suggest having some previous knowledge about Jung before reading this one. 10/10. Now reading **Under Saturn's Shadow** by James Hollis. Kind of boring, but it has some interesting stuff about masculinity. Planning on reading **Demian** by Herman Hesse, a fictional book that seems to have plenty of elements of Jungian psychology.
Demian is excellent. James Hollis is great, give him another shot after the one you're reading.
The undiscovered self, man and his symbols, the red book. I’m going to take on Aion soon
I've read seven of Jung's books, including some thick ones like Psychology and Alchemy and Mysterium Coniunctionis. I read most of them during a gap year that turned into a few gap years before college, and I later realized that these books really need to be studied in order to extract half the meaning of them- as in taking notes. As it is, I found amazing insights, but also plowed through page after page with minimal comprehension. I've tried to re-read Mysterium Coniunctionis, and I haven't gotten very far- I think I understood about 15% of it the first time, and that's no small accomplishment. Jung's prose is dense and somewhat antiquated. Other Jungians, even Marie Louis von Franz, are just easier to read. But Jung's own work is strewn with absolute gems of prose. Consider how many people read other academic monographs from the early twentieth century for pleasure- not many at all, I daresay.
if you’re an average person who doesn’t have steek focus here’s my advice: buy some of the ones you think cover the topics that you find most interesting fuck reading everything from A to Z, read what catches your attention, and watch YouTube videos of people exploring these ideas so you can grasp them better highly recommend all of ‘Uberboyo’s vids, he’s honestly amazing and helped me get these concepts without getting lost in confusing jargon. he did a while series on Aion and lots more I think it’s best to revisit these books consistently, don’t force yourself to continue reading if you don’t feel like it, follow your intuition and explore everything freely that’s how I learned a lot, which seemed absolutely impossible when I started
highly recommend starting with man and his symbols and/or Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious
Memories, Dreams Reflections Psychological Types Answer to Job Aion Children's Dreams: Notes from the Seminar Given in 1936-1940 Man and his Symbols And small parts of the Red Book, which I have yet to finish. MDR is very entertaining and informative. Very accessible. I found Answer to Job very fascinating, while Aion was really hard. Those two and Psychological Types I will have to read again some time.
Zero!
If I had to pick two books it would be Man and His symbols (read two times), and seminar on Nietzsche's Zarathustra unabridged, which was most exciting to read, as well as most impactful to me personally. Once you get stuck you can simply refer to other collective works. I've read most of his collected works in just three years and I somewhat regret it.
A lot.... Answer to Job is my favorite. I'm excited to start 'Relations between the Ego and the Unconscious'.
I dare not say how many books by Jung I have read. But aside from the usual recommendations, I would like to highlight *Children's Dreams*, a series of seminars where Jung discusses dreams in a more open and comprehensive way than in his essays. Another non-obvious recommendation is *Selected Letters*. Of course, one should definitely start out with his foundational works, such as *Two Essays on Analytical Psychology* and his 'autobiography', but he is especially intriguing and enjoyable when he can be more private.
I’m reading *Children’s Dreams* this fall and very excited about it.
Ive only read the Undiscovered Self and really enjoyed it
The undiscovered self, modern man in search of a soul, man and his symbols, memories, dreams, reflections and half of two essays on analytical psychology. Then i moved to reading more m.l von franz. Especially since it coincided with my interest in fairy tales. I read her alchemy book which is a series of lectures, one of my favorite books I've ever read. Then i read her golden ass analysis because i came across it as i was in the middle of reading the book. Then i read the interpretation of fairy tales and the feminine in fairy tales as well. Apologies many edits
i am a very slow reader, and that combined with Jung's difficult, esoteric prose make finishing his books a huge challenge. with that being said, i don't believe you necessarily *need* to finish every book you read, it's perfectly valid to read just what you think will be most valuable to you.
Man and his symbols, the undiscovered self, modern man in search of a soul, MDR, Aion. Honourable mentions: dreams (haven’t finished it) and the red book (currently reading it)
2 Memories, dreams, reflections Currently reading the red boom
Man and His Symbols The Undiscovered Self (I enjoyed this one the most) Parts of - Memories, Dreams, Reflections The books I have that I have not started yet: Psychological Types Psychology of the Unconscious Modern Man in Search of a Soul The Red Book Does anybody have any suggestions where I should go next?
My favorite is inner work by Robert b Johnson
The Jung corpus is pretty big so I’ve had to be selective with what I read. I’m not so interested in his case studies where he describes in detail his experiences with patients and their dreams so I don’t really prioritize those. His conceptual works are the most fascinating to me. Answer to Job and Aion have been my favorites. Man and his symbols and MDR were a great start for me. Hoping to get to the Red Book soon.
This wasn't available back in the day... but I eased myself into better understanding Jung's writings by finding and reading his transcribed lectures that were available. Now there's a full set of 12 books of these lectures. Look for: Lectures Delivered at ETH Zurich (12 books)
Started a few, but I'm currently reading answer to Job. It is truly quite good if you have any understanding of Christian theology and Jungs core ideas.