Book Description
Written and field-tested by practicing consultants, The Consultant’s Tool Kit will save consultants both time and money-as it makes their work with clients much more effective. Each tool or activity is designed to solve a common consulting problem. Reproducible worksheets, exercises, and questionnaires are easily downloaded from the web and customized by consultants to fit the exact needs of each client—and help them effectively implement the solutions.
This collection of field-tested tools, customizable questionnaires, and techniques for working with clients provides crucial problem-solving help in areas such as:
• Managing and leading change
• Organizational initiatives
• Assessing team and organizational functioning
• Improving relationships between departments and business units
• Creative problem-solving techniques
Mel Silberman, Ph.D., (Princeton, NJ) is a best-selling author and editor. A professor of adult and organization development at Temple University, he is the author of Active Training.
Download Description
Written and field-tested by practicing consultants, The Consultant's Tool Kit will save consultants both time and money-as it makes their work with clients much more effective. Each tool or activity is designed to solve a common consulting problem. Reproducible worksheets, exercises, and questionnaires are easily downloaded from the web and customized by consultants to fit the exact needs of each client¿and help them effectively implement the solutions.
Customer Reviews:
A Solution Seeking A Problem?.......2007-09-08
A good book with some solid approaches to consulting that many have found to be useful.
The only downside, if you can call it that, is that quite a number of the solutions may not work well in a good number of real-world consulting assignments.
Overall not a bad read and worth further investigation if you're looking for something to lead you step-by-step through solving certain client problems.
Worth the Price.......2007-02-19
Part of my consulting practice is to create and facilitate group learning for various situations. I enjoy leafing through this book to both remind myself of tools, techniques and concepts I have explored in the past, and also to expand my options to incorporate new material into the mix. It is a bit like hanging out with a bunch of other consultants for a day to share ideas.
Valuable Book.......2006-07-17
This is a wonderful book that combines the expertise of a wide range of experts in the consulting field. Due to the different styles of the authors, the reader is bound to find several that really address their concerns.
The book is a useful toolkit as it has templates that one can easily adapt to meet their needs. Most of the common consulting problems are addressed. Among the readily useable tools are the various exercises, questionnaires and reproducible worksheets and techniques for working with clients, among others, which make this a very user friendly book that makes life easier for a consultant, particularly those like me that are relatively new to the profession.
This is a well written book that is easy to follow and understand and that should be a valuable tool to both the seasoned professional and the novice. It is certainly a very valuable reference book that can be used as a checklist when delivering services.
Awesome for Actionable Purchase.......2006-02-19
This book led me to synergist my P2P bottom-line best practices, to synergize both inside and outside the box, to leverage a value-added, results-driven mindset for their B2B core competencies in which their historical trends have led me to conclude that by doubling or even tripling their efforts of efficiency on the office front, it will yield a new entity of massive synergistic proportions.
A Good Thought Jogger.......2005-03-30
Silberman has brought together 45 different tools to help the consultant carry out a variety of projects. The book is probably due for a new edition, but many of the tools are as relevant now as they were when the book was published.
Because the book's scope is broad, it's best used as a way to frame your thinking on how to solve a problem, or to suggest a summary approach to a client issue. It's a good reference to be sure you're not leaving things out that you should think about, rather than a comprehensive guide to engagement problem-solving.
This is an ambitious book with lots of great ideas.
Michael McLaughlin, coauthor with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.
Book Description
This guide is a widely recognized reference work on the state of the art of management consulting. It offers an extensive introduction to consulting: its nature, professional standards, intervention methods, behavioural rules, current developments and future perspectives.
Today, the information and knowledge-based economy is constantly creating new opportunities and challenges for consultants, who can find enough work and get well paid for their services, provided they are able to cope with complex and rapidly changing conditions and meet the demands of increasingly sophisticated clients. The whole world of professional services is undergoing profound changes and management and business consultants are no exception. In this climate, consultants must continuously "reinvent themselves". More than ever, learning is a life-long job for consultants. This fourth edition of Management Consulting actively reflects and confronts all these developments and challenges.
At the same time, the entire text has been substantially enhanced and updated. This fourth edition continues to offer practical guidelines, checklists and learning material throughout, serving as an indispensable tool for individuals and organizations wishing to start consulting, become more competent at serving clients or manage consulting firms and assignments more effectively. It also provides a useful guide to essential information and learning sources on professional consulting
New topics covered in this edition include:
e-business consulting
consulting in knowledge management and the use of knowledge management by consultants themselves
total quality management
corporate governance
social role and responsibility of business
company transformation and renewal
public administration
intellectual property
Customer Reviews:
Commendable Guide to the Consultancy Profession.......2006-07-17
This is a commendable book that gives useful advice and guidance to those who wish to enter the management consulting profession. The book is comprehensive which makes it an important reference book to those who wish to have an in-depth insight into consulting.
The author explores what the profession entails, the elements that makes one a successful consultant, how one should market and sell the consultancy services, the considerations for setting a fee, how one can be a successful consultant and some of the pitfalls that one needs to avoid, among several useful advice.
The reader is also provided with useful tips on the costs that one should expect and the need to ensure that one establishes a trusting and ongoing relationship with clients.
This is an important reference book in my library that I recommend.
A solid book on consulting services management.......2001-03-23
Comprehensive in style yet featuring very to-the-point content, this once was my favourite book about consulting management. Today, I prefer more practical management consulting writers such as Alan Weiss.
Comeptence.......2000-11-06
Different from many books promissing the easy way to "become a successful conultant in 5 days". A good primer and refence book. Kubr presents key issues and methods in management consulting in a conzise way giving an overview on the consulting process, areas of work for consultants and management of a consulting firm. Extensive bibliographic information makes it a source of reference. Useful for people who wnat to engage in consultancy other than management.
Average customer rating:
|
The COBRA Guide: Practical Solutions to Administration and Management
The Alexander Consulting Group
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Industrial Relations
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Entrepreneurship
| Small Business & Entrepreneurship
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Procedure
| Procedures & Litigation
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Employment
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Procedure
| Procedures & Litigation
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0786305371 |
Book Description
Provides critical information that employers need to know for current COBRA compliance. it includes sample notices, texts of pertinent COBRA laws, and proposed regulations. This fully indexed guide summarizes the latest COBRA court decisions, includes a question and answer section, and provides a COBRA compliance checklist.
Average customer rating:
|
The Fmla Guide: Practical Solutions to Administration and Management (Alexander Consulting Group Series on Employee Benefits)
John Keegan ,
Barry Newman ,
Virginia Peabody , and
Paul Sullivan
Manufacturer: Irwin Professional Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Industrial Relations
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Entrepreneurship
| Small Business & Entrepreneurship
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Civil Procedure
| Procedures & Litigation
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Employment
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Labor Law
| Specialties
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Employment
| English Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0786305355 |
Book Description
Outlines the law (The Family and Medical Leave Act) and the Department of Labor regulations interpreting it. It covers topics such as determining if FMLA applies to an employer, employees' eligibility to leave, administering leave, treatment of employees when they return from leave, communication and record keeping requirements, integration with other federal laws, and key planning issues. It also contains the full text of the relevant laws and regulations index.
Customer Reviews:
Easy read.......1999-03-14
The ex-Mckinsey analyst gives readers a sneak peak into the glitzy world of management consulting. Concise and accurate, it is an easy read although it is a bit short.
Average customer rating:
|
Management Consulting: A Guide to the Profession/Ilo581
Unipub
Manufacturer: International Labour Org
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 9221054799 |
Average customer rating:
|
Utilizing Consultants Successfully: A Guide for Management in Business, Government, the Arts and Professions
Herman Holtz
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Consulting
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Business Ethics
| Consolidation & Merger
| Decision-Making & Problem Solving
| Distribution & Warehouse Management
| Industrial
| Information Management
| Leadership
| Management
| Management Science
| Motivational
| Negotiating
| Operations Research
| Planning & Forecasting
| Pricing
| Production & Operations
| Project Management
| Quality Control
| Risk Assessment
| Statistics
| Strategy & Competition
| Systems & Planning
| Systems Analysis
| Teams
| Total Quality Management
| Training
ASIN: 0899300987 |
Book Description
This is a complete guide to finding, negotiating, contracting, and working with consultants and service contractors. It includes essential information on needs analysis and step-by-step instructions for preparing the solicitation package. Drawing on his many years of experience as both consultant and manager, Herman Holtz explores and explains relevant issues and provides practical guidelines applicable to many different situations. He outlines what consultants can offer, both in terms of areas of competence and types of service and provides detailed information on resources, bids, and proposals. Holtz cites numerous examples drawn from actual case histories and provides worksheets for every stage of the process and useful resource lists.
Average customer rating:
- A jewel of a book!!! Dr. Dudley Sykes-Univ. of Mississippi
- Trouble?
- A book for EVERY Century
- Nurturing the "Human Spirit" for increased productivity
- Read it and then return to it for inspiration and guidance.
|
Performance Management in the 21st Century: Solutions for Business, Education, and Family
Norman Jones
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Agricultural
| Commercial Policy
| Comparative
| Consolidation & Merger
| Cooperatives
| Debt & Deficits
| Development & Growth
| Econometrics
| Economic Conditions
| Economic History
| Economic Policy & Development
| Exports & Imports
| Free Enterprise
| Inflation
| International
| Labor & Industrial Relations
| Macroeconomics
| Microeconomics
| Money & Monetary Policy
| Natural Resources
| Privatization
| Public Finance
| Statistics
| Sustainable Development
| Theory
| Unemployment
| Urban & Regional
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Human Resources & Personnel Management
| Industries & Professions
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management Science
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Entrepreneurship
| Small Business & Entrepreneurship
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1574442449 |
Book Description
Fulfilling the need for research on leadership, management, motivation, and human development, 21st Century Performance Management: Solutions for Business, Education, and the Family reveals how businesses and other institutions have suffered due to neglect of those skills. Based on concepts pioneered by longtime leadership specialist Dr. Jones 21st Century Performance Management: Solutions for Business, Education, and the Family tells how anyone in a supervisory capacity can help others become more highly motivated, more productive, and more successful in all walks of life. Features
Customer Reviews:
A jewel of a book!!! Dr. Dudley Sykes-Univ. of Mississippi.......2002-04-09
There is no wasted verbiage in this book. Counting the index, it is but 205 pages in length. In those 205 pages are jewels of wisdom that most management teams are lacking.
The most prevelant gems are pithy observations set aside by top and bottom border lines. One example:
_________________________________________________________________
"The atmosphere in most American companies is so riddled with fear of expendability that workers are afraid totell a boss what they think of his methods of managing."
_________________________________________________________________
The book is organized in such a way as to point out the shallowness of bottom line neurosis and the strengths of inclusive decision making. Over and over, Dr. Jones identifies "Spirit Killers," i.e., those actions in an organization which diminish productivity and, subsequently, profitability, educational insight, and family harmony.
This book intertwines management schemes in business, education and the family. such integration serves to:
-Expose the fallacies of autocracy.
-Explore the possibilities of democracy in an organization.
-Break up management notions that have been set in stone.
-Propose better methods for bringing about civilized organizations.
The book seems to be intended as a tool in business, a text in academia, or a how to book for families. Personally, I'm inclined to recommend it to business schools and/or corporate trainers, though not to the exclusion of the other two entities.
_________________________________________________________________
Trouble?.......2000-11-15
Hello; I sent in a review nearly 2 months ago and have not seen it posted. Is there a problem with it? Jim Harmon jimharmon@charter.net
A book for EVERY Century.......2000-11-07
Every manager wants the silver bullet that will transform his or her organization from an also-ran into the leader of the pack. Dr. Jones shows us how, without preaching. In today's environment the emphasis is always on some measurable result - profit, productivity etc. Dr. Jones reminds us the result is not possible without the journey and the journey begins and ends with how employees are treated. Great job, Dr. Jones!
Rod Walsh, Co-author - Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way
Nurturing the "Human Spirit" for increased productivity.......2000-10-03
Norman Jones is a leadership specialist and a keen observer of what management has done to discourage productivity. He encourages management to lift up the human spirit and to create a more harmonious work environment, therefore creating a people-oriented and inspirational place for ideas to thrive and businesses to succeed.
He compares the Autocratic and Democratic management styles. In the Autocratic world, the boss has a sharp voice, speaks in a commanding way, asserts his/her power, demands cooperation, imposes ideas, criticizes, punishes and has sole responsibility of the group. The Democratic way to run a business puts the "boss" in a different light altogether. He now becomes the "leader," with a friendly voice, he uses his/her influence in positive ways, wins cooperation, tells what he/she would like to have done, sells ideas, guides, encourages, acknowledges achievement, helps employees solve problems, discusses ideas, and shares responsibility with his team players/employees. One of the main problems in business is an impersonal approach to dealing with people.
Norman Jones calls this ..."Spirit Killing." It is one of the reasons so many people are dissatisfied with their work environments and turn to drugs or alcohol to stop the "mental pain." Spirit Killers include: distrust, ridicule, resentment, retaliation, alienation, harassment, deceit, humiliation, stress, tension, fear, sarcasm, belittlement and embarrassment.
These "Spirit Killers" produce demotivation, apathy and insecurity. Not exactly the ideal environment for a healthy productive company. Instead Norman Jones encourages institutions to create self-motivation through: trust, promoting self-esteem, giving employees a sense of belongingness, helping employees obtain job satisfaction, providing a means of recognizing accomplishments, and actually treating employees in a caring manner by listening and showing a genuine concern. When managers learn to listen to their employees the company can grow. Too often, their is a "top-down" philosophy in which all employees are dependent on their ideas from the top. This stifles creativity. Most companies which have our respect not only listen to their employees, they listen to their customers. Amazon.com is one of those companies. They answer every single e-mail from their customers in a very prompt and courteous manner.
"Today's top-down management wants highly energetic, conscientious people, but fails to see how it deprives these people of fulfillment of psychological needs that could stoke the energy." page 34
Since we all have a natural inclination to strive for achievement and need to feel job satisfaction, Norman believes America is hungry for business leaders who not only inspire us to be better human beings, but also encourage us to be internally motivated to meet company goals and be more successful in our jobs.
"When people believe they are helping a company or organization, their self-esteem blossoms." page 19
Unfortunately, modern day businesses use the threat of expendability to attempt to gain optimum productivity and in the process destroy the human spirit. Like a row of dominoes tumbling over, Norman Jones knocks over old ideas of management and shows the way with new principles and creative solutions. He focuses on how business has neglected the research available to them. He sees this as the cause of many problems.
In order to see America's work centers enter a new era of high energy, thriving and productivity in the years to come, the leaders, parents, teachers and even government will need to evaluate their approach to the current dehumanized workplace. Norman believes our country's success will depend on creating a productive arena where the thoughts, feelings and ideas of employees can be expressed. To do this managers must know how to nurture "good attitudes."
An example of a poor motivational statement which is all to common:
"Your report was a good one, but we need them faster and more often."
An example of a good internal motivational statement:
"You can sure be proud of that report; it took a lot of work."
It was also enlightening to compare two letters written by a manager to a difficult employee. In the first letter the use of "I" permeated the letter and caused it to seem demanding and arrogant. In the "improved letter," the use of "we" helped the employee to see they were an integral part of the company. In the first letter, they were expendable.
While the main focus of this book is business, a few chapters are devoted to family and the school system. I believe your religious beliefs determine how you raise your children in most cases. Norman Jones did not write this book from a religious standpoint and his book focuses on research.
This book may just be the perfect gift to give to your boss this Christmas. You may just be giving yourself a great work environment in the coming year. After all those "memos" you have to read, the least your boss can do is read an inspiring book! If you are interested in Psychology you will enjoy that aspect. If you are in management you will love the insights on how you can drive your business forward for optimal success. Your employees might even vote you as their favorite boss of all time. After all, who do we love the most in life? People who treat us fairly and give us the respect we deserve.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Read it and then return to it for inspiration and guidance........2000-05-10
Once read, this book can be set aside for the moment, but a compelling urge requires that you return to it for insight and guidance. Dr. Norman Jones has assembled a work that reflects his knowledge of how we relate to each other within our family unit, in our business, acedemic, and social lives. We can improve our relationships within these units, by using the techniques that he outlines. It is not just our own genetic make-up that determines out actions, but it is how we are treated by the people in our lives that have the most influence on us.
Maybe, just maybe, Dr. Jones' approach to the humanistic values in our relationships, expecially between students, their teachers and parents, could have helped prevented the violence that is currently happening in our schools.
Keep it on your bookshelf for inspiration and guidance, go back to it when you need help in any personal relationship, on the job, in your school, or within your family.
Thanks to Dr. Norman Jones for his insight and for this exceptional publication.
Average customer rating:
|
Promises to Keep: Collective Bargaining in California Agriculture
Philip L. Martin
Manufacturer: Iowa State Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Workplace
| Organizational Behavior
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Agricultural
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poverty
| Current Events
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Labor & Industrial Relations
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Technology
| Technology
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Agricultural Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
California
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0813829887 |
Book Description
In this controversial study Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) applies the theories and evidence of his psychoanalytic investigations to the study of aboriginal peoples and, by extension, to the earliest cultural stages of the human race before the rise of large-scale civilizations. Freud points out the striking parallels between the cultural practices of native tribal groups and the behavior patterns of neurotics. Beginning with a discussion of the incest taboo, he compares some of the elaborate taboo restrictions seen in these cultures to the scrupulous rituals of compulsion neurotics, who in a similar fashion are wrestling with the ambivalent emotions aroused by the incest taboo. He suggests that many of the rituals of culture are developed as psychological reactions to taboos, which prohibit the acting out of an infantile impulse that would be socially destructive.
Freud concludes by invoking his famous Oedipal complex as the key to the development of culture. The repressed psychological urge to kill the father as a rival for the mother's affections is the underlying motive for the symbols and ceremonies of religion with its rituals of atonement and its notions of angry gods, original sin, and human guilt.
Although Freud's theories are controversial today, this masterful synthesis and its undeniable influence on later scholars of religion, anthropology, and psychology make it a seminal work.
Customer Reviews:
Freud at his most concise and coherent........2007-03-08
Psychoanalytic literature can be confounding to clinicians and lay people alike. Good ol' Uncle Sigmund was the exemplar of this tendency towards obtusely wording everything. However, Totem and Taboo eschews this for a (somewhat) easier read, communicating the ideas behind the make up and origins of Neurosis. Freud's work continues to be applicable today as a framework for understanding a wide variety of issues such as anxiety, depression and other related psychiatric problems.
4 essays on psychology and anthropology........2006-09-02
Totem and Taboo was originally published (from 1912-1913) in the journal Imago as four essays. These essays are "The Horror of Incest", "Taboo and Emotional Ambivalence", "Animism, Magic and the Omnipotence of Thoughts", and "The Return of Totemism in Childhood".
I am neither a psychologist nor a trained anthropologist. I came to this book after reading Frazer's The Golden Bough-- a friend of my suggested that it made a good counterpoint, both in terms of period and subject. As a lay person, I found it clear and interesting to read. I have enough familiarity with Freud's basic theses that I did not find that I was lost.
I found the last essay, "The Return of Totemism in Childhood" to be the strongest. At least for me, it was the strongest in that it synthesized the ideas from the earlier essays and drew the broadest ideas and conclusions.
The Peter Gay biographical introduction was a nice refresher, particularly for someone who is not a Freud scholar.
Australian Aborigines and Freud's "Neurotic" Patients.......2003-08-12
This is the first Freud book I have ever read. I am not a trained psychiatrist, or sociologist, or ethnologist, so I am going to review the book from a layman's standpoint.
In this work, Freud draws heavily on observations and theories of ethnology, emphasizing on studies of Australian aborigines and Frazer's work. He draws a parellel with his personal observations from treatment of "neurotic" patients and claims to have found common patterns in these two classes of subjects, which tend to explain certain social and psychological phenomena, as well as the "birth" of religion.
He focuses on the concepts of "Totem" and "Taboo". While familiar with taboo (although our understanding of the term is narrower than Freud's), totem is remote to us. Certain aboriginal peoples were grouped in social groupings, centered on the cult of and belief of descent from a certain animal. So, you are the "Kangaroo tribe", we are the "Ostrich tribe" etc. The topic most interesting Freud, to which he devotes the first essay in the book, is "exogamy", i.e. marriage outside one's group. This practice of exogamy seems to be in contradiction to what is pursued by some ethnic groups in America (Jews and Greeks come to mind) i.e. "endogamy" - a push to have children marry within their parents' ethnic group. This practice of exogamy in Australian aborigines is attributed by Freud to fear of incest, with quite convincing arguments.
What is challening is to concoct a theory that suggests totemism and exogamy are not orthogonal social institutions that just happenned to coexist, but intricately bound together. Freud accomplishes that through intricate reasoning that draws heavily on religion (in his 4th essay). His argumentation may seem far-fetched to many, but is plausible, although it is hard to get convinced that it is the single, or most probable, theory explaining the issue.
Freud makes the analogy that what primitive people are to ethnography, "neurotics" are to psychoanalysis and tries to map patterns from one domain to the other. Another goal is to establish the theory of totemism as the primordial religion from which all known religions and beliefs have spawned over time. The fact that Hinduists rever and never kill cows, seems to me (my example, not Freud's) to support this theory; Hinduists could be considered an outgrowth of a "Cow totem". Also, in modern Judeochristian societies, the totem, for intermarriage avoidance, has been replaced by the blood relatives group. Greek civil law for instance, forbids marrying blood relatives to the 4th degree and relatives through marriage to the 3th degree (i.e. after marriage your also become a member of your spouse's "totem" - for life).
His 2nd essay discusses the concept of taboo. He defines it as "a set of limitations that primitive people apply to themselves". He contends that people who do "taboo things" become taboo themselves (certainly prostitutes would fit that profile). In our modern society, one's car is taboo, such as one's tools and guns were in prehistory.
Deists may have a hard time with Freud, especially since he states "we know well that just like gods, demons too are figments of the human imagination". Freud was an atheist and his train of thought is naturally and instictively atheistic, and this could be challenging for a deist.
Amazing is how some taboos of primitive times, remain alive, even in a degenerate form, in our times. For instance, just as primitives of New Guinea don't eat meat after killing an enemy (a taboo), modern Greek Orthodox people don't eat meat in the lunch following the funeral ceremony (only fish and veggies allowed). Also, the "dirtiness" taboo, where primitives were subjected to purification ceremonies, seems to be alive in the Eastern Orthodox sacrament of baptism where the to-be-christened baby is washed in the baptisery. Female "uncleanliness" during menstruation is also taboo in the Eastern Church; women are never allowed in the santum (blood taboo). It is considered taboo in Greek to say that a woman is menstruating, whereas politeness calls to say that "she feels sick". Also, the death taboo is alive in an incomprehensible to me (but "self-evident" to them as Freud would say) avoidance by many to refer to cancer by its name, opting instead the expressions "the bad thing" or "the cursed disease".
Also, the taboo, Freud mentions, whereby the archpriest of Zeus in Rome, was forbidden to ride horses, seems to be alive, in that the heads of states rarely drive cars themselves, but are rather given a ride by their chauffers. Regarding king-priests, last time I checked the Queen of England was also the head of the Church of England...
The third essay (animism and magic) is also important. Interestingly, Freud considers animism as the only weltanschaung completely and comprehensively (albeit incorrectly) explaining world's nature. He does not believe that subsequent religious and scientific weltanschaungen have achieved this. The animism->religion->science progression of world views discussed is extremely important and core for understanding his work. I guess that were he alive and learned that 90% of Americans are religious (Source: Euronews) he would be rather skeptical of the "progress" of mankind...
In his fourth essay, he returns to totemism, reaching the culmination of this work, in an awe-inspiring scene, where the young brothers kill and devour their own father. This vivid scene of patricide, which he subsequently manages to mitigate, suggesting the possibility that it was perpetrated only in people's minds (temptation), he proclaims as the original sin of mankind, which young males throughout the millenia try to redeem. This theory is highly controversial, albeit very interesting and thought-provoking. This scene is worth the whole book not only for its intensity, but also for the dexterity with which Freud creatively combines and correlates findings from fields so diverse, such as psychiatry, psychology, sociology, ethnology, religion, and philosophy, along with deep understanding of the human psyche, to reach a conclusion of such importance, and arguably impact, regarding who we are, and why we are doing things the way we are.
Sorry Daddy, I have to cut you off.......2003-05-08
Parricide, guilt, cannibalism--what's not to love?
The unconscious rides again!.......2003-03-25
And this time trough those primitive manifestations performed by that very primitive peoples like aborigenes from Australia, North and South America indians and many others discovered by colonization european, manifestation that we are used to call by Totem and Taboo. This is the standard Freud's view on the subject and to understand this book is a necessary step to proceed to other important Freud's work like Moses and Monotheism, The Future of an Ilusion and many others, where he approaches with reluctance the idea of religion as an offspring of early animism.
The prior standard way of seeing these types of primitive manifestation was to see them trough the amount of dread the primitive men have against the manifestation of some praeternatural agency, to use a term used by Mr.Thorstein Veblen, a contemporary of Freud, in his magnificent book on the leisure class (The Theory of the Leisure Class). It is worthy to note that nobody can be sure on the origins of this type of tradition and that adds substance to Mr.Freud's arguments.
Sigmund Freud goes a step further to the classical view and says that totemism and taboo as animism are the manifestation of something not outside ourselves but rather inside human minds of the primitive people, where the unconscious played a good part to the forming of this kind of culture manifestation and where there is an intricate and unconscious and almost mathematical calculation in order to attribute to the priest-king, who typifies the carrier of this tradition, both the pleasures and the burden of the function. In Freud's view, both totem and taboo are traditions that have to find their origim in the unconscious of that primitive folks and not in the concurrence of fear to the dead, following the tradition of his many other books on the latent manifestations of the unconscious. The ritual and actual killing of the father by the Horde or Band of Brothers, who are in search of vital space for their development, is the real reason behind all that happens afterwards and, following Freud's hypotheses, are the groundwork of modern and ancient religion.
The concepts here explained will be fundamental to the development of the hypotheses developed latter in Moses and Monotheism.
Books:
- The Dictionary of Real Estate Appraisal, Fourth Edition
- The Economic Growth of The United States 1790-1860
- The Essential Galbraith
- The French Challenge: Adapting to Globalization
- The Future of Capitalism: How Today's Economic Forces Shape Tomorrow's World
- The Good Life and Its Discontents: The American Dream in the Age of Entitlement
- The Invisible Continent: Four Strategic Imperatives of the New Economy
- The Joy of Freedom: An Economist's Odyssey
- The Limits to Capital, New Edition
- The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power, and the Origins of Our Times
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer
- Counter Culture: The Allure of Mini-Mannequins
- The Color Book: 11,264 Color Combinations for Your Home
- The Four Books of Architecture
- The Transit of Venus
- Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World with CD-ROM
- A Window in Copacabana: An Inspector Espinosa Mystery
- The New Boutique: Fashion And Design
- The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals: A Study of Medieval Vault Erection
- Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
The Consultant's Big Book of Organization Development Tools : 50 Reproducible Intervention Tools to Help Solve Your Clients' Problems
Flawless Consulting: A Guide to Getting Your Expertise Used
The Consultant's Quick Start Guide: An Action Plan for Your First Year in Business
The Consultant's Big Book of Reproducible Surveys and Questionnaires : 50 Instruments to Help You Assess and Diagnose Client Needs
Getting Started in Consulting, Second Edition
