Book Reviews

Book Reviews

As I look out the window beyond my computer screen, I see sun glitter on the green, shadows dancing in front of my eyes, clumsy pigeons bracing on windy branches; all is change and all is alike. This landscape of a beautiful summer's day in the garden reminds me of the horizon of my life, how waves of minute shifts and a constant widening and narrowing always alter my perspective. Nothing stands still. In constant motion, I am always moving towards the edges of my horizon where illness and decay live, and beyond, towards the inevitability of my death. Burdened with the knowledge and certainty, how will I live?

The first two reviews address these questions, of sorts. Both books deal with illness and death, how to live with it and make sense of it – Wilberg's The Illness is the Cure and Woods' Death of a Psychotherapist and Other Poems. Their reviews help me to remember that my time is limited and that I want to enjoy life's daily, little pleasures. The third, very short, review of Existential Perspectives on Relationship Therapy by van Deurzen and Iacovou, is the last ever written by the late John Rowan and another cue that psychotherapists are also mortal.

The next two reviews are largely aimed at psychotherapists and those interested in the profession. Bazzano's Zen and Therapy, offers existential therapists a thought-provoking perspective woven from Eastern and Western philosophy, psychology, cultural concepts and personal experience. The other book, Owen's Phenomenology in Action in Psychotherapy, is a stimulating work that demands the reader's very close attention.

The last two reviews in this section raise important contemporary issues. Schneider's The Spirituality of Awe: Challenges to the robotic revolution discusses how rapid technological advances are transforming our landscape, signalling that we have a responsibility to ensure that our world stays humane. Nancy's The Banality of Heidegger, sets out the author's reaction to the uncompleted publication of Heidegger's Black Notebooks. In doing so, it also provides a stark and timely warning that our fears of otherness and change could once again reap devastating consequences.

I expect that you will find something of interest in this journal and among the broad selection of books in this section to dip into over the summer. I now return to the sprinkle of sun in my landscape, to enjoy while it lasts.

Ondine Smulders