The Red Book continues to gain a lot of attention, though publication is still a week or more away. Here is a sampling:
NPR's On Point did a program on The Red Book featuring Sara Corbett, who wrote the NY Times story on it and David Oswald, a Jungian analyst. You can listen to the show from the link. The show is 43 minutes and worth listening to.
Early Word, a blog for librarians, tells us that The Red Book rose to #4 on Amazon's best seller list -- though I see that today it is at #59, suggesting that the people who wanted it sight unseen put in their orders early. Interestingly, it ha also boosted the sales of Memories, Dreams and Reflections.
Reason's blog, Hit & Run take on the book is what I would expect coming from Reason: When I hear the name "Jung" I generally back quickly toward the nearest exit, making a cross with two index fingers, taking the safety off my pistol and mixing myself a stiff drink all at once. Still, interesting that the book is deemed worthy of comment, even if snarky.
Blue to Blue and Dinah on ShrinkRap also consider the book and both raise something that I also think about. They each muse about what it might be like to vest belief in Jung as some do.
I am a bit repelled by true believers. They nearly always activate in me a desire to take an opposite stance, to look for holes in their belief or arguments. Now certainly this is a function of my personal psychology and no more a virtue than is true belief. There have been times when I have been in gatherings of Jungians -- at conferences or seminars at one of the institutes where I felt like I was at a religious revival. Many times workshops would begin with introductions of participants which would include how each came to Jung, not unlike testimonials at tent revival meetings. There is within the Jungian community a tendency on the part of some to have an all but religious reverence for Jung and Jung's writings. I am not among them; in fact I find that kind of slavish devotion to Jung embarrassing to be around -- I know, I know, my shadow is probably a teenager all gaga over Jung. And it seems clear to me that this segment of the Jungian world does make it more difficult for Jungian thought to find a home in the academy or for it to be viewed positively in the mental health world. It occurs to me that part of the attraction of the Developmental wing of Jungian practice for me -- because it draws on psychoanalysis and object relations to enrich Jungian theory and practice.