[anm89]

i have to admit, as someone who dislikes new agey non rigorous stuff, that this book superficially gives off the vibe of being something Id absolutely hate.

Would you be willing to give an example or two of some topics the books discuss that might be counter to what that perception or that you just found really insightful?

Or is my perception that the focus is new age mysticism correct?

[davidwf]

Sure! The "core" I mentioned above talks about the common psychological concepts of Id, Ego, and Superego (and more), and analogises them to separate processes running on your brain's processor, with a "layered approach". Lower-level processes have a higher interrupt priority. For example, fight-or-flight happens at a subrational level, and therefore "rational" thinking won't change the way you handle a fight-or-flight response, since the triggering of that response inherently interrupts your rational thought-loop.

I'm not saying that this is literally correct -- the brain is way more complicated than that! But I find it quite useful as a metaphor for processing and understanding social dynamics that I inherently find "irrational".

[anm89]

Interesting, yeah I like the analogy. I'll throw these on the reading list and give it a shot