While shopping at Half Price Books on February 5, 2014, I saw an intriguing book called Jung the Mystic: The Esoteric Dimension of Carl Jung's Life and Teachings. Despite having a degree in psychology, at the time I had never read a biography of Jung, the renowned Swiss psychiatrist whose name is often mentioned in the same breath as Freud's, and could count on one hand the facts I knew about him. Among these was the role that the translation of his work on psychological types into English, in 1923, had in helping spur the mother - daughter team of Briggs and Myers
to develop the personality assessment named after them. The time seemed right to buy a biography of Jung and finally this spring was the right time to begin reading it.
For someone like me who wanted to flesh out my scanty knowledge of Jung's life, which extended from July 26, 1875 to June 6, 1961, the book proved an admirable assistant. It covers his family of origin, his youth, education and early career, his marriage and children, his writings, his rise to fame, and his relationships with other notable people such as Freud. It concludes by covering his old age, death, and how his teachings are continuing to live on, including a discussion of the publication of Jung's The Red Book in 2009.