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The Erich Fromm Reader by Erich Fromm, Joel Kovel, Rainer Funk

rbharath's review against another edition

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3.0

I have read passages of Erich Fromm and have wanted to read his work since quite some time. I picked up this book as it seemed to offer a rounded summary of Erich Fromm’s writings. However, while it does cover many concepts Erich Fromm wrote about, I felt at the end of it that directly reading Erich Fromm’s writing would be far more satisfying.

The book is divided into several sections covering concepts Erich Fromm explored during his time. The concept of social unconscious is interesting and a logical extension & companion to Carl Jung’s collective unconscious. There are further sections on love, society, materialism, purpose, religion and others. The comparisons & contrast with Freud's writings is interesting.

While the book does a decent round-up of several important concepts – all of which are interesting even today, the treatment feels inadequate. I hopefully will read Erich Fromm’s books soon.
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