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Soul Magic
- Author
- Steve Ayan
- Narrator
- Jasmine Catherine
- Publisher
- Pushkin Press
- Publish Date
- 16 July 2026
- Run Time
- 13 hours 35 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
What to expect
It's the beginning of the twentieth century, and members of the Wednesday Circle hurry through Vienna's darkening streets. Dr. Freud does not tolerate lateness, and the men invited to join his new society sense they are on the brink of something momentous. In his study, through a haze of cigar smoke, these early psychoanalysts alight on a profound and shocking idea that will alter modern life: the existence of the psyche.
In this entertaining history, psychologist Steve Ayan introduces the twentieth-century visionaries who ignited a revolution of the mind. It is a story of breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness, but also of dubious dream interpretations, affairs with patients, and feuding factions. At a moment when therapy has become a cultural commonplace, Ayan offers a captivating portrait of the figures behind these pioneering theories, from Melanie Klein to Carl Jung.
Blending immersive storytelling with rigorous research,
Soul Magic returns us to the origins of psychotherapy and the thinkers who first pulled back the curtain on the mysterious forces at work within us all.
Critics Review
-
Ayan's evocative storytelling reveals a fascinating cultural and intellectual history of psychotherapy. . . Soul Magic invites us to reconsider the legendary figures who shaped our 'talking cure', as well as the 'magic' for our soul that we could expect from it
Julia Bueno, author of 'Everyone's a Critic'
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A captivating insight into a century full of ideas, conflicts, and personal dramas. For anyone interested in psychology and its history, this book is a delightful read. Enriched with numerous historical images, it transports readers to a bygone century while entertainingly teaching the history of psychology
MDR Wissen
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A brilliant writer. He masterfully combines anecdote with analysis, characters and their theory
Tages-Anzeiger
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A really, really good storyteller. . . The fact that he tells the story so richly is precisely the great strength of this book
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Steve Ayan
- Narrator
- Jasmine Catherine
- Duration
- 13 hours 35 minutes
- Release Date
- 16 July 2026
- ISBN
- 9781805338420
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Pushkin Press
- Genre
- Biography and non-fiction prose, History of science
Synopsis
It's the beginning of the twentieth century, and members of the Wednesday Circle hurry through Vienna's darkening streets. Dr. Freud does not tolerate lateness, and the men invited to join his new society sense they are on the brink of something momentous. In his study, through a haze of cigar smoke, these early psychoanalysts alight on a profound and shocking idea that will alter modern life: the existence of the psyche. In this entertaining history, psychologist Steve Ayan introduces the twentieth-century visionaries who ignited a revolution of the mind. It is a story of breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness, but also of dubious dream interpretations, affairs with patients, and feuding factions. At a moment when therapy has become a cultural commonplace, Ayan offers a captivating portrait of the figures behind these pioneering theories, from Melanie Klein to Carl Jung. Blending immersive storytelling with rigorous research, Soul Magic returns us to the origins of psychotherapy and the thinkers who first pulled back the curtain on the mysterious forces at work within us all.
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