I like this book, but my guess is that if you’re not already a James disciple, you won’t “get it.” There’s some excellent material, but much of the book consists of barely-explained little tables. Like all James books, it’s disorderly–but this one’s more like a sampler than a coherent work. In the Abstracts, Bill was able to tie all the disorder together by establishing themes, and exploring them from several angles. In this book he’s made no such effort.
Guess we’re just supposed to value it for the nuggets. Those are definitely there, and for me that really is enough.
Of course, the book’s quite consciously an advertisement for billjamesonline.com, which certainly explains something. Whether it will sell any memberships is, I think, questionable.
This review was originally posted on LibraryThing.