cover image The Windows of Experience: Moving Beyond Recovery to Wholeness

The Windows of Experience: Moving Beyond Recovery to Wholeness

Patrick Thomas Malone. Simon & Schuster, $22.5 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-671-76707-5

How to recognize and develop ``our real selves'' in relation to the world may be achieved by changing old patterns and making use of 14 ``windows of experience,'' according to the Malones, a father-and-son psychiatrist team in Atlanta, Georgia, and coauthors of The Art of Intimacy. Using copious examples and literary quotes, the authors of this constructive but repetitive self-help guide argue that even those who consider themselves well-adjusted adults often suffer from gradual ``selficide''--``leaking away'' of personhood--and need help in coping with an ``unhealthy world.'' In order to ``give birth to oneself,'' one must accept oneself, others, free choice, responsibility, risk and play, among other ``windows.'' The Malones also advise that rather than follow ``rules of society'' and rigid religious tenets, one should trust one's inner morality. (Oct.)