The Philosophy, Theory and Methods of J. L. Moreno (Explorations in Mental Health) 1st Edition

Easily one of the best modern overviews of Morenian history, philosophy, and theory. In this book, Nolte simplifies the complexities of Moreno's work into just 278 pages! Highly recommended - in the past I used this as the required textbook for a graduate psychodrama university course.

Probably the best presentation of JL Moreno's work to date. Worth reading as the philosophy and methods described have had, and will continue to have a huge impact.

Excellent book! It contains unpublished details about Moreno's life and culture. Well written!

A short review of The Philosophy, Theory and methods of J. L. Moreno: The man who would be god. Peter HowieJohn Nolte clearly uses his lived experience of Moreno, and his applications of psychodrama, and psychodrama training, as background to his writing. He is not writing as an outside observer but as one embedded in Morenian philosophy, practice and theory. He begins with a real felt introduction of himself as he came beside Moreno, and came aboard and learned and grappled with both the man, as a student of Moreno for 12 years, and his teachings, which he continues to develop and apply. That in itself makes the book valuable. There is a real sense that Nolte has enormous regard and respect for Moreno, while not glossing over the great man’s many problematic idiosyncrasies.I considered running a number of quotes from the book, all lovingly highlighted in my Kindle version of the book, but find that they all relate to things that interested me when first reading the book and now no longer stand out for me in the same way. Some of those quotes are of course from J. L. Moreno as well. Nolte’s appropriate use of quoting to emphasise points and to highlight Moreno’s philosophy, theory, methods, and perhaps his thinking as well, was greatly enjoyed.There is something about this book that has me feel … it is nice to read a complete explication of Moreno’s wares, from someone who enjoys them so much, while also being able to criticise appropriately, and present their own struggle with some of the ideas. The ideas are presented in such as way that they can be followed. The writing, while dense in places, is clear.My only criticism of the work and one that does not detract from any of the comments made so far is Nolte’s determination to make sense of the concept of unconservable energy: spontaneity. He developed a chapter to describe David Bohm’s concept of implicate order as a means for understanding the ‘physics of spontaneity-creativity’. While I love his creativity in doing so, and others will undoubtedly love his whole diversion into these concepts, I found it frustrating and unnecessary. But it is presented in a ‘take it or leave it out’ kind of way so he is tentative about this and clearly presents it as his way of making the universe add up. While my grasp of physics is undoubtedly dated there are certainly other ways of making sense of unconservable energy and I would invite John to contact me when he comes to produce his second edition.In summary, let me suggest that psychodrama trainers read this book with an eye on their trainees and those in training consider this book to improve their grasp of Moreno’s philosophy, theory and methods. Practitioners will simply find it a valuable and enjoyable reminder of the breadth of their craft. While it is an expensive book it does give the ‘good oil’ and a firm basis for intellectually and philosophically grasping the prodigious and creative genius of J. L. Moreno.