Six Blind Elephants: Understanding Ourselves and Each Other: Vol. 1: Fundamental Principles of Scope and Category

I have a Master's degree in developmental psychology, create and promote online psychotherapy conferences and create and teach Feldenkrais programs. And I can tell you that this is one of the most useful books that I have read in my entire life. I return to it on a regular basis. Not just to read it, but to take notes, review my own understanding and play with the distinctions. I highly recommend. But be forewarned - It is not a book to be read but a book to be experienced. Actively work with the distinctions, you can use them to change your life on many levels.

I've read at least 30 NLP books out there, by everyone, Bandler, Dilts, James, Faulkner, etc.... I have to say this book is the best one I've ever read... ever. Whether your new to NLP this is a fantastic starting place due to the conversational nature of this book. And if you experienced like me, its shines a whole new perspetive on NLP. I'd recommend this over every other NLP our there. Steve Andreas is a very considerate person who puts his own taste on NLP

I am studying this book. In my opinion this is a MUST read book. Steve Andreas really did a great job. The is VOL 1 and VOL 2. I got both.The first one give me the distinction CATEGORY and SCOPE and this alone is worth GOLD.

excellent txt would recommend

I bought this as a gift for an acquaintance, off their wish list. I have no interest in this type of literature. What you are looking for is not going to be found in this book or any other like it. You have an emptiness within you which you are attempting to reconcile. There is only one way to find what you're looking for, but, if your considering this book, then you won't want to hear what it is.

This is a brilliant and practical book. Most people are creating how they feel, how they behave, what and who they attract, and what and who they are attracted to, without knowing HOW thay are doing any of it. For such people, it seems as if life is "just happening." In Six Blind Elephants, Steve Andreas peeks behind the curtain (or, rather, inside the mind) to describe what we are doing--pretty much on autopilot--to create what happens in our lives.As someone who teaches similar information, I though Steve's treatment of this material was inspired. If you're looking for a feel-good inspiriational book, this isn't for you. But if you want to understand a lot of what you automatically do outside your awareness, and how it generates much of how you feel, how you behave, and what and who you attract and are attracted to--and, you'd like to be more in charge of this creative process--this book is a gem.Bill Harris,[...].

This is a really good piece of work by Steve Andreas. It's utterly amazing. It's kind of a challenging read at first though. And I do prefer the first volume over the second but the material in it is so good. I love it. It's gone so far to develop my understanding about the structure of people's internal world. How they categorize their thoughts, he explains logical levels better than from what I can tell Robert Dilts and L. Michael Hall ever have. And that's not meant to be a sleight to either one of them. They have both made important contributions to the field of NLP.Before I read this book I thought Richard Bandler was the master of teaching about working with generalizations. I think Steve Andreas one upped him on this one. Definitely check it out! It's not always an easy read but it is definitely a rewarding read. That will pay you dividends for years to come.

This book has way too much fluff. NLP is simple and like everything else you can take something simple and make it complex.

In my opinion, 'Six Blind Elephants (Volume 1)' has to be one of the most exciting and thought-provoking books to come out of the NLP and Change Work field in some time.Steve Andreas, drawing on work from the research discipline of Cognitive Linguistics (especially that of George Lakoff and more indirectly, Eleanor Rosch) discusses, illustrates and maps out the fundamentals of two processes - Scope (how we attend to sensory experience) and Category (how we understand, interpret and categorise that experience).These two distinctions underpin our fundamental perceptual processes and the ways in which we seek to make sense of, and understand ourselves, others and the world around us. For me, once this idea began to take hold it both simplified and enriched how I understand the methodology and techniques of NLP change work and how I understand and work with the structure of someone's experiencing, i.e. by attending to how they create their scope of experience and how they then categorise this...Of course 'simplicity' does not necessarily equal 'simple' and there is much rich, and at times quite complicated and nuanced thinking in Andreas' work. The kind of writing that took me several reads, a good amount of reflection, some personal application and some time to let the ideas really sink in and root... And once this stuff begins to embed the fun really begins...Exploring scope, category and the logical levels at which categorisation takes place (e.g. more general levels going up or more specific levels going down...) in my own thinking and talking, in that of others, by listening to people speaking on the radio, or TV, etc is really illuminating and as useful a tool as using the Meta Model with oneself and others.Andreas, in his discussion of levels of categorisation provides a thoroughly useful and 'logical' way of understanding logical levels - and one that is completely straightforward in its application and usefulness. Thank you Steve! If other NLP authors could take note we could finally move away from the muddled and laughable attempts at using Bateson's ideas (clearly misunderstood and poorly applied) that proliferate in many NLP texts (Wyatt Woodsmall, Tosey & Mathison, and Bostic St Clair & Grinder being notable exceptions to the typical junk that is written about logical levels and Bateson's work more generally)...For me there is something very exciting in coming across a work (written from an NLP perspective) that is academically grounded, rich with exploration and discussion, rooted in ideas from a field of linguistics study that is current and up-to-date, and that does all this whilst managing to remain readable, enjoyable and wholly useful. Andreas has succeeded in presenting ideas for ways of working with subjective experience that are elegant, well-informed and relevant.Highly recommended.

Another superb Steve Andreas book

a book to read at least ones in life. thank you.

good read worth the money

Very good book. Intelligent, explains our ways of understanding in a very clear way. I'm thankful of having read it.