Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life

This is truly a major contribution -- brilliant, beguiling, and as broad in concept as it is deep. -- Jean Houston, PhD, author of The Possible Human Thomas Armstrong, Ph.D., an award-winning educator and expert on human development, offers a cross-cultural view of life's entire journey, from before birth to death to the possibilities of an afterlife. Dr. Armstrong cites both clinical research and anecdotal evidence in a comprehensive view of the challenges and opportunities we face at every stage of our development. His accessible narrative incorporates elements of history, literature, psychology, spirituality, and science in a fascinating guide to understanding our past as well as our future. I loved the tone, the pacing, the sense of audience, and especially the richness of the associations . . . It's a book that one would like to keep around -- a guidebook even. -- John Kotre Ph.D., co-author of Seasons of Life: The Dramatic Journey from Birth to Death The Human Odyssey is superb, magnificent, astonishing, unique, engrossing, eminently readable, informative, enjoyable, entertaining, profound. What else? I could go on. I hadn't expected anything like so remarkable a book. -- Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg and Magical Child I have read through The Human Odyssey. It is in many ways impressive. I also think that it has great commercial potential. Many people will find attractive your dual focus on the scientific and the soul/spiritual dimensions. -- Howard Gardner, Ph.D., The John H. and Elizabeth A. Hobbs Professor in Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, author of Frames of Mind I extend my congratulations to you for this monumental undertaking and wish you the very best for your impressive efforts. -- Marian Diamond, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley; co-author of Magic Trees of the Mind; pioneer researcher into the effect of the environment on brain development; dissected Einstein's brain I very much enjoyed The Human Odyssey. Your breadth of sources is remarkable, and you have put them all together in a smooth and integrative way. I think it will be informative for people, and also inspiring for them to make their stages of life more meaningful. Overall, this is an impressive tour de force. -- Arthur Hastings, Ph.D., Professor and Director, William James Center for Consciousness Studies, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology; Past President, Association of Transpersonal Psychology Extraordinary. I hope that it is read by many people. -- Laura Huxley, widow of Aldous Huxley, founder of Children: Our Ultimate Investment, and author of This Timeless Moment, and The Child of Your Dreams A wonderful and encyclopedic summary of human development. -- Allan B. Chinen, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco; author of Once Upon a Mid-Life: Classic Stories and Mythic Tales to Illuminate the Middle Years and In the Ever After: Fairy Tales and the Second Half of Life Absolutely remarkable. The Human Odyssey is written with lively scholarship and contains great depth and breadth, a wide range of fascinating materials, and many useful resources. It's a kind of 'everything book.' -- George Leonard, the granddaddy of the consciousness movement (Newsweek) and author of The Transformation and The Ultimate Athlete The Human Odyssey provides readers with a fresh approach to developmental psychology. Dr. Armstrong has included a spiritual dimension of human growth that is lacking from most accounts but which is essential for a complete understanding of the human condition. It is a splendid, brilliant work. -- Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., former president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology, author of Personal Mythology: The Psychology of Your Evolving Self, and co-editor of The Psychological Impact of War Trauma on Civilians: An International Perspective An integral approach to human d. …