How do you tell a good friend he's full of crap?

[southernhybrid]

You really are a good friend as it's obvious that you've not only read the book, you've put a lot of thought into your review of the book. To be honest, I doubt I would have even finished reading the book. I can't imagine your friend being bothered over your thoughts on the book. He's lucky to have you for a friend. Seriously.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Looks good.

 

[jab]

I’m reading a book (which shall remain nameless) written over thirty years ago (so late eighties) by a high school classmate who apparently earned a PhD in clinical psychology. This book was recommended to me by a good friend, another former classmate, who described a sort of life changing experience in reading it, and actually sent me a copy.

The book is absolute dreck. It uses a lot of alchemical vocabulary and other metaphysical metaphors for the journey of the soul, which longs for re-unification with the One, etc. I studied alchemy and other Western mystical traditions in graduate school, and read enough Jung back then, to appreciate the metaphors, but it soon becomes apparent that to the author, these are not mere metaphors. He writes a chapter developing the “hypothesis” that the soul must perforce reincarnate multiple times, and in the process accumulates good and bad karma.

Now this guy is a practicing clinical psychologist. His practice evidently concerns helping straighten out the bad karma a patient has accumulated in previous lives. There can be a problem if the therapist and patient have had a run in in previous lives and established bad karma between them. Unbelievable. People pay for this.

So my problem now is how do I let my friend know my actual opinion without ruining our friendship?

say that the book was interesting, but that you don't believe in reincarnation, and the book didn't convince you otherwise. Don't say anything about the friend who recommended the book, except for thanking the friend for remembering that you had once studied some of the issues covered by the book (if indeed the friend did remember this.