What an interesting book! The first half of the book is about Hermann Rorschach, his life, family and how he developed the inkblot experiment. The second half is mostly about the inkblots and what happened to them after Rorschach's untimely death (nearly a hundred years ago!!!) and the way they influenced everything from film noir to Jay Z.
I thought the book was very well written and meticulously researched. I would have loved to been with the author, Damion Searls, when he gained access to hundreds of Rorschach family photos from the family of a man who had been researching Rorschach for his own book before dying.
I thought it was also interesting to read about all the drama within the Rorschach community. Since Hermann died at such a young age and was unable to keep tweaking the test or develop more guidelines, others took it upon themselves to do so. Of course, not everyone agreed and there were those who stopped talking to colleagues over such disagreements.
I found the inkblots influence on Hollywood especially interesting because I love film noir movies from the 1940s and 1950s. I never really knew how it had been influenced by Rorschach and the world's thirst, at that time, for psychoanalysis.
It is also interesting to note that this book is really the first comprehensive biography and study of Hermann Rorschach and the inkblots. I would think that it will end up as required reading for those studying psychology in high school and college.
If you would like to read more about The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, his Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing, check out this site here.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. All opinions are my own.
