Also useful on Reich:
Reich for Beginners, David Zane Mairowitz (Writers and Readers)
A cartoon account, enjoyable and essentially accurate, leaning over backwards to be fair even against the author's own beliefs
A Book of Dreams, Peter Reich (Paladin)
A strange, moving account by Reich's son of life with him in his last years, and then of dealing with his death.

On the work and ideas:
Selected Writings, Wilhelm Reich (Touchstone Press)
Melting Armour, William West (self-published, available from 12 Torbay Rd, Manchester M212 8XD, England)
A pamphlet outlining the style of work we look at in this book, intended to help people exchange sessions.
Wilhelm Reich and Orgonomy, Ola Raknes (Pelican)

On Reich's origins in psychoanalysis see:
The Water in the Glass: Body and Mind in Psychoanalysis, Nick Totton (Rebus Press)

Chapter 2: Energy and Armour
The Function of the Orgasm, Wilhelm Reich (Condor Books)
Reich's own intellectual autobiography, charting the development of his work up to the mid- 1 940s, and giving a relatively readable account of his central ideas.

Three explorations of energy and armour by leading 'neo-Reichian' therapists:
Bioenergetics, Alexander Lowen (Penguin)
Emotional Anatomy, Stanley Keleman (Center Press)
Lifestreams: An Introduction to Biosynthesis, David Boadella (Routledge and Kegan Paul)

Freud for Beginners, Appignanesi and Zarate (Writers and Readers)

Children of the Future, Wilhelm Reich (Farrar Strauss Giroux)
Brings together all Reich's writings about armouring in infants and children.

Chapter 3: Surrender
Thoughts Without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective, Mark Epstein (Duckworth)
Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Shambhala)
Fundamentals of Co-Counselling Manual, Harvey Jackins (Rational Island Press)

Chapter 4: The Segments
Two examples from the wide range of books available on body-patterns, each giving a similar but somewhat different version of the segments:
The Body Reveals, Ron Kurtz and Hector Prestera (Harper and Row)
Bodymind, Ken Dychtwald (Jove Books)

Better Eyesight without Glasses, W.H. Bates (Mayflower/Granada)
A marvellous classic relating physical/emotional/spiritual aspects of vision.

The Alexander Principle, Wilfred Barlow (Arrow)
One of several good books available on the technique, which particularly illuminates the head/neck/back relationship.

The Way to Vibrant Health, Alexander and Leslie Lowen (Harper Colloquion)
A collection of body exercises based on neo-Reichian principles.

Shambhala, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche (Shambhala)

The Human Ground, Stanley Keleman (Center Press)

Chapter 5: Growing Up
Probably the best material on these themes is in novels and stories, especially about childhood and adolescence.

By far the best book on infancy, and one which is very exciting from a Reichian point of view, is:
The Interpersonal World of the Infant, Daniel Stern (Basic Books)

Two helpful books about children's experience:
The Child's Discovery of the Mind, Janet Wilde Astington (Fontana
Children's Minds, Margaret Donaldson (Fontana)

We have also learned a lot from the psychoanalytic ideas of D W Winnicott; for an introduction, try
Winnicott, Adam Phillips (Fontana Modern Masters)

Another highly stimulating therapy text, although we disagree with some of its stances, is
The Road Less Travelled, M. Scott Peck (Hutchinson)

Chapters 6 and 7: Character
Character Analysis, Wilhelm Reich (Touchstone)

Two excellent neo-Reichian treatments:
Hakomi Therapy, Ron Kurtz ( Life Rhythm)
The Language of the Body. Alexander Lowen (Collier)

Characterological Transformation, Stephen M Johnson (Norton)
In this and several other volumes, Johnson offers a synthesis of character theory and American ego psychology. We strongly disagree with some of his positions, but this is probably the fullest account of character yet produced.

Chapter 8: Therapy
There are case histories and accounts of therapeutic work in all of the books listed by Reich himself. As accounts of the therapeutic process in general rather than our particular style we would recommend:
Other Women, Lisa Alther (Penguin)
Me and the Orgone, Orson Bean
Working with the Dreaming Body, Arnold Mindell (Routledge and Kegan Paul)

In Search of a Therapist, edited by Michael Jacobs and Moira Walker (Open University Press)
A series of five books, in each of which six therapists from different disciplines explain how they would work with the same client.

Chapter 9: Power
On 'power-for' and 'power-over'
The Other Side of Power, Claude Steiner (Grove Press)

On the oppression of children:
The Drama of Being a Child. Alice Miller (Virago)
Thou Shalt Not Be Aware, Alice Miller (Pluto)

On character and politics:
The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Wilhelm Reich (Penguin)

A politically-aware survey of various therapeutic approaches:
In Our Own Hands, Sheila Ernst and Lucy Goodison (Women's Press)

On running therapy workshops on political issues:
Sitting in the Fire, Arnold Mindell (Lao Tse Press)

On psychotherapy and politics:
The Political Psyche, Andrew Samuels (Routledge)
Psychotherapy and Politics, Nick Totton (Sage)

An eloquent critique of the power relationships of therapy in general:
Against Therapy, Jeffrey Masson (Fontana)

Chapter 10: Primal Patterns
Realms of the Human Unconscious, Stanislav Grof (Souvenir Press)
The Facts of Life, R.D. Laing (Penguin)
The Voice of Experience, R.D. Laing (Penguin)
Studies in Constricted Confusion, Frank Lake (Clinical Theology Association)

Chapter 11 Cosmic Streaming
Cosmic Superimposition/Ether, God and Devil, Wilhelm Reich (Farrar, Strauss)
The Cosmic Pulse of Life, Trevor Constable (Neville Spearman)
Orgone, Reich and Eros, W. Edward Mann (Touchstone)
Needles of Stone, Tom Graves (Tumstone)

Another neo-Reichian synthesis, with a lot of material on auras and subtle
energy:
Core Energetics, Dr John Pierrakos (Life Rhythm)

Chapter 12: Connections and Directions
On the various approaches we mention in the chapter:
Gestalt Therapy Verbatim, Fritz Perls (Bantam)
Ordinary Ecstacy, John Rowan (Routledge and Kegan Paul)
Deep Bodywork and Personal Development, Jack W. Painter (self-published)
Potent Self, Moshe Feldenkrais (Harper and Row)
Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, Al Huang
Rebirthing in the New Age, Leonard Orr and Sondra Ray (Celestial Arts)
Polarity Therapy, Alan Siegel and Philip Young (Prism)

Bone, Breath and Gesture: Practices of Embodiment, edited by Don Hanlon Johnson (North Atlantic Books)
A fascinating collection of classic writings on body and movement work

Despair and Empowerment in the Nuclear Age, Joanna Macy (New Society)

Planet Medicine (new two volume edition), Richard Grossinger (North Atlantic Books)
A vast and magnificent survey and analysis of alternative therapy and healing, with a lot of material on Reich and other body oriented

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