Evolutionary Leap

Colin Stanley was born in Topsham, Devon, in 1952 and educated at Exmouth School. Beginning in 1970, he worked for Devon Library Services, before moving to Nottingham with his wife, Gail, where he worked for the University of Nottingham until July 2005. Managing Editor of Paupers' Press, he edits 'Colin Wilson Studies', a series of books and essays written by Wilson scholars worldwide. He now spends his time at the cinema and theatre, listening to music, writing, editing, reading and watching cricket.

'Although most known as a writer on the occult and crime, Colin Wilson was at heart a philosopher and psychologist, and in this important book Colin Stanley brings together some of Wilson's most insightful ideas about the human mind and its mysterious workings. Anyone interested in peak experiences, the "intentionality" of consciousness, the relationship between our two cerebral hemispheres, the creative potential of thought, and existential advantages of optimism will glean much value from this inspiring collection.'- Gary Lachman, author of Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson, The Secret Teachers of the Western World, and Jung the Mystic'Colin Stanley does a wonderful job of stating Colin Wilson's importance as a psychologist, isolating and highlighting the concepts and insights that were always at the core of his vast output. Essential reading not just for admirers of Wilson but for all psychologists too.'-Steve Taylor, PhD, author of The Fall, Waking From Sleep and The Calm Center'Colin Wilson had one overpowering impulsion: his drive to explore how humankind should expand consciousness. It is to Colin Stanley's great credit that he has here not only compiled and commented on many of Wilson's most significant writings on psychology, but also done so in such a cogent fashion.'- Dr Vaughan Rapatahana, author of Wilson as Mystic'A brilliant distillation and synthesis of Colin Wilson's writings on psychology. Colin Stanley has captured lightning in a bottle by conveying the sheer vigour and sparkling intelligence of Wilson's work. This is a book to engage both longterm readers of Wilson and those unfamiliar with one of the twentieth century's most vital yet underrated thinkers.'- Chris Nelson, writer and editor'Colin Stanley provides an absorbing, informed and lucid survey of Wilson's key works on psychology from The Age of Defeat to Super Consciousness. Stanley expertly traces Wilson's engagements with Freud, Reich and Jung and, most crucially, with the American psychologist Abraham Maslow, and charts Wilson's development of an affirmative existentialist psychology that heralds the evolutionary advance of humankind.'- Nicolas Tredell, retired lecturer, University of Sussex, and author of Novels to Some Purpose: The Fiction of Colin Wilson'Essential reading for anyone concerned with the cutting edge of psychological science as well as the future of humanity.'-Stanley Krippner, PhD, co-author of Personal Mythology

• Permissions , Preface , The Age of Defeat (1959) , Origins of the Sexual Impulse (1963) , New Pathways in Psychology: Maslow and the Post-Freudian Revolution (1972) , Frankenstein's Castle: The Right Brain— Door to Wisdom (1980) , The Quest for Wilhelm Reich (1981) , Access to Inner Worlds: The Story of Brad Absetz (1983) , Lord of the Underworld: Jung and the Twentieth Century (1984/1988) , The Misfits: A Study of Sexual Outsiders (1988) , Super Consciousness: The Quest for the Peak Experience (2007/2009) , Essays by Colin Wilson on psychology , Notes on Psychology for George Pransky , Remembering the outsider: Colin Wilson 1931-2013