Book Review

Dr. Stanley Krippner’s CHAOTIC LIFE

Reviewed by Dan Millman

A Chaotic Life (Volume 1): The Memoirs of Stanley Krippner, Pioneering Humanistic Psychologist

By Stanley Krippner

Published: March 29, 2024, University Professor’s Press

“When my signature book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, was first released, Stanley Krippner was kind enough to write a testimonial. I’ve also met with him socially on two occasions – at a café in San Rafael, California, and when I joined a celebration of his 80th birthday.

I read Volumes 1, 2, and 3 of Dr. Krippner’s A CHAOTIC LIFE. The level of detail — diverse names, places, events, and experiences — was nothing less than astonishing. He either kept detailed journals or has a photographic memory, or both.

Clearly a man who has enjoyed his life, Stanley Krippner gives readers a parapsychological tour from his youth and well into his 90s. A man of many appetites and enthusiasms, he provides a guided tour of events, places, and the people who inhabited them.

He unabashedly name-drops throughout the book in a virtual Who’s Who gallery — not only of pioneers in the field of psychology, but in show business (stage and screen). His Chaotic Life leaves no stone unturned in his narration, ranging from psychedelics and shamanism to fine arts, music, and various approaches to the human potential movement.

I’d recommend this book as an enriching read for anyone interested in modern history, art, and culture seen through the eyes of a character not unlike Zorba the Greek — a man of passion and discernment, or Candide, who discovered his own “best of all possible worlds” which, in this monumental work, Stanley Krippner generously shares with interested readers.”