The Structure of Magic I: A Book About Language and Therapy v. 1 (Structure of Magic): A Book About Language and Therapy [Paperback]

This book is definately not for the beginner to NLP or linguistics. Even for the more adavanced, it is a book that needs reading not once, not twice, but three times before a true understanding of all the concepts can be grasped. It is essentially for those people that are studying NLP or are counsellors/therapists and are looking into ways of understanding others better as well as improving their own communication techniques in helping others develop.

This book demands a lot of understanding, but will be very rewarding when you study it and put it in context with all the rest of the stuff you really understand about NLP... In summary, not a good first book to read on the topic - but a cracker to get down to the bedrock, when you get fed up with some of the glitzier lightweight stuff on this topic

The Structure of Magic is an apt title for this book. It is in fact about the magic that occurs when extraordinarily gifted therapists interact with clients. It's a bit hard to read and dense otherwise I'd give it a 10. Using unique and powerful frames of communication these individuals are able to create transformational change within their clients worldview. Bandler and Grinder unpack the elements and structure of these frames of communication using sophisticated and sometimes profound linguist tools. They treat the communication as an algorithm of both the verbal and non-verbal components that form the cognitive structure of the worldview which is in place and from which the communication flows. Then they reveal how the 'magicians' of therapy they've modeled design and implement transformational interventions. The premise they offer and support is that in the very structure of the language used, the entirety of the worldview is present - as well as the keys to creating rapid and lasting transformational change. They present an entire heuristic model of language using this structure to design and implement change of this magnitude as well. In the process of doing this they also reveal some keys to self-examination that serve to expose the worldview the reader is operating from when the reader applies them targeting themselves as the subject. Overall the foundation material that led to the development of NLPtm is present in this book and its sister volume Structure of Magic II. With this material, that forms what the authors call the Meta-Model(tm), and the material in Patterns of Milton H. Erickson Vols. I & II, the basis of conversational hypnosis, the authors define NLPtm as a distinct and operational technology of its own. I highly recommend this book and the others mentioned here as the background material to what the authors present in their books, Frogs into Princes and Tranceformations. NLPtm is and experiential technology and as such operates within the real time process, Frogs and Tra! nceformations offer the reader some insight to this experience. Structure of Magic I & II, and Patterns I & II are the linear supporting material to what happens in these experiences and how they are designed and implemented. It is for this reason as a trainer of NLPtm I find that they are best read in reverse chronological order starting with Frogs into Princes, then Tranceformations followed by Structure of Magic I and Patterns I in order. Enjoy the material and most of all try applying it if you really want to gain a sense of what Bandler and Grinder created ...