teach yourself Freud is an accessible and fascinating guide to the 'father of psychoanalysis' and his influential work. Ruth Snowden explores Freud's upbringing and the environment into which he was born and grew up before analysing the development of his thinking. She examines his early work and influences, from his medical training to his interest in hysteria and hypnosis and the germination of his first ideas about the unconscious and psychoanalysis. She then moves on to look at the fundamental aspects of his thinking and their development his interpretation of dreams, his theories on sexuality, the nature of identity and his views on society in general. Each aspect of the man and his work is explained in a straightforward and jargon-free way, making often-complex theories easy to get to grips with.