I didn’t like the translation, it is impossible to read or understand anything, I certainly do not recommend buying this book. Although the topics are interesting it’s unreadable.I am very sorry about this.

If you struggle with reading Gurdjieff's books due to his style and the often unsatisfactory result of translation, you will find these very different. The format very easy to digest, the situations very easy to follow. A reading of things pertaining to Gurdjieff's ideas is improved by having a relatable setting and group of people, and ideas presented in the Question and Answer format which was his preferred and more appropriate method. Instead of a linear and often rambling lecture on ideas, we have a discussion of ideas, prompted by genuine questions from his guests. Like those in the room, you may take away points according to your needs and according to your nature. I personally found more applicable ideas in these conversations than in his self authored works, and at the same time found it more interesting and engaging. Understanding the situation under which these conversations took place in occupied France at a time of immense upheaval, anxiety and deprivation makes them all the more pertinent to mankind's confused and perilous condition.

So after all the turmoil, he taught his system and fed the people of Paris

The material in this book belongs to all who seek to make sense of themselves and who wish to find a genuine mode of being in modern life.

These transcripts, from late in Gurdjieff's life, are helpful to someone "in the Work." Others might find them perplexing. The Gurdjieff "Work" is shown here to be only for those who can stand the sight of their own blood. His replies are always practical, useful and sometimes direct enough to cause the reader to flinch. This book ought not to be the first one reads about, by or of Gurdjieff. From my perspective, having extensively studied the brain, to a lesser extent the body and been a Work practitioner for many years, Gurdjieff was the greatest psychologist ever to set pen to paper. Not only did he understand his students, he pushed each one in a manner especially suited to that person's nature. Many of us, he said, are "candidates for a lunatic asylum" and, in my experience, that statement is truer now than when he regularly repeated it. Gurdjieff centers may or may not reflect his teachings accurately as it is an easy method to distort and to corrupt. Nevertheless, in Beelzebub's Tales, he commends other spiritual paths still available to a true and sincere Seeker. This book provides a more intimate view of him with students, "Working" under less than favorable conditions, to and for their benefit, providing they could manage to assimilate the feedback he provided. He has shown us, clearly, that "man's ego is not his friend" to quote Swami Rama. What we do about that is up to us but, he says, doing something effective is the only way out of our "prison."

The words of Gurdjieff, wherever genuinely reported like in this book have a much higher and different impact than all other books written by those who came after him. And this is an invitation to read Gurdjieff own books before any other in order to get a better picture. Others have just helped building the frame. Now there are too many frames. A great book to open quite often as to remember!

If you know about Gurdjieff and are interested in his teaching, you'll enjoy this book. I did.

Amazon EEUU: ¡Buen Día! Hoy -05-Octubre-2015-, aproximadamente a las 12.15 P.M.; el libro llegó a su casa -expresión. ¡Muchísimas gracias por ello! Juan R.

The best edition I have seen yet of the translations Solita Solano left in her papers at the Library of Congress. Apparently during the meetings of a group in Paris during WWII Mr. Gurdjieff allowed someone to transcribe the proceedings, maybe in shorthand. I presume, on the basis of no real evidence other than they ended up in her material at the LofC, that after 1945 Solita Solano had access to these transcripts, and translated into English for the benefit of her friends, the "Ladies of the Rope." A remarkable portrayal of Mr. Gurdjieff and his French students near the end of his life.

An exceptional book. Some aspects of the Work are uniquely discussed here. Gives a very clear feel of how Gurdjieff dealt with his pupils in real life situations.

Interesting insight and casual speaking about working within our lives while in occupied France

Excelente

Helpful book for anyone following the path to enlightenment.

This book is only to be recommended to those who are already steeped in Gurdjieff's teachings. The advice contained within the pages is aimed at particular students with particular questions, aims and difficulties. Those untutored in the ideas will gain little from the records and those with experience will still need to be alive to the possibility of inappropriate application of specifically-directed counsel.

The exchanges are valuable to one who follows the Gurdjieff teaching because they represent his voice and not the interpretations of others. One has to assume they were accurately recorded, and given the personal nature of the exchanges, it seems they were. A wonderful book ......

Of all the literature written on the subject, this is perhaps most revealing into the methods and teaching of a truly remarkable man. Here we see a warm and sensitive side hitherto unavailable to the reader of other books dealing with Mr. gurdjieff and his methods. Here we see a patient and remarkable understanding of the questions posed him. Remarkable because of his spot-on-insight of the puples real question not spoken, but kept deep inside... Over and over he repeats the essential message: Self Remembering, not accidental but consciously done.

Transcriptions of down to earth meetings in G.'s Paris flat. Clean notes without an aura of mystification... Much material for thought in the vein of 'Views From the Real World'... Recommended for those solidly connected with the Work.