THE SHADOW CAPTAIN, subtitled “Harness Your Mind for a Life Beyond Limits,” explores author Deane Vipond’s interest in what he calls “the Sub,” or one’s subconscious thoughts. By dint of a little wordplay, the author weaves this into an extended metaphor about being a “captain” of one’s own “Sub.” The work takes a light-touch approach to psychology, but points of contact include Abraham Maslow, Gavin de Becker, Kwame Anthony Appiah, and Neville Goddard (whose ladder technique comes in for praise).
Vipond is very interested in the subconscious, musing on the purpose (as he puts it, the “evolutionary benefit”) of happiness and the undiscriminating nature of “the Sub"—which absorbs information from our surroundings while formulating feelings and intentions based on that information, regardless of its nature or wider importance.
Vipond's presentation is very sound. The chapter structure is easy to follow, and the text (barring the occasional omitted word) is immaculate. However, one feels the cartoonish illustrations of this or that scenario scattered throughout the book contribute little of value; and the glossary, while appreciated for its clarifying of certain terms coined by Vipond or otherwise used idiosyncratically, needlessly includes a great number of terms whose meaning is self-explanatory. Each chapter ends with a list of “key takeaways,” and the exercises are simple; they have at their heart Vipond’s imperative to, as it were, train or redirect one’s “Sub” to tackle problems and attain forward motion in life.
Some of this feels like reinventing the wheel, inasmuch as it visits well-trodden ground. There is also a potential snag in the way in which Vipond seemingly ascribes agency to one’s “Sub.” When he writes of the “Sub” scanning one’s environment for threats, for example, he credits it with a particular type of awareness. It's the sort of approach to language not uncommonly found in self-help books of this sort. But as Vipond keeps academic discussion at arm’s length, it becomes possible to accept the book on its own nonclinical terms; and, indeed, much of the advice here is useful. Vipond’s suggestion that readers adopt healthy self-talk habits— refraining from castigating oneself for doing something wrong, adopting a positive-sounding internal monologue, etc.—has resonance, and his impassioned plea against gaslighting wins THE SHADOW CAPTAIN many plaudits.
Though some of its content covers familiar territory, Deane Vipond’s THE SHADOW CAPTAIN: Harness Your Mind for a Life Beyond Limits offers insights into the workings of the subconscious mind with easy, accessible language.
~ Craig Jones for IndieReader