I chose five stars for Ouspensky's "Search" for personal reasons and because of the way the book functions in its relation to a larger body of literature. It happens to be one of the first books I came accross as a student interested in the Gurdjieff Work. And though it is written as an extended narrative, it is definitively philosophical in content, both features of which I find attractive.

More importantly, the book stands as an arch to what is still being built, an architectural member of a growing body of literature concerning Gurdjieff. As such it is a support as well as a portal, an exterior view as well as a way inward. Ouspensky, as a result of direct experience working with Gurdjieff and his gifted mind, has produced for the reader an intimate journey amongst the ideas and events that led to what is now known as the Work. So for those interested or moved to study those ideas and what they may portend for persons, reading this book can be just the step to take.