Excellent. Need re-read ( )

We start with "life is suffering," and we go on from there. Peck is an insightful therapist, at least on paper, and a decent writer. This book is a "classic in the field" but mostly because it broke new ground when it came out--mixing religion and therapy in a way that does justice to both. Now books like this are a dime a dozen, most of them from a buddhist perspective.

But it all started with Peck, at least at the popular level. I read this at pivotal time in my life, and ended up making a career change because of it. Going back to some its ideas has helped me in some relationship changes. All of this is to say that, in spite of being a "classic" it is still good, and worth reading.

As an aside, I heard Peck speak once, and he says that he wrote the book and was pretty non-religous when he wrote it, but decided to do his research after writing (yes that is a bit backwards) and gained a personal appreciation of religion. They fact that he was not heavily involved in religion as he wrote this shows, but in a positive way. He does not come off as doctrinaire or dogmatic. ( )

An excellent book! Many valuable life lessons! i

I read this at a time when I really needed it (probably in late 2000, early 2001) and it really spoke to me. I've read portions of it again since then. I should probably re-read more of it more often. It is a life affirming and life altering work. ( )

Inspiring! ( )