Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a lifes work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Beckers brilliant and impassioned answer to the why of human existence. In bold contrast to the predominant Freudian school of thought, Becker tackles the problem of the vital lie -- mans refusal to acknowledge his own mortality. In doing so, he sheds new light on the nature of humanity and issues a call to life and its living that still resonates more than twenty years after its writing.
Thought provoking, difficult
Our fear of death is at the root of most of what we do and think. It is extremely destructive. To me, that's a fair summary of the book.
Don't read it unless you want to do a lot of work, though! This book, full of references to Otto Rank, Reich, Freud, Norman O Brown, Kierkegaard and other psychologists, is dense and difficult to understand. No doubt his conclusions are solid, but his writing style is far from clear -- so it's hard to tell!
Not that I'm trying to persuade anyone not to read it. It really is very fascinating, and if you take the trouble it will keep you thinking for a very long time.
Buy The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker At The Lowest Price!
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