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The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
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Now featuring a new introduction by Dr. M. Scott Peck, the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the classic bestseller The Road Less Traveled, celebrated by The Washington Post as “not just a book but a spontaneous act of generosity.”
Perhaps no book in this generation has had a more profound impact on our intellectual and spiritual lives than The Road Less Traveled. With sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it has made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list.
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one’s own true self.
Recognizing that, as in the famous opening line of his book, “Life is difficult” and that the journey to spiritual growth is a long one, Dr. Peck never bullies his readers, but rather guides them gently through the hard and often painful process of change toward a higher level of self-understanding.
Perhaps no book in this generation has had a more profound impact on our intellectual and spiritual lives than The Road Less Traveled. With sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it has made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list.
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one’s own true self.
Recognizing that, as in the famous opening line of his book, “Life is difficult” and that the journey to spiritual growth is a long one, Dr. Peck never bullies his readers, but rather guides them gently through the hard and often painful process of change toward a higher level of self-understanding.
Azioni libro
Inizia a leggereInformazioni sul libro
The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
Descrizione
Now featuring a new introduction by Dr. M. Scott Peck, the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the classic bestseller The Road Less Traveled, celebrated by The Washington Post as “not just a book but a spontaneous act of generosity.”
Perhaps no book in this generation has had a more profound impact on our intellectual and spiritual lives than The Road Less Traveled. With sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it has made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list.
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one’s own true self.
Recognizing that, as in the famous opening line of his book, “Life is difficult” and that the journey to spiritual growth is a long one, Dr. Peck never bullies his readers, but rather guides them gently through the hard and often painful process of change toward a higher level of self-understanding.
Perhaps no book in this generation has had a more profound impact on our intellectual and spiritual lives than The Road Less Traveled. With sales of more than seven million copies in the United States and Canada, and translations into more than twenty-three languages, it has made publishing history, with more than ten years on the New York Times bestseller list.
Written in a voice that is timeless in its message of understanding, The Road Less Traveled continues to help us explore the very nature of loving relationships and leads us toward a new serenity and fullness of life. It helps us learn how to distinguish dependency from love; how to become a more sensitive parent; and ultimately how to become one’s own true self.
Recognizing that, as in the famous opening line of his book, “Life is difficult” and that the journey to spiritual growth is a long one, Dr. Peck never bullies his readers, but rather guides them gently through the hard and often painful process of change toward a higher level of self-understanding.
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Recensioni
Confronting and solving problems is a painful process, which most of us attempt to avoid. Drawing heavily upon his own professional experience, Dr. M. Scott Peck, a practicing psychiatrist, suggests ways in which confronting and resolving our problems can enable us to reach a higher level of self-understanding.
Rating: 5Excellent. Need re-read
Rating: 5I haven't read this book from cover to cover, but the parts I have read I've loved.
Rating: 4It's been a while since I read this book, but I remember finding it genuinely inspirational back when I read it. Probably worth re-reading again someday.
Rating: 4Inspiring!
Rating: 5I had deliberately ignored this book since it was published to great acclaim many years ago, as I don't read self-help books, but it was there on the shelf in the beach house and I got curious. Two thirds of it was, I thought, a very thoughtful description of the manner in which psychotherapy can help a patient, although some of the casual assumptions of gender roles were howlers from 35 years ago, and Peck is writing from a perspective before the great advances in brain imaging and understanding of the physical and chemical processes of the brain.That said, I still detected a bit of preening from time to time, a self-commendation for his great skill.The last third was a bit more trying for me, as it deals with the relationship of spiritual growth (which he equates with mental growth) to a relationship with God. He tries hard to allow all versions of this relationship with God - as a world view it is very useful. But he is clearly a believer (and I am not) and his later text has that proselytizing feel underneath.When I brought it up to Jim, he was of the opinion that Peck said nothing new, but I thought he said it gracefully, with only the appropriate number of examples, unlike most of the self-help books these days, which are flooded with them. So it was an ok read for me, and I'm glad I know what the fuss has been about.
Rating: 3I love this book. It gives straight forward easily readable information. It opens up new horizons and encourages a new look at yourself.
Rating: 5I read this book many, many years ago. It is a great book, very inspiring indeed and still valid today. I don't think his later books are as good - this one probably marked a paradigm shift. It seems to have become a foundation book for the "self-help" and "new age" movements, but that should not be allowed to diminish its value as a serious work.
Rating: 4An excellent and inspiring work about dealing with inner pain from a psychotherapeutic and spiritual perspective.
Rating: 5Much of this book was very good, especially the first section on Discipline and I can see myself coming back to this many times and drawing genuine inspiration from it. However, I found the last section on Grace unconvincing and a bit unsatisfactory, labouring some some rather subjective points overmuch. But excellent overall and probably deserves most of its accolades.
Rating: 5This is one of the key books that started my conscious growth process as a young adult. I read it when I was 19 at just the right moment, and it served as one of the entry points into the genre of self-help and spirituality literature, which as a whole has had a profoundly positive affect on my life. Great book.
Rating: 5Interesting book about spiritual growth. Written from the point of view of a psychotherapist it primarily looks at what we mean by love in its broadest sense. There's an overview of various psychological conditions, and a look at how some people manage to overcome them, with or without the help of a therapist.
Fascinating insights, often thought-provoking in the earlier chapters. Towards the end the author looks at the subject of 'grace' from a pseudo-Christian perspective. He gives rational and logical reasons for the existence of God, but then suggests (in somewhat New Age style) that God is the sum total of our unconscious minds, and that our most important aim in life is not so much to become like God, but to become part of him.
Worth reading despite now being twenty-five years out of date; could make interesting discussion material.
Rating: 4Fascinating insights, often thought-provoking in the earlier chapters. Towards the end the author looks at the subject of 'grace' from a pseudo-Christian perspective. He gives rational and logical reasons for the existence of God, but then suggests (in somewhat New Age style) that God is the sum total of our unconscious minds, and that our most important aim in life is not so much to become like God, but to become part of him.
Worth reading despite now being twenty-five years out of date; could make interesting discussion material.
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.
Rating: 5I 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.
Rating: 5This book is defined for me by his terms "Character-disorder" and "Neurotic". They explained my marriage, it's failure and my role. Timeless book.
Rating: 5
An absolute gem of a book. A VERYYYYYY TOUGH read and not for everyone, but for the one that digests it all, the journey will be more than rewarding.
Rating: 5I saw this book 16 years ago in Powell's Books, Portland, OR. If only I had bought it then! What a wise insight Dr. Peck hat. Definitely, this book is a milestone on my spiritual path
Rating: 5Amazing, not only you understand things you thought to be something but it was something different at the end, but also by this way it can change the way you see things in your life, to feel that you are not alone in this endless path of life and highlights the power of life being in your hands.
Rating: 5I read this book many, many years ago. It is a great book, very inspiring indeed and still valid today. I don't think his later books are as good - this one probably marked a paradigm shift. It seems to have become a foundation book for the "self-help" and "new age" movements, but that should not be allowed to diminish its value as a serious work.
Rating: 4It is a psychology book directed towards patients and psychologists. It consists of three chapters: discipline, love and grace. While I just loved the first chapter, I got through the first half of the second one, and could not bear the remainder. The first chapter, about discipline, explains how "Life is difficult" and taking on challenges and facing the problems is the only way to live happily, develop spiritually and have good relationship with one's family. This chapter feels like a very non-infantile self-help book - even an eye-opener about some aspects. It also has many interesting, sometimes amusing examples.The next chapter talks about love and defines love much more broadly than in the traditional sense. Love is growing through giving, and, for example, in this sense a therapist 'loves' his patient and both benefit from the relationship. I found this part slightly boring but acceptable. In the mid of the second chapter and all through the third one, on 'grace' the author drifts toward religion and how it is helpful in life. Well, I just happen to completely disagree, and maybe that's why I found this part completely unappealing. You might wander what kind of 'grace' is it. Yes - it's a religious term.To sum up: I recommend the first chapter to everybody. If religion is important in your life, I you might want to read the whole book.
Rating: 3I found the book shelved in "Self Help" in the Barnes and Noble bookstore. Yet The Road Less Traveled is on The Ultimate Reading List for "inspirational non-fiction." For that read "spiritual" and most often "Christian." That's fitting, because although the author was a practicing psychiatrist, it's obvious that the spiritual theme is to the fore just from a perusal of the section titles: I. Discipline II. Love III. Growth and Religion and IV. Grace. In his Preface Peck states he makes "no distinction between the mind and the spirit, between the process of achieving spiritual growth and achieving mental growth. They are one and the same." He claims that "mental illness occurs when the conscious will of the individual deviates substantially from the will of God, which is the individual's own unconscious will." It's easy to see why this book would be popular among those who follow Twelve-Step Programs, where accepting a "higher power" is one of the steps. Regardless, that doesn't mean you have to be religious to get anything out of the book. I'm not. But I thought the book had interesting insights into the process of maturity, growth and change and though Peck is Christian, the book cites tenets not just of Christianity but Buddhism and Hinduism. His very first sentence is "life is difficult" and he connects this to the central belief of Buddhism that life is suffering. In other words, that a fulfilling life takes work--discipline--that neurosis is often an effort to avoid necessary suffering. Reportedly Random House turned the book down as "too Christ-y," but I think even the last parts on religion and grace could be put into secular terms--although it would be a bit of a strain, and I admit the second half didn't really speak to me and is a major reason I didn't rate this book higher. Nevertheless, Peck reads as non-dogmatic and as psychologically and spiritually eclectic.I found his examination of romantic love particularly interesting. He doesn't believe in what he calls the destructive "myth" of romantic love. He feels that falling in love is always a temporary, fleeting sensation involving a seeming collapse of ego boundaries. That "true love involves an extension of the self rather than a sacrifice of the self" and is an action, decision and choice more than a feeling. Love as he defines it is the "will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth."This is pop psychology, no question, but his book is not all "just love yourself" pablum. I have to admit, having known people who have spent years in psychotherapy, I'm skeptical of Peck's claims for it, and at times he himself comes across as a bit self-aggrandizing, especially in his 25th Anniversary Introduction--in that it's-not-me-but-God-wrote-it-way. He controversially wrote in the original edition that if having sex with a patient would help, he'd do it. And given at least one anecdote, I get the distinct impression Peck considers homosexuality disordered. (Remember, this book was published in 1978. The American Psychiatric Association had declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder only five years before that.) So I don't read this book as if I'm a believer reading scripture. But he's thought-provoking, was an experienced working psychotherapist and his ideas are worth considering. The first book I ever read by him and still on my book shelf was actually People of the Lie which I picked up precisely because evil is a subject few psychologists seem to take seriously, and I found his examination of the subject fascinating.
Rating: 4First of all, this book wasn't what I expected at all. From the title, I thought it was going to be very religion-oriented. I would say that only about 5 percent of the book addresses religion, other than the fact that he says early on that he uses the terms "mind" and "spirit" interchangeably. He's also extremely critical of organized religion and the negative effects it can have on people. It's mostly a description about how and why people go through psychoanalytic therapy and what it is, exactly.
I really loved this book, except for a couple of annoyances that prevented me from giving it 5 stars. There was one sentence in the book that displays the fact that it was written 30 years ago. He offhandedly mentions that a man in therapy with "homosexual tendencies" was able to "get the courage to ask a girl out." Everyone should know by now that homosexuality can't be and shouldn't be "cured." In his final section about religion, he also clumsily attempts to discuss science, miracles, and other things that appear to be way out of his depth as a psychoanalyst, although I did mostly agree with him about the importance of grace.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed reading it, and it made me think a great deal about the mental lengths everyone goes to in order to deceive themselves and others, mostly to avoid the short term pain and suffering of inconvenient truths.
Rating: 4I really loved this book, except for a couple of annoyances that prevented me from giving it 5 stars. There was one sentence in the book that displays the fact that it was written 30 years ago. He offhandedly mentions that a man in therapy with "homosexual tendencies" was able to "get the courage to ask a girl out." Everyone should know by now that homosexuality can't be and shouldn't be "cured." In his final section about religion, he also clumsily attempts to discuss science, miracles, and other things that appear to be way out of his depth as a psychoanalyst, although I did mostly agree with him about the importance of grace.
All in all, though, I really enjoyed reading it, and it made me think a great deal about the mental lengths everyone goes to in order to deceive themselves and others, mostly to avoid the short term pain and suffering of inconvenient truths.
Psychoanalysis concepts. Very good discussing the impact of life changing events causes on depression. Good coverage on the disciplines of mental management. Didn’t like his discussion of Love, but the other areas were well worth a read and very timely for me.
Rating: 3The book covers basic human nature and it is an interesting perspective, discipline and love to grow and understand reality.
Rating: 4