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Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death
 
 
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Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (Paperback)

by Irvin D. Yalom (Author) "Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life ..." (more)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Jossey Bass; Reprint edition (30 April 2009)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0470401818
  • ISBN-13: 978-0470401811
  • Product Dimensions: 20.1 x 13 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 62,475 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
Written in Irv Yalom’s inimitable story–telling style, Staring at the Sun is a profoundly encouraging approach to the universal issue of mortality. In this magisterial opus, capping a lifetime of work and personal experience, Dr. Yalom helps us recognize that the fear of death is at the heart of much of our anxiety. Such recognition is often catalyzed by an “awakening experience”—a dream, or loss (the death of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job or home), illness, trauma, or aging.

Once we confront our own mortality, Dr. Yalom writes, we are inspired to rearrange our priorities, communicate more deeply with those we love, appreciate more keenly the beauty of life, and increase our willingness to take the risks necessary for personal fulfillment.

From the Back Cover

IRVIN YALOM—WHOSE BOOKS HAVE SOLD MORE THAN FIVE MILLION COPIES WORLDWIDE

"Always enlightening and often quite moving."—Washington Post

"One of America′s finest therapists guides us through one of life′s most challenging tasks in this profoundly helpful book. It will benefit anyone who reads it."—Rabbi Harold Kushner, author, When Bad Things Happen to Good People

"Staring at the Sun looks experientially and psychodynamically at our deepest fear and describes with uncommon eloquence and deep humanity how we may arrive at a form of peace. The book is witty and kind and unflinching, a generous meditation that shows us not how to defeat our fear but how to become wise enough to tolerate it. It should give comfort to the dying and to those they leave behind."—Andrew Solomon, author, The Noonday Demon, winner of the National Book Award

"Although written from a psychotherapeutic perspective, this thoughtful treatment of the ultimate fear has much to offer people of faith. This is a wise book by a wise man about the most taboo of all subjects. Read it, and fear not."—Dr. Robin Meyers, minister of Mayflower UCC Church of Oklahoma City, professor of rhetoric in the philosophy department at Oklahoma City University, and author, Why the Christian Right Is Wrong

"Irvin Yalom has written a brave, intelligent book on the last forbidden subject—death. I honor his courage and rare insight."—Erica Jong, author, Fear of Flying, Shylock′s Daughter, Inventing Memory, and Sappho′s Leap

"Yalom is the Scheherazade of the couch."—Laura Miller, New York Times

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Self-awareness is a supreme gift, a treasure as precious as life. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
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4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Profound, humane and rewarding, 13 Dec 2008
By S. J. Payne "Weeven" (Leicester, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (Hardcover)
One irritated quibble out of the way: a previous reviewer said that as a Christian he "knows" that death is not the end. I can only assume that this is the sort of parapraxis all too frequently encountered in the religious who actually mean to write "believe" and mistakenly write "know." Some people, for reasons best known to themselves, believe that death is not the end of personal consciousness, which is entirely their right: they do not know as much, however much the religionist likes to conflate these two entirely different and separate concepts.

Anyway. Yalom's latest book is a delight - much as one would expect from so engaging a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Trying to tackle the human existential terror of annihilation is a tall order for even the most ably qualified of people, but Yalom, as an existential therapist with nearly half a century of experience, is superbly placed. This is not necessarily to say that Yalom could succeed or has succeeded where innumerable philosophers past and present have failed (in reconciling the human existent to the end of life and consciousness): but it is no disservice to so wise and engaging a man or his book to say that it is a beautifully attractive whistle-stop tour of what both ancient thinkers such as Epicurus (something of a hero to Yalom, as well he might be) and contemporary psychotherapy can do to speak to the human condition vis a vis death - finite and mortal creatures, we all have to face up in one way or another, reality-based or not, to the end of our individual lives and those things which we have created within those lives.

Contrary to what the previous reviewer may think, countless people outside his own atypically religious society and culture do indeed face up to the end of life (their own and that of others) without the dubious alleged 'benefits' of death-denying religious stories. Yalom, as an existential psychotherapist, reminds us not just how but more importantly why such an effort is made. One might say that the entire book is in a sense an expansion of the famous remark of Bertrand Russell, paraphrased roughly as saying that looking hard reality square in the face may be chilly at first, but ultimately becomes bracing. I cannot recommend this book highly enough - a lovely, lyrical and at times highly personal meditation from a true humanist.

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9 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and thought-provoking, but limited in its practical effectiveness, 1 Jul 2008
By Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (Hardcover)
I can't think of any non-religious individual more qualified to address the terror of death, man's strongest and most natural fear, than Dr. Irvin D. Yalom. Having recognized that death anxiety is oftentimes at the root of his many patients' problems, he developed his own brand of existential psychology (even as the profession moved away from this type of approach) to help get to the root causes, no matter how hidden they might be from the surface, of many of his patients' problems. Basically, Yalom : Death :: Freud: Sex. The good doctor has also mined the thoughts and insights of many a great philosopher in formulating his psychological world view (his incredible novel, When Nietzsche Wept, is what introduced me to Yalom in the first place). There's also the fact that Yalom is now in his mid-seventies, an age at which you can't help but come to some kind of terms with your own mortality. Never one to isolate his professional self from his patients or readers, Yalom shares his own personal feelings and thoughts to an unprecedented degree in these pages.

Fear of death is the one thing that unites all of mankind. Even our most idyllic days of childhood offer no immunity from it, as that is when most of us are forced to confront death for the first time - be it a grandparent, aunt, pet, etc. Granted, I have the kind of mind that seemingly begs to be someone's case study, but some of my earliest memories had me wondering if I might already be lying dead in my coffin, dreaming my life over again - and I have long predicted that I would die at 42 (I hope I'm wrong, since 42 isn't all that far away now). At least I, as a Christian, know that death is in no way the end; I can't really imagine how atheists could ever come to terms with the looming nothingness awaiting them in their graves. Since Yalom is such an atheist, I was most interested in seeing what he would have to say on the subject.

The basic message I get from this book is that one must identity and then confront one's fear of death, for in doing so you can learn to appreciate life all the more. Yalom talks a lot about the positive correlation between one's sense of "the unlived life" and death anxiety, and it would certainly seem to be true that many individuals (including yours truly) let their fears hold them back from living life to the fullest. To hear Yalom describe cases in which people broke through their walls of fear to find a new and extremely passionate love for life is undeniably inspirational. His is an Epicurean philosophy, and Yalom shows how "eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you may die" is a distorted and far too simplistic concept of his favorite philosopher's beliefs. Epicurus, Yalom tell us, believed the whole point of philosophy was to relieve human misery - and that a great deal of said misery was a product of the omnipresent fear of death. Yalom also emphasizes the concept of rippling as a counter argument to the often cited transiency of human life. The things we do and say will affect others on down the line long after we are dead and forgotten. Frankly, the concept of rippling doesn't do a whole lot for me, but it is the kind of argument atheists have to make in order to convince themselves that their lives are not inherently meaningless.

Basically, Yalom tells readers that they can create their own fates, one which they can embrace rather than cower before in fear, and he offers examples of individuals who overcame debilitating death anxiety and emerged as happier, more alive men and women capable of living their lives and connecting with their fellow man in ways they could never have imagined. For my money, though, Yalom's own personal ideas and insights make for the most interesting reading. It's not every day that a leading existential psychologist grants us entry into his most personal and deepest thoughts. Does Yalom succeed in offering "specific methods" with which to battle death anxiety? No, not really, but I will say that I found the book fairly inspirational and thought-provoking. Still, Yalom's personal dismissal of any and all religious beliefs his readers (and undoubtedly a significant number of his patients) may have is a definite weakness that calls into question its ultimate effectiveness. Rooted in secular humanism, though, Staring at the Sun can only take the religious reader so far, for the utter finality of death is not an obstacle of death anxiety that we have to overcome.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A book to return to several times, 20 April 2009
By P. Whitworth (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Terror of Death (Hardcover)
I am still reading this book. I savour each chapter, think and ruminate about both content and philosophy, and sometimes re-read parts of it. It
is one of the most sincere, truthful and yet comforting book I have read. NOT an easy read; it engages us, the reader, and enables us tp 'stare at the sun',
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 		 Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book but very poorly packaged
Fascinating and thought provoking for the general reader not just for people "in thr business". I rarely buy new hardback books so it's a rare treat - I was very disappointed that... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Heritage Frank

5.0 out of 5 stars Good book
The book is interesting and easy to read. It made me understand I'm not the only one stranger, periodically thinking about death.
Published 4 months ago by E. Lukaite

4.0 out of 5 stars "To become wise you must learn to listen to the wild dogs barking in your cellar"
Yalom's new book about overcoming the terror of death was a surprise to me. Although I have thought about death, I am not afraid of death itself. Read more
Published 10 months ago by A. Drakou

4.0 out of 5 stars A Practical Look at Existential Psychotherapy for Death Anxiety
Dr. Irvin Yalom is emeritus Professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. In this book he is asserting that the terror of death is the main root of everyone's... Read more
Published 18 months ago by M. A. Ramos

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ultimate Fear of a Human: The Death Anxiety
The fear of death confronts all human beings at some stage in life, especially the old age. This fear is as old as the evolution of human beings. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Rama Rao

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