Winner of the Pulitzer prize in 1974 and the culmination of a life's work, The Denial of Death is Ernest Becker's 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 -- man's 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.Insightful, brilliant, clearly written, easy to digest, hard to stop thinking about Ernest Becker was a great summarizer of others ideas. He takes an idea like "How can people be happy when they know they will die?", and then looks at the works of psychologists to find their opinion. The result of his effort is a masterpiece. Becker writes clearly, gives credit to others, and draws new conclusions by analyzing the insights of his reading. You can understand a majority of the ideas in one reading. But if you're like me, it will move you deeply. Stop and ponder: One day, you will die. This book delves into how people stay happy, sane and persevering with the only guarantee in our life being the fact that all of it leads to this end.
