life changing Pulitzer Prize winner. A True Masterpiece

"The Denial of Death," which won the Pulitzer prize in 1974 was written as the author, Ernest Becker, was dying of cancer. This specter is in the background of every word he writes here, and I think, forces the author to confront death with an amalgamation of honesty and erudition never found before.

The thesis of the book is simple: humans beings are symbolic creature that yearn for heroism in their lives, or to put it as a psychologist might, yearn to feel unique so that their self esteem is high by using the symbols of our culture (i.e. money, power, or even a promotion at work). Using existential, psychological, and anthropological research, Becker argues that the reason humans need to feel that their lives have value, that they are unique, is because they do not feel unique, that they feel small and ordinary, that they will die with no afterlife to look forward to.

As you can see, this hypothesis goes to the very core of what makes us human, and Becker argues in this book with such passion and urgency without losing his intellectual backing and clarity, you begin to see his point of view, and the larger world begins to make sense in a way never thought possible.

http://www.epinions.com/book_mu-2007809