I read this book for a couple reasons, the first being that I'd always been mildly interested in in it, ever since I heard Woody Allen talk about it in "Annie Hall". I asked one of my friends in school a few years ago about the book, and he said it was pretty hard reading. I'd had one psychology class at the time and figured he was probably right, that it would be difficult reading for someone who had a hard time getting through any of his text books and didn't have much interest in psychoanalysis, except as a subject in Woody Allen movies.

For various reasons--and not to sound morbid--the subject of death and mortality has been on my mind for a little while, and after watching "Annie Hall" again, and being reminded of this book again, I decided I'd give it a shot.

I'm definitely glad I decided to read "The Denial of Death," because it's given me more to think about than any nonfiction book I can recall. Maybe since I'm not used to reading books on psychoanalysis, I'd have found that with another book as well, or a number of books. I have a feeling that wouldn't be the case, though; Becker's book is written in a way that a non-psychology student like myself can understand relatively easily, but that doesn't mean it isn't insightful or professionally-written. I found the book a whole lot easier to read than I thought I would, though I did have to concentrate a little harder than I do for my normal reading. But my limited knowledge of Freud, Jung, and the other important thinkers that Becker discusses, did not prevent me from understanding or getting a lot out of this book.

Becker talks about different areas of psychoanalytical thought, arguing that a human's basic and most natural struggle is to rationalize himself as a mortal animal aware of his own mortality, something which makes him unique on this planet and also in a constant state of fear. He develops different, mostly subconscious, ways of avoiding or distracting himself from that fear. Those that succeed in this distraction live as normal people, and those who cannot find a way to cope with this often have a much rougher time.

I'm not going to try to summarize the book, as all I'd end up with is a poor description written by someone with no ability to summarize a work like this (see above paragraph for an example of this inability). Becker discusses psychoanalysis in relation to religion, dimentia, depression, and perversion, among other things. I found myself hurrying to finish pages or chapters on lunch breaks at work, eager to find out what the author was going to say next--something I don't usually feel when reading nonfiction.

If there was anything I didn't "like" about "The Denial of Death" it's that, for the seven or eight days I was reading it, I had death on my mind a lot more often than usual. I'd imagine that's natural, though, when reading a book such as this. That said, there is nothing particularly pessimistic or downbeat about the book. Becker writes in a friendly, straight-forward manner, and if anything, his tone is optimistic throughout.