Staring at the Sun: Overcoming the Dread of Death

Written in Irving Yalom's inimitable story-telling style and capping a lifetime of work and personal experience, 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 recognise that the fear of death is at the heart of much of our day-to-day anxiety. This reality is often brought to the surface by an 'awakening experience' - a dream, a loss (such as the death of a loved one, a divorce, or the loss of a job or home), illness, trauma, or ageing. 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. This is a book with tremendous utility, including the provision of techniques for dealing with the most prevalent kinds of fears of death - especially by living in the here and now, and by embracing what Dr Yalom calls 'rippling', the influence and impact we all have that has a life beyond our own. 'Staring at the Sun is neither textbook nor mere self-help. Philosophical it is, but never arid with theory. Its lively chapters are populated with patients whose raw angst Yalom refines into vignettes that are always enlightening and often quite moving ... With convincing examples, he argues that awareness of mortality "may serve as an awakening experience, a profoundly useful catalyst for major life changes."' -Michael Sims, Washington Post '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 of The Noonday Demon, winner of the National Book Award 'Yalom is the Scherherazade of the couch, his work a marvelous exercise in storytelling.' -Laura Miller, New York Times