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The Denial of Death
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
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The Denial of Death
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Publisher's Summary
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 30 years after its writing.
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What the critics say
"A brave work of electrifying intelligence and passion, optimistic and revolutionary, destined to endure." (New York Times Book Review)
"Ranks among the truly important books of the year. Professor Becker writes with power and brilliant insight." (Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about The Denial of Death
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- alexis
- 2019-05-20
got bored near the end
i enjoyed it at the very begining, but after about 5-6 hours i got bored. Guess it wasn't my type
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Stefan Florinca
- 2022-03-24
Amazing
A must listen!! Truly a perspective altering body of work. Thankful to have had the chance to come across it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J Doh
- 2019-09-09
Brilliant book
This book surprised me at almost every turn. It frames how we look at the behaviour patterns that define our lives in a new light.
There were moments where I found myself having said aloud proclamations of it's brilliance - I will definitely give it another listen at some point.
The author gives a lot of credit to another author Otto Rank. He speaks highly of his work and often cites his discoveries.
This is the synopsis from Wikipedia...
"The Denial of Death is a 1973 work of psychology and philosophy by Ernest Becker, in which the author builds on the works of Søren Kierkegaard, Sigmund Freud, Norman O. Brown and Otto Rank. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1974, two months after the author's death"
The narrator moves quickly through the material which I appreciate due to the volume of the text.
Great book. Don't miss this one.
Once it gets going you won't be able to stop listening to it and it will stay with you for awhile afterwards following your first listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2023-08-18
an excellent intro to Philosophy
an excellent intro to Philosophy. this book takes you on a journey. be ready to be aroused
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nicholas Gervais
- 2024-10-08
A pliar of neutrality: This book levels a forest of ideas to the ground
As the introduction mentions, humanity is choking on truth; everything is mentioned in a million ways, screaming for attention. It's hard to get meaningful ideas or whole perspectives that can stand solid these days, and this perspective is solid. The Denial of Death doesn't level a forest of ideals by picking up an axe but by giving latitude. To the point that even mountains look flat.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Zane Gates
- 2020-03-19
Well Researched and Thought Out
I listened to this book almost a year ago. I've been chewing on the ideas ever since. Many of them I intuitively knew since a young age, and my experiences in life and observations of culture have only reinforced them and helped me understand them deeper. As someone who lives to take physical risks and challenges, I've often found myself confused by so many of my peers who seem almost pathetically risk-averse. This book does a good job of articulating how many people busy themselves endlessly in a naive and vain attempt to avoid thinking or coming to terms with the fact that they will one day die.
If you've ever experimented with psychedelics and deep introspective thoughts, you'll likely have grappled with the subject matter in this book. This author does a great job of expanding upon and articulating those ideas, with plenty of anthropological support.
A must read for anyone who endeavours to live a meaningful life.
Also, if you were curious about why so many strange individuals went panic-shopping for toilet paper during the COVID-19 situation, this book elaborates on the psychology behind that type of behaviour.
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Kiril
- 2020-05-19
Good start, but could not continue...
The author is off to a good start but turns his story into musings about Freud's personality and features, which I don't care about. It seemed to me that at the time of writing it was important to refer to some important psych figures like Freud but it's completely irrelevant now. Sadly, I couldn't tolerate listening to these pointless musings...
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Very Satisfied Amazon Customer
- 2020-06-03
Sadly far to old
So much of it is so incredibly out of date that it has lost it's relevance both scientifically and philosophically
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- A. Alderdice
- 2020-12-22
Outdated, offensive and disappointing.
I read 3-5 books a week, and this is the first one I've truly struggled to get through that initially seemed promising. The homophobia isn't acceptable, either. A boring narrator and boring subject matter that can't stop sucking up to outdated Freud.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2022-07-31
Lacks reference to any evidence
Read (listened) to this for a second time since doing a degree, which was a different experience to the first time. This is really a very interesting series of opinions. If you don't like Freud because of the lack of evidence, you won't like this.
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