Momma and the Meaning of Life

Every Irvin Yalom book is a bestseller. His talent as a storyteller shines through even in the books devoted to specialized topics. In this one, his authorial gift simply dazzles! You can hear endlessly that “words heal,” that stories teach—but it’s hard to remain a perfect skeptic about it. Yet once you open Yalom’s book and read the first few lines, these truths stop being clichés. The author is a wonderful storyteller: he not only knows how to tell—it’s something he genuinely loves to do. Picking up this book, you end up face to face with the author and become less a reader and more a listener. And of course, you also become a student, because this storyteller teaches. When he says, "Listen to your patients. Let them teach you," for a moment you swap places: you become the doctor, and Yalom becomes your patient—who teaches his therapist. Just let him do it.