Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284225 in Books
• Published on: 1990-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Customer Reviews

Learning from the masters of living
Erich Fromm is more 'fully human' than any other author I know of. He considers ideas introduced from many great people of the past (Spinoza, Marx, Eckhardt, Buddha) and identifies a common thread between them. He then uses this common theme in order to state that man has two options in deciding how to relate to this world - one based on selfishness and greed, the other based on love, solidarity, creativity. Anybody who has been influenced by books written by Buddhist authors (eg Dalai Lama, Hanh) will particularly benefit from reading this, although it is probably a more difficult read than these. Fromm raises aspects about the effects our society has on us that we generally don't realise. These effects are very damaging to us as people. The book should help people become aware of their inner nature - the true motives behind their actions.

to have or to be
Excellent - written a while ago but still fresh and relevant - the best book that I have read this year so far (April 2009)

as civilisation goes down the pan...
Words of wisdom, as relevant today as when the book was written, though marred slightly for me by a somewhat dated and naive humanist perspective. Also I found the writing style to be rather dry and heavy going at times. All in all though this was an inspiring read - but it is also depressing when you consider how much worse things have got since the book was written (over 30 years ago). As civilisation goes down the pan, humans are more possesive and materialistic than ever. In this world having has certainly triumphed over being. But we can always work on ourselves as individuals...