Irvin D. Yalom MD

Irvin D. Yalom was born in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 1931. Yalom is a Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University. He made the hazardous bicycle trek to the central library at Seventh and K streets to stock up on supplies. His book choices were capricious, directed in part by the library architecture the large, centrally placed bookcase on biography caught my attention early, and he spent an entire year going through that bookcase from A (John Adams) to Z (Zoroaster). But it was mainly in fiction where he found a refuge, an alternate, more satisfying world, a source of inspiration and wisdom. Sometime early in life, he developed the notion—one which I have never relinquished—that writing a novel is the very finest thing a person can do.

His first writings were scientific contributions to professional journals. His first book, The Theory, and Practice of Group Psychotherapy has been widely used (seven hundred thousand copies) as a text for training therapists. It has been translated into twelve languages and is now in its fourth edition. My publisher for this book and every one of my subsequent books is Basic Books with whom he has had a long and excellent relationship. Instructors praise my group therapy text because it is based on the best available empirical evidence.