'I have been a Yalom fan for the longest time - I always admired the deftness of his stories, the insights that came out of his obvious compassion and love for his characters. Of course psychiatrists are expected to have such insights, but it's not the rule that they can convey that as beautifully as Yalom does in his fiction. I've always wondered, as any reader would wonder, about the author, about the balance between the professional and the personal, and how out of that alchemy the writing emerged. Finally, in Becoming Myself, we have the answer and it is wonderful, compelling and as insightful about its subject and about the times he lived in as you could hope for. A fabulous read' - Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone

'Irvin D. Yalom is the psychiatrist who thinks like a philosopher and writes like the fine novelist he also happens to be. Becoming Myself delivers not only the engrossing story of one exceptional individual's life, it shines with revelations regarding life as it ought to be lived' - Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, author of Plato at the Googleplex; Why Philosophy Won't Go Away

'I loved reading Becoming Myself, having been a huge fan of Irvin D. Yalom for many years. This is the book we've been waiting for from him, his own deep journey into the self. This intimate and vivid narrative should, in fact, help readers to interrogate their own lives: Yalom shows us what an unflinching, clear-eyed self-analysis might look like. This is a book to read and reread for years to come, a memorable journey through Yalom's time and ours' - Jay Parini, author of The Last Station and New and Collected Poems: 1975-2015

'Near the end of Becoming Myself, Irvin Yalom claims to be "a novice at growing old" - to which I say, "Oh, please! - you're as good at it as you have been at everything else". This is a candid, insightful memoir by one of the world's most important and accomplished experts on the human soul' - Daniel Menaker, author of The Treatment and My Mistake: A Memoir

Irvin D. Yalom has made a career of investigating the lives of others. In Becoming Myself, his long-awaited memoir, he turns his therapeutic eye on himself, delving into the relationships that shaped him and the groundbreaking work that made him famous.

The first-generation child of immigrant Russian Jews, Yalom grew up in a lower-class neighbourhood in Washington DC. Determined to escape its confines, he set his sights on becoming a doctor. An incredible ascent followed: we witness his start at Stanford Medical School amid the cultural upheavals of the 1960s, his turn to writing fiction as a means of furthering his exploration of the human psyche and his rise to international prominence.

Yalom recounts his revolutionary work in group psychotherapy and how he became the foremost practitioner of existential psychotherapy, a method that draws on the wisdom of great thinkers over the ages. He reveals the inspiration for his many seminal books, including Love's Executioner and When Nietzche Wept, which meld psychology and philosophy to arrive at arresting new insights into the human condition. Interweaving the stories of his most memorable patients with personal tales of love and regret, Becoming Myself brings readers close to Yalom's therapeutic technique, his writing process and his family life.

In this, his final work, Yalom finds wisdom in a line from Charles Dickens: 'For, as I draw closer and closer to the end, I travel in the circle nearer and nearer to the beginning'. Following Yalom back to his beginnings is an invitation to travel nearer to our own, and the opportunity will stand as one of his most profound gifts.