Having built his career on exploring the lives of others, Irvin D. Yalom turns his writing and therapeutic gaze to himself in this powerful memoir. He opens with a nightmare: Twelve-year-old Irvin rides his bike past the house of a girl covered in acne. As he does every morning, he calls out to her, hoping to strike up a friendship: "Hello, slut!" But in the dream, the girl's father appears and makes Yalom understand that his everyday greetings are hurting her. For Yalom, this was the birth of empathy, a lesson he would never forget. As the book progresses, we witness the birth of a visionary thinker who has illuminated the path for so many. This is not the life story of a simple man; Yalom's reflections on his life and development are an invitation to ponder the origins of our psychological traits and the meaning of our lives.