In The Spinoza Problem, Yalom blends fact and fiction to weave a fascinating psycho-philosophical drama. The story of the seventeenth-century thinker Baruch Spinoza, whose philosophy led to his expulsion from the Jewish community, is juxtaposed with the rise and fall of Nazi theorist Alfred Rosenberg, who ordered his squad to plunder Spinoza's ancient library in order to find a solution to the "Spinoza problem." The novel beautifully and coherently shifts between the Golden Age of Amsterdam and Nazi Germany, and Yalom delves deeply into the inner lives of these two enigmatic men in a story that explores influence and anxiety, the origins of good and evil, and the philosophy of freedom and the tyranny of terror. It is a bold novel, beautifully written, full of vivid descriptions of people and places. It is another example of the ability of a doctor and psychoanalyst, with his wealth of scientific knowledge, to express secrets that are only revealed in the psychiatrist's office, and he has woven them into lines of gold. Only a talented storyteller with a deep knowledge like Yalom can do that.