The Road he Travelled: The Revealing Biography of M Scott Peck [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

~ Arthur Jones (Author)

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Product Description

The first biography of the author of the perennial bestseller The Road Less Travelled attempts to make sense of the fascinating paradoxes associated with him.

About the Author

Veteran author and journalist Arthur Jones has lived in the United States on-and-off since 1958. British-born, he was editor-at-large of the National Catholic Reporter and a former New York associate editor and European bureau chief of Forbes Magazine. Educated at Ruskin College, Oxford, he has reported from more than 50 countries during his career and has served an an international correspondent for the Financial Times as well as broadcaster for Irish and Australian radio. The author of 10 books written from 1976 to 2003, Arthur Jones is married and lives in Southern California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rider (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844135764
• ISBN-13: 978-1844135769
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #683,874 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Trip, May 4, 2009

By	Consultant (Northeast United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road He Travelled: The Revealing Biography of M Scott Peck (Paperback)

I became aware of this book in much the same way much as I had became aware of M. Scott Peck's obituary - strictly by chance. In reading the book, I also recalled that I had seen Peck at one of his lectures, quite possibly one of his last. My recollections of it are vague - but at the time Peck struck me as mostly reciting passages from his book - which this book indicates was his habit toward the end of his lecture series.

Since I have several of Scott Peck's books, and had read the 1995 Rolling Stone article on him I decided to delve a bit deeper into his background with The Road He Travelled.

The Road He Travelled will take you as deep as you want to go. The level of detail (one might say minutiae) is pretty impressive. What is even more interesting is that apparently Peck carried with him memories of just about every slight or offense against him (real or imagined) well into adulthood, even to his death. You have to wonder how the guy could have functioned - and apparently at times he couldn't, hence his need for psychotherapy - along with abundant quantities of cheap gin, marijuana and women. And about a pack or more of cigarettes a day.

Peck was something of a cultural phenomena in the 90's. His books were well written and well received. He was perhaps the first to blend religion and psychiatry, which probably accounts for much of the popularity. But as The Road He Travelled demonstrates, Peck didn't manage the popularity very well, in fact, he seems to have been overwhelmed by it. He had a brutal road schedule (self-inflicted) and oddly, was rather naive about dealing with the press. The Rolling Stone article (resulting from a reporter accompanying him on tour) did not catch him at his best, and his reaction to it was to quit the lecture circuit.

This book also paints Peck as self-absorbed and someone who is simply trying to do too much. He seems to have been chased by demons of his childhood and his rather privileged, but emotionally barren, upbringing.

At any rate, none of this diminishes Peck's contributions. At best, it perhaps serves as an object lesson that having insights into others (as he did as a psychiatrist) doesn't necessarily give you insights into yourself. A second object less might be that `success' as it is conventionally defined, didn't give Scott Peck any personal peace or happiness - but then again, he probably wouldn't have found that no matter what he did.

If you have read any of Scott Peck's books - The Road He Travelled is an interesting backstory on the man - and one worth reading.