M. Scott Peck: I'm a prophet, not a saint

May 11, 2005 11:11 AM

M. Scott Peck: I'm a prophet, not a saint M. Scott Peck, author of the ultimate self-help manual, has Parkinson’s and his wife of 43 years has walked out. Interesting profile of M. Scott Peck, the best-selling self-help author who preached self-discipline and delayed gratification despite being a smoker, a drinker, and an adulterer. Via Bookslut. (Possibly nsfw drawing of nude woman.)
posted by callmejay (18 comments total)

Yep, sure is alot easier to let everyone else know how they are screwing up their lives and not do a damned thing to improve one's own life.

This guy is the equivalent of the football coach who rides a golf cart next to his boys as they run (and eats Doritos while exhorting them to run faster).

Isn't there a word for people like this? Oh yes, hypocrite.
posted by fenriq at 11:32 AM on May 11, 2005

Can anyone tell me if "The Road Less Travelled" is worth a read? I've heard so much about it I've been meaning to take a look at it for some time. Yes, the man's a hypocrite and at least somewhat deluded now, but I'll take intrinsically worthwhile advice and insight from any source.
posted by orange swan at 12:11 PM on May 11, 2005

I always recommend Feeling Good as far as self-help books go.
posted by callmejay at 12:17 PM on May 11, 2005

Didn't he write "I'm OK, You Suck"?
posted by nofundy at 12:29 PM on May 11, 2005

orange swan, Just stay away from any of those Dr. Phil books, how that guy has suckered so many people with his lame, obvious advice is beyond me. Oh wait, Oprah did it, nevermind.

nofundy, that was the working title of my self help book.
posted by fenriq at 12:31 PM on May 11, 2005

self-help is a futile and unneccessary proposition.
posted by jonmc at 12:33 PM on May 11, 2005

This guy is the equivalent of the football coach who rides a golf cart next to his boys as they run (and eats Doritos while exhorting them to run faster).

You just exactly described my high school Cross Country coach, except it was a Camero that needed a brake job instead of a golf cart.
posted by COBRA! at 12:33 PM on May 11, 2005

Can anyone tell me if "The Road Less Travelled" is worth a read?

Yeah...that Robert Frost poem's a MUST read. Way cooler, even, than that Monster.com commercial.
posted by Smart Dalek at 12:40 PM on May 11, 2005

orange swan, the article itself has the answer (and I would generally agree):

it is a phenomenal book until he blows it in the third section and brings God into it

posted by lowlife at 1:11 PM on May 11, 2005

I feel like those dismal bastards Seymour's beloved Chuang-tzu warned everybody against. "Beware when the so-called sagely men come limping into sight." -- Zooey

posted by Cassford at 1:11 PM on May 11, 2005

How dare you all mock a stage-4 evolved human. What's next? Scorning clears?
posted by Sparx at 1:19 PM on May 11, 2005

Kinda derail - Cassford, I just recently reread that book and was struck by not only how much I liked it, but also how much it 'spoke to me' - an experience I had not had in awhile with literature. But then again I am in grad school, so I'm ripe for its 'drift.'
posted by Slothrop at 1:38 PM on May 11, 2005

The Road Less Traveled is most certainly worth a read. It is fascinating and brainy (esp. for its supposed genre) while still being easy reading. What he has to say about God is also fine in my book and would be a good corrective for the current climate--he certainly writes from a believer's perspective, but decidedly doesn't pin down God as being particularly Christian in that book. Indeed, he is at pains to show the harm that religious fundamentalism can do and sees his mission in the case of at least one patient as being to take her away from zealous belief.

Don't know what to say about how that fits into his own obviously flawed, if not downright wacky, character, but I enjoyed the article.
posted by Pattie at 1:46 PM on May 11, 2005

I would agree that The Road Less Travelled is well worth a read, interesting, stimulating without being too preachy or narrow-minded. I found it helpful. His second "The Problem of Evil" is a lot more troublesome; although interesting, it is far more contentious, ascribing evil to people who sound merely troubled. There's some entertaining, if somewhat stylised accounts of psychotheraphy as well. I never read another of his books after that, and reading that article, I'm glad.
posted by criticalbill at 4:27 PM on May 11, 2005

Was anyone else reminded of the Patrick Swayze character in Donnie Darko in reading this?
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 6:43 AM on May 12, 2005

The Road Less Travelled begins with the immortal words, Life is difficult. Clearly this is the case, and would appear especially so in the case of the author. Still, whatever his frailities, he has written a work that has influenced many, many people. Who amongst us can say the same thing?
posted by vac2003 at 3:57 AM on May 13, 2005

Slightly OT, somewhere in the direction of Tommy Gnosis: "Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!"
posted by mistersquid at 4:40 AM on May 13, 2005

Okay thanks, I'll get it out of the library, if for no other reason than because this book seems to have been seminal. I read The Feminine Mystique in much the same spirit.
posted by orange swan at 9:32 AM on May 13, 2005